The company recently toured the States in October and dancers Hannah Kidd and Darren Ellis kept notes on their adventures.
First off we went to see the White House in Washington DC, the sun was shining but we were all very jet lagged!!
Once we'd recovered from the flight we had our first show in Fairfax, Virginia (about 30 minutes outside of Washington DC). Was great to perform but it felt really alien to be dancing in the lights again (it takes a while to get used to them because they are so blinding!)
Off to Illinois...
It was freezing, it was like winter (Illinois is Central America and v. cold by October!)
We didn't perform here, we just rehearsed - it felt strange not to do a show but was good to be working on stage every day - the openness of a stage makes you dance in a different way (perhaps it is just that you project to the audience, even when they aren't there!?)
We gave demonstrations to some of the students at the university, (there are 42,000 students at the uni... a little bigger than the Place!!)
Next stop Texas...
Really hot in Houston, summer clothes and sunglasses, complete opposite to Illinois! Richard gave a workshop with some company members to a group of students in Houston which was broadcast over the internet to another class of students somewhere else in Texas. The next day we did the show, the auditorium in the theatre was really steep it felt like you were dancing looking at the ceiling - extremely hard to turn like this, but we managed!! We celebrated with an after show party on a roof -top!!
Finally to Up-state New York ...
Purchase is a university that has an exchange with London Contemporary Dance School. We performed at their theatre -it was an early show so we had an early start and a rush to fit everything in. The show ended with an after show talk - it was quite strange to be on stage talking and answering questions with an audience rather than dancing!!
Then off to New York for a night on the tiles!
Until next time....Hannah and Darren
Hannah & Darren performing