Challenge Accepted

At the beginning of the year I decided I needed a challenge. Commotion Dance were gearing up to our summer outdoor tour and my work as Dance Development Manager was running smoothly. So I applied for the Artist International Development Fund; a fund given by Arts Council England and British Council which allows individuals to travel to another country to develop creative and artistic links and practices.

To my great delight I was successful and the first part of my international journey took place last week in Zambia with the fantastic Dance-africa team. My long term colleague, friend and dancer with Commotion, Rosa Kentwood, had also raised funds to join me and we spent a wonderful week playing, creating and learning together in Africa.

Looking out the window on the aeroplane at Sub-Saharan Africa passing me by I couldn’t quite believe that this day had arrived, en route to Zambia where I would meet Roni Cheesman (Director of Dance-africa) and Rosa (who had arrived earlier than me). As we touched down and walked across the runway a large sign over head greeted me “welcome to warm and sunny Zambia”.  I knew instantly I was in for a great adventure.

After big hugs and a warm welcome we were in the car driving through bumpy terrain and dusty land with chickens and donkeys roaming. Many handmade signs selling produce and women walking with large items on their heads passed us by. I have been to other parts of Africa before and something that always strikes me is the difference of the smell in the air. A beautiful rich smell of charcoal, heat from the sun and spices all mixed together – if you have visited you will know what I mean!

Saying Hello

There was no rest for the wicked as our first port of call was to visit the Apple Seed Community Centre to say hi to the children and workers before we were to teach in the morning. As we arrived at this very small brick building at the end of a dusty track we were greeted by the sounds of afro-beats (African popular music) playing loudly in the tiny courtyard. The children (about 25 of them in a very small space, all mixed ages) were learning a hip hop dance routine with a visiting teacher call Jay. We watched them learning and as we did they were ever so curious about us! Three of the older boys were also quick to show us some of the moves they had created. I was amazed, their rhythm and unison were so tight, fast paced and energetic and all in time, it was incredible! We also heard some beautiful singing coming across from a local church and could see in the distance a group of adults singing a cappella as the sun was setting. I looked over at Rosa and we just smiled at each other, Rosa put it well in saying “I wish we could bottle up this joy”, it really did feel joyous as we left for the hostel and an early night, I had a feeling we would need a good night sleep!

Day one of teaching and we were up nice and early to visit an Orphanage who look after street children in a slightly more rural part of Lusaka. We had a quick look round and said hello to the children, who had just finished working on a play of the Jungle Book (we saw in the corner of the room a wonderfully simple costume, constructed out of a bucket and some brown paper).  After our visit we went back to the Apple Seed Centre to teach our first session of the week.

What is Contemporary Dance?

When arranging to teach in the various centres one thing that both myself and Dance-africa were interested in was sharing contemporary dance with these children and young people in Zambia. The majority of the children we taught had never even heard of the word contemporary, let alone seen or taken part in it. Rosa and I were buzzing with ideas to share with them and planned a class, similar to one we would teach in the UK. The only difference was that this group of 25 young people were mixed ages from 2yrs to 16yr, we were dancing outside on concrete in a very small space, and depending on the time of day the power to our music might have been cut….! If we had been in the UK the above mentioned could all be potential issues or problems; however none of this seemed to matter the moment we started moving together. The older ones supported the younger ones, the space seem to fill out but with no major clashes and if the power cut then everyone just started to sing instead. If only one could think a little more like this in the UK when we are moaning about not having enough space in class! It really did work beautifully and everyone involved seemed to have this very refreshing energy about them. We left the group hungry for more as we would be back here tomorrow afternoon!

Reality

In the evening we were invited back out with the team from the orphanage to go on what’s called a “walk about”. We met a group of volunteers at around 8pm who were visiting a couple of the more deprived sites in the town. The purpose of the walk about is to make sure any of the children they work with, who are not fortunate enough to live at the orphanage are looking after themselves at night time. The volunteers provide food twice a week and come to talk to those on the streets. As we entered the compound (similar to our notion of a village) we could see some of the young people standing round a large fire pit. I have to say that I was a little nervous as we approached as I wasn’t sure how I may react, I had been told beforehand that a lot of the children living in these conditions tend to also be addicted to sniffing glue. We met a number of children who were all very excited to meet English people, particularly when I said my name is Victoria (some find it hard to say Vicki) as they referenced Victoria Falls which is relatively close by and found this very amusing. I have to say that I felt extremely humbled by what I saw that night and it is something that will stay with me for a very long time. What the volunteers are doing is very special.

Day two started by meeting the wonderful Morris from Dance-Africa, Morris came to join us and to watch what we do with the aim that he can continue with some of our work. First up we visited an all girls centre call Vision of Hope. The space was even smaller than the day before with around 16 young girls aged between 13-17yrs. We had to contend with a washing line and large step in the middle of our dance space, but again it didn’t seem to matter. As this group were older we decided to start with some contact work. Again this was quite an alien concept to them as most of hip hop or African dance is done mostly in unison or solo rather than bodies connecting and partner work.

Dancing in Dust

They took to it so well, throwing themselves into it, risk taking and working together with no fear, it was wonderful to watch. At the end of the session we decided to perform a short contemporary phrase to show them what they would be learning when we come back tomorrow. Rosa and I performed together, sharing our contemporary ideas in a small 2m x 2m space on a dusty uneven surface and I loved every minute of it. At one point a huge gust of wind whirled around us and dust went everywhere, I pretended for that moment that I was in the film Desert Dancer! We carried on performing, to the surprise of the girls and took a bow at the end. At this point Roni stepped in to ask what they thought about what they had just seen. With English being their second language I was touched by the words they said, “amazing”, “graceful”, “smooth” and it really felt like they were beginning to understand the world of contemporary.

In the afternoon we went back to Apple Seed Centre, as we drove up you could see them already rehearsing the phrase we had taught them! We were able to work with them on contact and lift work too, which again they loved, with much hilarity but also concentration on wanting to get it right! Something I have seen in everyone we have taught was their hunger to learn. Not once did they sit out or moan; they just wanted to keep going and keep learning. At the end of the session we decided to do a celebration party dance of improvisation, using colourful scarves to dance with. What we didn’t anticipate was the sheer excitement of using a prop! Everyone took on another notch of energy and giggled with excitement as Rosa took out the scarves, at one point she nearly got knocked down through the rush! It was such a great sight to see, everyone moving together, no inhibitions and enjoying being in the moment. Before leaving there some of the little ones had even learnt how to say the word “Contemporary”.

Babies and Bubbles

Day three after visiting the Vision of Hope one last time we went to Mother Teresa Orphanage which again was another humbling experience. We were led into the gated community and given a tour of the centre; alongside the orphanage they had a hospice for adults and a baby unit. We saw the baby unit first with over 17 baby cots all in a row, the babies had just woken up from a nap and all very adorable. The workers were doing a fantastic job and it took something not to shed a tear.

We were then invited in to the hospice area to meet the patients. There was a female and male unit and walking into the female unit first we were greeted by beautiful harmonised singing. The patients all stood up and greeted us, singing a blessing over us saying thank you for visiting; a very memorable moment to see and hear, very humbling.

After our tour we then taught the younger children a Commotion Dance session. We had around 30 little ones, aged 2-7yrs and a couple of additions who were slightly older. We used a lot of our props, including scarves, feathers and bubbles. Again, a lot of excitement took place, dance together being creative and improvising to music. Some of the children had never seen bubbles before and the look on their faces was priceless. Such an experience for both us and them! On reflection it may have been a bit sensory overload for some of them with all the props we used but nevertheless everyone seemed to have a very good time. We were also observed by another local practitioner, Amanda who hopefully will be able to incorporate a little of what we did into her teaching.

At the end of each session we taught we handed out a goody bag of props to the centre so they could continue to play and dance with them. Each place we visited it seemed to get harder to say goodbye but knowing we had left a little bit of Commotion Dance behind was positive.

The Importance of Good Staff

Our final day of teaching was probably our most epic day.  Starting early we visited The Hope Project, a day centre for children and early years with learning disabilities and additional needs. The centre was well equipped in comparison to some of the other places we had visited and we taught another toddler session outside on the grass. Again, they responded really well to the music and props and in many ways it reminded me of our multi-arts session back home.

The one thing that was most apparent was how engaged, yet again, that the staff were. Almost one-on-one the staff joined in from beginning to end. They were just as excited as the children and up for everything we did, joining in with all the singing and movement. I had a wonderful one on one moment with a little boy who had autism. He wasn’t particularly engaged with the feather dance we were doing so I quietly sat next to him and gently leaned in and out of his space tickling his boot with the feather. At this point he looked up at my face and then back at the boot. After a couple of times of repeating this he started to smile and engage. We created our own dance game of looking at the feather and then he would turn and hold my gaze for a few seconds, drawing his face closer to mine and then repeating several times, with much laughter and curiosity.

In the afternoon we visited The Sunshine Centre, a centre for teens and adults with Downs Syndrome. We adapted our session to dance outside on the grass again, I am realising that dance studios are few and far between! We used a couple of creative tasks such as pass the touch and partner mirroring. We went round the circle with a dance name game which was great as instantly we were able to see personalities shine through! We had a slight miscommunication as we were about to finish the session and then another group of young people came to join us, so thinking on our feet, Rosa and I led another 30mins of dance as one large group finishing with a partner dance to afro-beat music. It was great to see such integration and everyone dancing so beautifully together. Rosa and I certainly realised after all this team teaching how we make a very good team, we were able to bounce off each other to teach and assist where needed and work to the best of our abilities. I realise not enough of this happens in the UK, we can learn so much from each other yet always teach solo.

Contemporary vs Dance Hall!

In the evening we continue to team teach, this time to a group of professional Zambian artists. At this moment in my career I have realised how important it is to share skills and ideas with other artists, and working with the Zambian professionals for two hours was such a great experience. They had never learnt contemporary before and they completely and utterly threw themselves into learning. Floor work, a hard core abs workout and moving to the count of 3 were all new to them and they gave it their all. It was wonderful to watch them learning my choreography and giving each other such praise and respect. The choreographer in me was fascinated in how the movement I created was being put onto these artists and their bodies, the way they naturally moved changed the choreography to suit them, which I loved.

I hope that what they learnt with us, even though just a snippet, supports their creative practice to come. After we taught we then became the students, being taught some Dance Hall moves! Dance Hall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970’s and now has dance moves to link with the lyrics. Zambian artist Alexx now lives in Australia and has won many competitions in Dance Hall and Afro-Beat dance. He taught us a number of short routines to various tracks and it was incredible. The beat and the music just seem to take over and the energy in the room was electric. So much so that I got kicked in the arm by Rosa’s powerful leg kick! It was an extremely long, but thoroughly rewarding day and gave me a hunger to keep choreographing.

The final evening of our adventure finished with an invitation to The Cypher Platform. A performance platform that Dance-africa had organised for local artists to showcase their work. The evening was fantastic with a variety of performances including dance, poetry and mime. It was so good to see such a diverse stream of performances and a supportive audience who appreciated what they were watching. It was a relaxed evening and great to see some of the people we had worked with in their element performing. It made me think about my work as a producer and how different art forms, and cultures, can inform and influence each other and perhaps we need to do more of this.

Overall, it has been an extremely enriching week. Everyday offered me something different to think about, and everyone from the Dance-africa team to the 150 children, artists and staff we worked with have given me a new hunger to keep doing what I am doing and to keep sharing best practise. Although I have done a lot of teaching this week I feel I have been the one to learn and I hope to develop this learning even further when back home.

Written by Artistic Director Vicki Hargreaves

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