DancingStrong Movement Lab. news

Pleased to announce Dr. Adesola Akinleye has been awarded a Fellowship with Theatrum Mundi.  I will be keeping a 'scrap-book of thinking' at choreographing.city .  What is it about: I feel there is a great importance to creating spaces for the wordless conversation of dance. A conversation that is between body and environment. I hope to contribute to larger discussions across subject areas. This articulating and valuing the significance of where Self begins, or ends or is continuous in environment shares inquiry with colleagues in architecture (see Pallasmaa, 2005, Rasmussen, 1959), social sciences (see Deleuze and Guattari, 1983, 1987), and geography (see Lefebvre, 2004). I hope by reaching beyond the isolating notion of ‘subject’ areas we might find shared areas of inquiry into the inter-connectedness of Place . - Adesola  photo by  Foteini Christofilopoulou   Adesola Akinleye & Bree Birr de Oliveira

February 9th  I am ran a triip workshop  thinking about Heritage and Dance. As dancers what do we see as our dance heritage, lineage? Some dance forms feel like 'home' to individual dancers. A form of movement where there is a sense of authentic voice, where the dancer feels the technique itself paves a language they can express there inner sensations with. As a choreographer I look to find a place between the dancers movement home (their voice) and my own from which the movement and the choreographic decision making is coming from. This between space is the manifestation of the dance: a conversation with Place, time, history, present, and past in body. I am thinking about ballet (one of the movement languages I feel a home in) and how it is made a heritage site. A heritage site my voice (as a Black Ballet dancer) is not always present in. What do the other dancers in the workshop feel about their dance 'homes' - I am interested in thinking about using heritage as...

" what a warm hug of a show this was.." A lovely review of ' Light Steps'  our show for early years. Performance on February 2nd 2019 at  CIRCOMEDIA.  Part of a project that is also about making a resource for Reception and Early years children to support them engaging with live dance. See below for why I make dance for young audiences... See full review  Here "When I dance, I am aware of the transaction of my emplacement: in community with that around me. Dance narrates the somatic experience of emplacement, the sense of  being a part of everywhere. Inherent in watching the professional dancers’ and musicians’ performance of ‘Light Steps’ (and other works I have made for young audiences) is the notion that dance would offer the young   audience languages where responses to the experienced are bodily – moving away from the verbal of words to the expression of the somatic. The professional dancers and   musicians model moving...

We presented a panel discussion at IABD in Ohio USA about the book Narratives in Black British Dance : Dr. Adesola Akinleye, H Patten and Namron with moderation from Mercy Nabirye and support from One Dance UK and Middlesex University. H and Adesola were then on a panel about internationalism with Thomas Talawa Presto and Robert Soloman. Adesola was also on a panel about dance writing (Black Dance Magazine) moderated by Norma Porter. Following that H and Adesola gave guest lectures at University of Michigan, MI and Adesola also held a guest lecture at the Boston Conservatory, MA. A lot of fun and driving in the snow!!