Passionflower, Catherine Wheel

Passionflower 

Catherine wheel 

Higher power 

Help me start to heal

 - “B3” by Placebo 

Recently qualified as an Arts Award Advisor for all levels, I’m just beginning to embark on my own Gold Arts Award, hoping to gain a better understanding of delivering the award, and also make me get my backside in gear and put on a couple of Broken Rose shows in the process. One section of the award asks students to look into the work of other artists and practitioners, learn from live and active experiences and comment on how this affects your own work. As Broken Rose is a cross art form company, I could have looked into pretty much anything; but me being me, I had to attach a theme to it, and I’m hoping there’s going to be a shiny new performing product to show for it.

Broken Rose breaks the rules. Whether it be dance, theatre, spoken word or film, Broken Rose bends perceptions and challenges convention. 

Aiming to smash through every preconception the world has ever had, Broken Rose encompasses all art forms and genres, bringing a unique and eclectic mix of superstardom. 

The company aims to tell difficult stories through a blending of performing arts. A Broken Rose show is inquisitive, honest and spectacular; we aim to be mischievous, constantly enquiring, and bold. 

New Placebo inspired tattoo by
Leah Moule. 

The work I create has for a while now been influenced by the eccentric and the eclectic in rock culture, and so I’m looking at the glitter laden art forms – cabaret, burlesque, drag and glam rock.

I must admit, I have a good place to start from – I consider Todd Hayne’s Velvet Goldmine to be the greatest film of all time. I’m sure some movies buffs would laugh me down for such a sentiment, but in my eyes this particular artistic depiction of the rise and fall of a glam rock legend has been unrivalled so far.

A young Jonathan Rhys Myers plays fictional pop star Brian Slade, who in turn creates another space age persona for himself, Maxwell Demon. Add Ewan McGregor’s character of Curt Wilde, the butch-er of the two, but still first seen onstage smothering himself in baby oil and glitter, and you’ve got yourself one of the most beautiful bisexual love stories ever told. To some people, that’s all that Velvet Goldmine is, and that’s enough. But for me, it’s so much more than that.

The way Hayne’s detailed screenplay tells stories through dreaming, or the recollections of others is such a clever little device; because that’s what rock and roll is most of the time – a fantasy, a memory. I have myself been many a time guilty of becoming lost in the lie of a performance (which, on a side note, is the way it should be).

In the film, Comedian Eddie Izzard plays Brian Slade’s manager, Jerry Devine. His line “It doesn’t much matter what a man does with his life. What matters is the legend that grows up around him” has stayed with me since I first saw the film a few years ago.

Now I don’t need to reiterate how much I love this film or how much I love all things glam and androgynous, especially considering the Placebo inspired tattoo I most recently got inked into my bicep, but hearing this quote for the millionth time as I watched it again last week, really got me thinking. What legends do grow up around us? Can we really change the way people think about things, which is something I have been aiming to do through the work of Broken Rose for a while now.

Right on cue, a friend sent me the link to Joss Whedon’s Commencement Address at Wesleyan University. Whedon talks about how we all cannot help but change the world, because we are the world. Everyone’s stories push towards a different tomorrow.

Working on Selling Secrets. 

Speaking of which, it's been an extremely strange and lovely experience watching Casson & Friends new show Selling Secrets come together at Pavilion Dance South West and Bournemouth's Wessex Hotel this week. The show relies on the stories of local people, and so I found myself offering my story on Monday morning. I never realised how strange it would be to watch someone dance my life. After seeing so many versions of the show now, hearing my words and seeing the movements that were based on me is something I don't think I'll ever quite get used to.

On the flip side, watching someone else tell their story through performance, but finding myself relating to it in so many ways, is something I'm very used to, but it's never possible to be comfortable with. Yesterday morning saw a sharing in Pavilion Dance South West's beautiful Seafront Studio, of Karla Shacklock's work in progress, The Crutch. A brilliant piece of dance, but so very difficult to watch for someone who sees every destructive relationship they have ever had in the movements of the dancers. Finding it difficult to watch certainly doesn't mean that you should stop though, as Joss Whedon so beautifully puts it...

And if you think that achieving something, if you think that solving something, if you think that a career or a relationship will quiet that voice, it will not. If you think that happiness means total peace, you will never be happy. Peace comes from the acceptance of the part of you that can never be at peace. It will always be in conflict. 

Wise words Mr. Whedon, wise words.

For more information on Selling Secrets, please go to www.paviliondance.org.uk

In Development

Over the past few months, I’ve had the opportunity to learn from some real experts in dance. Back in March, The Urban Playground Team were at Pavilion Dance South West for their performance parkour show Run This Town, and were also presenting The Art of Displacement, the first ever performance parkour conference.

 Lead by members of The Urban Playground Team, including Malik Diouf, one of the originators of Parkour, I took part in a workshop on the basics of the art form. It was an incredible experience. Parkour looks effortless, but it’s really not.

 

It’s important to note that what most people now call “freerunning” is not authentic parkour. Parkour is safe, efficient movement – not dangerously flipping off a building.

My skills in dance teaching were hooked towards a different level with Activate Performing Arts’ Dance and Disability Training, where we got to work with members of The Remix. The Remix is Dorset’s integrated youth dance company. It was really inspiring to work with these bright young people, who were full of ideas and very keen to help others learn how to teach disabled dancers. I was particularly amazed by a young man called Hugo, who immediately struck me as a cool character with his dreadlocks. Hugo was an ambitious dancer, who took a theme and moulded it into movement, whilst all the time reassuring those who were working with him what was good practice in this context and what wasn’t.

Following this it seemed fitting that, just a few days later, I made the journey to Guildford to meet StopGap Dance Company at the launch of their new education packs for working with integrated dance. We saw two short performances from the company, and I found myself watching with my jaw on the floor – the StopGap dancers are incredible. I wish I could move with the focus, power and grace that some of them have. StopGap also ran a short workshop for those who had attended the launch, passing on warm up techniques I had never seen before; techniques which interestingly included a lot of voice work. Their style is certainly something I’ll be looking to incorporate into my own teaching at the next available opportunity.

These last few months of inspiration was topped off with something on a slightly different tangent; earlier this

week, myself and some of the girls from Pavilion Dance South West headed up to The London Palladium to see Chorus Line. It was my first big West End musical, and I have to admit that I’d never actually been to the Palladium before! The show really was stunning; so get down to it if you can. It’s such an interesting look into the lives of dancers and the songs, costumes and the glitter really made me want to get another of my own shows on its feet again.

Surely enough, on the train home my head was really swirling with ideas and as soon as I got home I found myself sat at my laptop. A few days earlier, Broken Rose had been invited to propose an interactive children’s show for an upcoming festival. I’m pleased to let you know, we got the gig… although I can’t tell you what it is just yet.

More and more opportunities are popping up for Broken Rose, and they’ll all be showcased on our new website - www.brokenrose.co.uk

Landed

Halfway through Pavilion Dance South West’s Spring 2013 Season, I reached the end of my probationary period. To be honest, I was a little scared about it – I just hate that word; “probation”… sounds like you’re coming out of jail! Needless to say, I needn’t have worried. PDSW are stuck with me! So I completed my epically busy season with a big smile on my face.



Moko Dance comes to Bournemouth! Photo by
Ian Abbott, Pavilion Dance South West

In the past, I’ve been used to working on festivals or huge Olympic Projects, so I’ve learnt to work
solidly towards one huge goal, followed by a release and a long holiday (!) But that’s not really how it works in a national dance house that also serves as the dance development agency for the whole of the south west of England. Things come in waves; three seasons a year – Autumn, Spring and Summer. (There is no Winter in the arts!) Autumn saw me just winding up; getting used to PDSW and watching them getting used to me… and I’m a weird one to get used to! I took over the tail end of a couple of projects – a fab extended cast show with Lila Dance among them – but it was planning time, getting ready for the busiest Spring of my career to date.

I’ve never before had to sustain that level of energy and be completely on top of everything for such an extended amount of time. For a 9 week period, there was always something else just around the corner. I panicked, I stressed out, and I went to the pub “just needing a pint” quite a couple of times – but I loved every minute of it.

Being the Youth and Education Coordinator at such an organisation means a few things. The first is workforce development. As a previous DCMS Jerwood Creative Bursaries recipient and an Atelier for Young Festival Managers Alumni, this is something that’s very close to my heart. I am eternally thankful for Pavilion Dance South West for training me up in all levels of Arts Award, a set qualifications that provide young people with some exciting CV tid bits, from age 7 right up to 25. I feel so proud and so fab, effectively becoming a teacher to take these bright young sparks through courses that inspire them. On top of this, seeing students from Bournemouth University embarking on their professional career in performances and workshops with us forms memories that will stay with me, and with a smile, for a very long time. Motionhouse Dance Theatre even kindly agreed to make the journey down to Bournemouth to help upskill our local dance teachers.

Creating activities for children's shows.

It’s strange, somehow being responsible, to a certain degree, for the next generation of dancers. Our Youth Dance Company, 2BU, have been exposed to so much this season, even giving my teaching a go, as contemporary dancers working with hip hop for the first time. I can confidently assure you that an awful lot of the next round of dancers that the south west will have to offer, can be found in the participants of U.Dance South West 2013, a youth dance festival and regional platform, as part of Youth Dance England’s national competition. Although I may have panicked Gosport’s youth dance company, Locomotion, when I nearly burst into tears of pride as they handed me a bunch of flowers whilst I was attempting to stage manage the final show!

Stage Management was certainly a theme for me, towards the end of the season. Myself and our long term University Work Placement Student, Joanne, learnt a little bit of technical expertise where our stage curtains were concerned for FUSED, a FE/HE event for those interested in dance and new media careers and university pathways.

I saw the personal growth of both dancers and young people in XOXO, a three week residency with Protein Dance and the Quay School (Poole and Hamworthy), providing a tear-jerking end to my part in the Spring Season.

Much fun was to be had at Moving in Circles, our February Half Term Dance School for children aged 5-13, with Street Dance, Rock n Roll, Hula Hooping and Art workshops. Add an extraordinary adventure on the beach, with our Portraits of Urban Worlds project, championing young people with their very own urban dance film, The Treasure Hunter by Being Frank Physical Theatre’s David McKenna.

…And that’s just the projects that had names and a budget; I’ve taught STOMP workshops to 84 year 4s studying the environment, and taught on the Dance and Choreography BA at Winchester University – a degree I don’t even have!

The responsibility of being in charge of all of the projects for children and young people in was terrifying and invigorating at the same time. I’ve learned so much about myself, things that I feel I need to share with all those aspiring artists/producers out there.

The home of Pavilion Dance South West

I am chameleon
I can change and morph at any given second. Give me a difficult situation and I’ll smile with my “Just give me two minutes and I’ll fix it” face, whether I feel like smiling or not.

I am strong enough
I always pull it off. I always get good results, no matter how many clumps of hair I pull out first. If something goes wrong, I think on my feet. I don’t need to panic.

I have a lot to learn, but I know what I’m talking about
I may be young, and there’s lots more to be done, but I have a considerable amount of knowledge in the arts. I can talk your ear off about the creative curriculum, the importance of the arts when working with children with special educational needs, project management, child performance licences, and filming permissions and I will, given the chance. I always used to think that people would take one look at me judge me on my age, my ink, where I’ve been hole punched and how many times and assume I know nothing. Now I know that when I open my mouth, I can prove anyone wrong.

And getting home the other night to find that Jerwood’s Annual Reports had been posted through my letterbox showed me that I might not have to keep worrying about proving people wrong for much longer. In the section that detailed the Jerwood Foundation’s Small Grants Scheme for 2012-2013, I found a little paragraph that reminded me just how much Jerwood, in their many forms, have supported me through the beginning of my career.

Gemma Connell: Atelier for Young Festival Producers
Gemma Connell is a young performer-producer working at Pavilion Dance, Bournemouth, and running her own company, Broken Rose Performing Arts. She was a recipient on the DCMS Jerwood Creative Bursaries Scheme with a role at Manchester International Festival in 2011. Our support funded her attendance at the 2012 Atelier for Young Festival Producers in Ljubljana, a pan-European conference for selected outstanding individuals.

Taken from The Jerwood Annual Reports

I can only hope that they’ll continue to support this strange combination of a Producer and an Artist through all she has left to give.

Here’s to another season…

Heart on my Collar

Those self-harming girls, with the latticework of razor-cuts on their arms and thighs, are just reminding themselves that their body is a battlefield. If you don’t have the stomach for razors, a tattoo will do, or even just the lightening snap of an earring gun in Claire’s Accessories. There. There you are. You have dropped a marker pin on your body, to reclaim yourself, to remind you where you are: inside yourself. Somewhere. Somewhere in there.

Caitlin Moran, How To Be a Woman.

As I sat, receiving my eighth tattoo from Spear Studio’s Sofie Simpson at the Manchester Tattoo Tea Party last weekend, I wondered just how much I agreed with Caitlin Moran’s statement. Tattoos for me have always meant 3 things.

Firstly, self expression; my way of telling the world, straight up, who I am and what I stand for. Granted, this doesn’t always work with everyone; even those who are passionate about expressing themselves in other ways don’t always feel compelled to cover their bodies in permanent ink. Sometimes, there’s no problem here, but sometimes they don’t understand why others do. I’ve met people in the past who outrightly block every explanation a tattooed individual will attempt to give them. It’s shocking to see that there still exists a kind of person who thinks that, if someone does something differently to them, they’re obviously doing it wrong.

My tattoos also form reminder of where I come from and what I do. One of my favourite pieces, a celtic key surrounded by roses on my right forearm, (by Leah Moule) is an homage to my Irish heritage. My dad brought me up to understand exactly what it meant to be a Connell, and where the name and our ancestors came from. And although I plan to travel the world with my work and never stay in one place for too long, I always have that key with me, to remind me of my big, loving family and what we all stand for. On a more career orientated slant, many are often puzzled by the lightning bolt on my ankle. The bolt points at my feet, because I am a dancer, lighting my feet on fire. Similarly, my first tattoo, the famous “All the world’s a stage” quote from Shakespeare’s As You Like It, references my life revolving around and existing on the stage.

Finally, tattoos remind me where I’m heading. I have the lyrics “No one shines forever” from AFI’s On The Arrow inked into my left forearm. I had it written there for the specific reason that you see that part of your body so much every day. It’s a warning not to give up; to make the most of the time we have here.

But of course, my tattoos are also my own personal works of art. All but one of them have been done by the girls at Spear Studio, Birmingham, (Leah Moule, Sofie Simpson and Sarah Tracey) and I trust them all with my life.

So when I walked into this year’s Manchester Tattoo Tea Party at the Trafford Centre’s Event City, and Sofie told me that she had a slot, I immediately jumped at the chance. Here’s what happened:

For me, and for more and more people these days, fashion is also a work of art. But I find the art in mixing and matching different elements, more than anything else. People find it strange when they see me in a “normal” top, yet covered in tattoos. I wear what takes my fancy that morning, and sometimes, just one “normal” element can make an outrageous outfit suddenly look really professional, whilst still being true to yourself. That’s the most important thing, as far as I’m concerned.

Shopping in charity shops and acquiring hand-me-downs from friends have served me well lately, allowing me to inject new life into old outfits. So I’ve been experimenting with how this works… whilst trying desperately not to get bepanthen on said clothes, of course!

You love it you FLIRT!

Working in the arts is one hell of a party. It’s stressful, yes – there are times when you think that no one’s listening or that nothing’s going right, but when you get there in the end it’s all more than worth it. If you cry whilst producing something new and beautiful, it means you really give a shit about it. If you cry when it’s over, it’s usually tears of joy at the spectacle before you. It worked. It made a difference. And that’s all that matters.

But let’s disregard crying for the minute. I’ve experienced far too much laughter at Pavilion Dance South West to care about that right now. Today marks 6 months of me being in post as Youth and Education Coordinator. It might not seem that long, but this is usually the point where I start trawling Arts Jobs for the next big thing, because my contracts are usually ticking time bombs. Not this time. I am finally getting the chance to watch the progression of artists and young people as they work with us time and time again.

Don’t get me wrong, I love doing what I’ve done previously – coming along, making a big noise, putting on a huge show and disappearing into the night is, as far as I’m concerned, one of the greatest things on this planet. But what’s even greater than that, is to see individuals go from project to project, from strength to strength, and to become the artist or producer that you always knew they would. I now have the opportunity to do that. The thought of it makes me happier than I’ve ever been; even more so knowing how many laughs I’m going to have along the way.

It’s no secret that the crowd here in Bournemouth welcomed me with open arms. You only have to look at my Twitter feed on an average day to see just what crazy things we get up to. I warned everyone that it was only a matter of time before the craziness made it onto my YouTube Channel:

Playing pranks on apprentices sort of carves out their rite of passage. And I know that Chris knows we only do it because we love him to bits. I find it hilarious that we can spend one night in the theatre juggling hula hoops that are set up for the dance school the next day, and two days later we’re in the same space, scrubbing the floor like Cinderella after 80 kids have danced, and made plastacine dancers all over it.

Then there’s the film shoots and the video shoots; the ones I’ve done on and off for a few years with friend and filmmaker/photographer, Francesca Hughes. People see such things as either sexy or classy, and I’m here to tell you that they’re neither! Fran and I were much more likely to roll all over the floor laughing than end up panting from sexual tension; especially considering how much Fran likes to say “Bollocks!”

But, in a way, that sexual tension does come into the arts. I was having a conversation with a colleague the other day about how we’re all such flirts in this industry; and it’s not because the arts attracts that sort of person. In fact, it’s because we need to be – it’s how we get what we want, how we sell our shows, our art forms and ourselves.

  Besides, a little flirting never hurt anyone ;)

Evolution leads to Revolution

I've been experimenting with the creation of a new dance form for a while now. Trained in Hip Hop and Street dance first and foremost, up until the second year of university, I hadn't considered mixing styles. But when the idea first came to me, it seemed so simple, and yet so brilliant.

I've always been a fan of all kinds of dance. No matter which way a dancer moves his or her body, it's somewhat captivating to me. And the more captivating it is, the more I thirst to learn that style. Since University, I've been looking at the other opportunities available. I now have experience and/or training in Samba Reggae, African Dance, Burlesque, Ballet and Contemporary styles. I was initially advised to take ballet classes to strengthen my core and my control, but since then it's meant so much more than that.

I started to meld the styles a little during unversity, setting up Warwick's first cross arts society, Tongue-in-Cheek, whose flamboyant style and storytelling techniques became rather well known during my third year.

I've built on these initial choreographies in recent years, as part of Broken Rose Performing Arts. But it was with Pavilion Dance South West's Hip Hop Conference, Reclaim the Street, in November that I was inspired to start recording it all. What defined my style? It certainly wasn't straight up Hip Hop, and I'm not sure it ever was. I'm now determined to get some notation sorted with this style, which I've named "FUSE":

 

Heavlily influenced by commercial Hip Hop and Street Dance, Fuse is a high energy and high emotion dance form that combines elements of Ballet, Samba Reggae, African and Contemporary dance styles, among others. "Fuse" choreography switches constantly between different musical elements; bouncing from beat, to melody, to bassline.

But before we start writing it all down, let's get the visuals right first:

 

The above footage was recorded in May 2010, whilst working with filmmaker Francesca Hughes on my portfolio. We hired the dance studio at our old high school and had a lot of fun freestyling with the basic elements of my genre: solid urban roots elements of many other styles. This video shows the begining of this new dance form. Let's hope there's more development to come.

 

I'm also expecting a backlash though. It has come to my attention that there are certain "purists" out there who seem to abhor all dance forms that have evolved from Hip Hop, despite the fact that Hip Hop itself evolved from something else entirely. Now I don't want to get into a big argument, so I'll just say this: This is art. Art evolves, it morphs and changes. That's the point of this industry, otherwise we'd never move forward. Don't think of it as dilution; it's just that there's more out there.

Inspire and Be Inspired

Inspiration comes in many forms for me. Sometimes it can be cultivated, and sometimes it seems to appear out of nowhere. The last couple of weeks have been more than inspiring for me – they’ve been quietly incredible. Many of my regular readers will know, my initial drive to pursue the performing arts as a career came from choreographing and teaching Warwick University’s Street Vibe, some choreography of which can be found in the previously unseen dance footage I’ve put together below. My passion for teaching has grown since then, and so it was with great pleasure that I took on the task of teaching Pavilion Dance South West’s youth company, 2BU, for the first half of this term. 

Photo by Francesca Hughes - part of our site specific
dance expedition in May 2010

2BU is made up of talented young dancers aged between 14 and 19. Although we’ve never defined them as a contemporary dance group, the dancers involved happen to be from that background. But this year started with me teaching them much more urban choreographies. It’s been really interesting to work both with the company and our University Work Placement Student, Joanne (who has been instrumental in assisting me on quite a few of my projects) to get using a movement base that feels much heavier than that they’ve worked with before. They’ve completely embraced the site specific element of the work, being very keen to film dance in unusual spaces and to experiment with movement in new ways. This kind of performance is something I have experimented with before, as a soloist, along with the help of my filmmaker/photographer friend, Francesca Hughes:

I’ve loved every minute of teaching 2BU, and I’m sure there’ll be many more occasions in the future where I can work with them again. I’m very much looking forward to the Pavilion Dance Cabaret, which takes place on Sunday 24th March, and will showcase the performance that they’ve been working on with me.

In my second moment of light bulbs flashing and fireworks going off in my little old brain, I wasn’t expecting a morning visit to Costa on Eastleigh’s high street to form yet another motivational experience. But it did. In that well known coffee shop I met a lovely lady named Zoie Golding, who not only runs Rock Challenge, a high profile dance competition that runs across the UK, but also is the Artistic Director of her own dance companies; FuzzyLogic and ZoieLogic. Zoie has such an amazing “can do” attitude and seems to have spent the last few years finding a way to make all her artistic dreams come true, whilst still holding down a full time job as a producer. It was really great to talk to her and get a sense of how she’s managing to do it all.

Photo by Francesca Hughes

In short, she’s inspired me to get a move on as far as my company, Broken Rose Performing Arts, is concerned. It’s so tempting after a long day doing what you love as a producer, to come home and avoid working on any other artistic ideas because your brain is telling you that it should be “down time”. But I don’t think you get down time as an artist and a producer. And I don’t think that those really passionate about it want the down time. This industry isn’t just a job, isn’t just a career – it very quickly, and very lovingly, becomes your whole life.

And so with that in mind, this week I’ve launched myself into a whirlwind of creativity, working on ideas for the content, soundtracks and set for what I hope will be Broken Rose’s first full length show. Watch this space - www.brokenrose.eu

In my head, I do sometimes get frustrated at how slowly Broken Rose appears to be moving, but then I have to remind myself that the pace isn’t slow at all. Broken Rose may have been an idea for a long time, but even those ideas only began to fully form themselves two and a half years ago, whilst speaking to my then mentor, Dance Producer Gwen Van Spijk.

I met Gwen whilst working at the Manchester International Festival. Gwen was appointed to be my mentor as part of the Jerwood Creative Bursaries Scheme that my role as Trainee Producer was part of. But what was really lovely, was to bump into Gwen at Pavilion Dance South West’s season launch on Thursday of this week. It turned out that Gwen had been working with Hetain Patel, whose stunning show Be Like Water opened our Spring Season. I think both of us never expected to find the other there, but it was great to have a quick natter and chat about what we’d both been working on since I’d left MIF, and to leave each other with a promise of coffee when Gwen next visited Bournemouth.

Photo by Francesca Hughes

I truly could not have formed the foundations of Broken Rose without Gwen. One of the first things she tasked me with, was to write what’s known as an “Elevator Pitch” for this proposed organisation. This is exactly what it sounds like! The idea is that, in the time it takes for an elevator to go from the bottom floor to the top floor of a building, you have to be able to tell someone who has never heard of your company before what it is about and why it has the aims it does. And they have to understand it, completely. We honed the Broken Rose elevator pitch together and, although the company has now moved on from that original form of words, it was instrumental in allowing me to work through what I wanted to do with it.

I remember researching into the original National Dance Agencies with Gwen, and it’s a sweet sort of full circle because of course now I work for one of them!

Gwen was initially paired up with me because she has worked in the US Dance Market, and so was the perfect person to talk to about my Californian Dreams. Again those dreams have moved on, to more cities than just one festival in San Francisco, and the steps towards making those dreams come true are building slowly. But it was Gwen who first told me, “No Gemma, of course it’s not a stupid idea.”

What was a stupid idea, was the EBacc, and I’m now glad to hear that this particular moment of stupidity has passed, for now. After such an inspiring week, I didn’t want to fill your brains with a rant about it, so just know that I’m pleased with the result. You can read my thoughts that came in the midst of the EBacc whirlwind here.