19th February 2015
On Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 February, eight young artists who were successfully selected as part of Youth Dance England’s Young Creatives programme took part in a Skills Boosting weekend at the Royal Opera House.
The eight Young Creatives for 2015 are: Mary Anderson, Chloe Hillyar, Niamh McBride, Niamh Milligan, Elliot Minogue-Stone, Meghan Otty, Hannah Thomas, Julia Zlotnick.
The weekend kicked off with a creative ballet class led by Royal Ballet Company soloist David Pickering, followed by a workshop from independent artist and choreographer Sarah Dowling. During this session, each Young Creative started the process of developing initial ideas for their own choreographic practice. In addition, they also began to plan the rehearsal process which will take place during a residential at White Lodge culminating in a performance of their choreographic works in Clore Studio Upstairs, Royal Opera House on Saturday 11 April.
During the afternoon, the Young Creatives worked with Paul Hoskins, Music Director at Rambert. For most, this was their first experience of working with a live musician. The workshop was accompanied by Paul on his cello so that participants could hear and experience the difference that moving to live music makes.
Sunday began with another creative ballet class, this time led by Royal Ballet Company dancer Sander Blommaert. During the second part of the morning the Young Creatives were given a practical workshop on effective communication within the rehearsal studio by Youth Dance England Director, Linda Jasper. Participants were encouraged to explored different techniques for both communicating and creating ideas with their dancers.
The afternoon saw a choreography and costume workshop lead by Alice Walkling, set and costume designer at the Royal Opera House. The Young Creatives explored different textures colours and materials and how this can help or hinder choreography.
Across both days, the Young Creatives met with their assigned mentor for an hour to expand and explore their choreographic ideas in more detail. Mentors on this year’s programme include; Katie Green, Bim Malcomson, Rhian Robbins, Wayne Stables, Adéle Thompson and Valentino Zucchetti.
“I found the mentoring session really interesting, extremely helpful and valuable. My idea seemed to develop more and more as every minute passed, which was really exciting” Meghan Otty, Young Creative
