A happy intern

In November we had a lovely visit from Olivia Nørgaard who was an intern with us. Olivia shares with us her experiences from her internship:

Hi everybody

My name is Olivia Nørgaard and I dance at The Danish Talent Academy at The Royal Ballet School in Holstebro, Denmark.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in week 47 I had the pleasure of being an intern at Copenhagen Contemporary Dance School. I especially liked the atmosphere at the school. Everybody was extremely nice and accommodating. A lot of people say that the dance environment can be kind of snobby but that was in no way the case at CCDS.

I had only danced for 3 months and was a little nervous about having to go dance with people from both Denmark and all over the world that have danced for several years. It turned out that I had nothing to worry about because all the students helped me through and showed me the exercises.

The classes were right at the top. Everybody was so talented and even though I was only there for 3 days, 2 of my dance teachers have already seen a development in my dance.

I had 3 super good days. A huge thanks to both students and teachers.

Sincerely,

Olivia.

My vocabulary of dance

My vocabulary of dance

Dance requires vocation, knowledge and skill for your body as well as your mind. Dance demands the whole you - not only your brain and body - It demands your heart and soul and becomes a poetic and dramatic explosion.

I will sacrifice myself to the movement, so that I am pure and clean enough to step on stage and take the audience under my skin - so deep that they can taste my soul.  

A little naive girl stood in the corner of a studio in Copenhagen, where her dreams crashed but also where she learned to dream. It was a warm morning in August 2008; She was sweating and trying to keep up with all the tall ballerinas. But every time they went left, she went right. The teacher screamed and the only thing, the young girl wanted, was to keep up with the others. After the lessen an unknown elderly lady looked at her and said; “I was looking at you the whole class. You where dancing with your soul, you will need to remember that”.

A serious young woman took her first class with the legend Nini Theilade. She felt secure and nervous at the same time. In the class the teacher said to her out of the blue; “Many young girls come to me and ask me if I think they should dance. I say to them, if you’re meant to be an artist you would never be in doubt”.  

The two women’s words made a huge impression on me. They said two completely different sentences I will never forget. The first gave me confidence, will and love. The second story is my mantra. I have never doubted in who I am, I have questioned it a lot of times, but I’m not in doubt.

I’ve grown a lot as a dancer. I know my body in and out, and I’m on a wonderful journey exploring movement and I’m still hungry for more learning. I’m playful with my surroundings and try to find loopholes where I can show a part of me.

I believe movement can never be set or dictated by anyone. You need to find your tools and figure out what moves you; I need to share things with others -  I move to share with others as much as I move for myself. My movements aren’t private. I want them to be joined with and questioned by others. 

I see myself as a storyteller - Every time I dance, I add a word to my vocabulary.

- Nanna Jensen

The importance of dance - reflections from a new student

WHY I DANCE

Today is the last day of week 6 at CCDS (pre-professional education).

We have been busy preparing "Waltzing Bodies" for the upcoming Copenhagen Culture Night performance in the old Power Station of Carlsberg.

After a long day of technique class and rehearsing, back in the changing room, I could still smell the residue of the oil in the machine and the dust on the marble floor of the Power Station in my hair. I looked down at my bruised knees, shoulders, hands and feet, feeling amused by thinking of the song “I Bruise Easily" from Natasha Bedingfield. I asked myself once again what the hell I decided to step into "Dance" at such an unusual age?

Is it to fulfill my emotional needs or my physical needs? Or perhaps both? Or it rather depends on the day!

Or maybe I just want to talk.

TALK? Talk to whom? Talk about what?

Since when did I start to care about words?

I thought that I was the “leave me alone” kind of girl.

Should I wait for a response from God knows where?

Well, actually I am scared of the interaction? Then I guess the next

logical thing to do would be running away, run as fast as I possibly can!

with my eyes shut and ears closed!

Maybe not with my eyes shut, otherwise I would loose the direction and trip and fall!

Oh, no, that's my worst nightmare! – TO FALL

I could fall into a black hole.

But if I really think about it, is it so bad to fall into a black hole?

No, it can't be that bad! One thing I know for sure is that I would enjoy

the total silence in there!

BLACK = SILENCE, is it a physical equation?

Is there a hard surface at the bottom of the black hole?

If yes, then it would break my tailbone; then I won’t be able to dance for

a few weeks; then I will be devastated and will feel trapped alone in the

dark and the hopelessness would kill me.

But wait, honestly I can hardly imagine that I am the only person in the

building of Dancehallene/Vestebro/Copenhagen/Danmark/Europe/Earth who forgot to keep her eyes open while running away from things.

 If we all run at the same time and from the same place towards the same direction with eyes wide open, we could create a strong gravitational field, stronger than the black hole!

Watch Out! The black hole is rolling towards US!

My heart skipped a beat, did yours too?

I tripped and fell.

No matter where the force comes from and what that force is, with or

without my eyes open,

I still tripped and fell and I still got bruises on my body,

and I am still feeling hurt!

Ehnnnnnnn, I just felt a tingling in my right finger tips!

I guess I just danced!

Dance for me is a trajectory of a journey. It provides me with a path to

understand and interact with myself and with my surroundings physically, emotionally, realistically and imaginatively. Inspiration and curiosity keep me grounded. Without dance, I would be LOST with eyes shut and with numbed fingers and toes.

- Amanda Xue Hai

Greetings from a former student - now training at Codarts.

Photo by Kim Tonning

Dear Morten and Lotte

It has now been a month since I moved to Rotterdam and this week is the second normal week with a normal schedule – we have had a week’s intro and weeks of training before that.

I love it! Everything is better than I ever could have expected. Our teachers are super dedicated, experienced and special in each their way. I enjoy everything from ballet, Laban, Graham, ballet history, anatomy and many other subjects. The school is incredible and with 10 studios there is room for a little of everything! The whole system seems really good and solid to me. We have a whole program with information and help with problems from injuries and psychological problems to financial problems – they take good care of us and really want healthy, strong and smart students.

The level is really high. In our class it is clear to see that they have chosen students with a very good classical technique. Most from my class come from ballet high schools or similar to that like The National Conservatory Dance School in Portugal, so I am really challenged in ballet.

30 students have been chosen from 600 candidates – normally they take in 60 students but they have chanced the system and want to make the dance department smaller – or so I understood it. From 30 students approximately 5 are from The Netherlands and the rest are from all over Europe. I see it as a really big privilege that I got in and can’t completely understand that I am a part of Codarts! The only thing about the shool that is a shame is that the building does not open until 08.25 in the morning. We have our first class at 9 o’clock that means only half an hour for warm up! I am trying to change that.

Besides our regular schedule there is so much more going on. I participate for example in salsa classes every week taught by to students from second year. Every Saturday there are usually different workshop (the last three weeks in floor work) and on top of that I have become friends with students from the circus department and have started to learn to joggle with diablo and cones and train hand stands. I hope to be able to combine that with my dancing and thereby grow as a dancer.

So to sume up: I have a big smile on my face and enjoy every day here. I love Rotterdam and have settled in well – good apartment and nice people around me! And being Danish I get educational support into my bank account each month!

I cannot thank you enough for everything you have taught me – it is clearly an advantage with all the experience I gained last year! THANK YOU! If you would like to, you can read the blog I am writing about my experiences in Rotterdam:

daneindance.blogspot.com

Many many many happy greetings from Astrid! (: