AWARD NIGHTS SHOW OFF SURREY'S TALENT - University of ...

20 DANCE & THEATRE The Stag | 22nd May 2012 dancetheatre@thestagsurrey.co.uk
Your fortnightly guide
to the Arts at Surrey
Featuring work from across the artistic spectrum, these shows
celebrate the creative diversity that is bred from a year’s hard work
at Surrey. The dance students present performances in styles from
Contemporary to Ballet, African, Kathak and Hip Hop; whilst theatre,
music and film students offer a delightful array of short pieces for your
enjoyment.
The show will also include a reconstruction piece by Dr Jean Johnson-
Jones of Negro Spirituals, a suite of eight dances created by the American
dancer/choreographer Helen Tamaris. One of Tamaris’ best known
works, these ‘protest’ dances are being revived as part of an ongoing
research project by Dr Johnson-Jones at the University of Surrey.
End of Year Student Shows
When: 8 th & 9 th June- 19:30
Where: PATS Dance Studio
Tickets: £8, £6 Senior Citizens/staff, £5 Students
www.surrey.ac.uk/arts/dance
Three performances performed as part of different dance research
projects. iWEAVE explores the transformation of a dancer’s costume
into a digital wearable item inviting unique movement interactions.
Using cutting edge interactive digital technology, dancers have been
filmed in the CVSSP 3D studio wearing garments with unique dance
qualities.
MindBeat Sextet showcases a multipurpose tool developed at the
University of Surrey that facilitates the emergence of shared thoughts
in a multidisciplinary co-creative environment.
Flatland 2.0 is inspired by E. A. Abbott’s 1884 novella Flatland, the
classic science and mathematical fiction. Devised and conceived by a
cross-disciplinary research team from Mathematics, Computing and
Dance Studies, this performance involves three dance sequences formed
around movements in points, lines and 2D/3D shapes, representing
the dialogue and multi-dimensional life-worlds of the characters in
Abbott’s novella.
Dance Research Performances-iWeave,
MindBeat Sextet and Flatland 2.0
When: 11 th -20 th June
Where: Ivy Arts Centre
Tickets: iWeave + MindBeat Sextet- FREE,
Flatland 2.0- £6, £3 Students
www.surrey.ac.uk/arts/dance
Arts Internships:
Useful or Useless?
By Hannah Jelliman, Dance & Theatre Editor
There has been a large amount of media and
political discussion recently as to the value of
internships; many of which essentially make people
work for free. As many of us near the end of our
University degrees, we ask ourselves that seemingly
unanswerable question: what’s next? Some will go
onto to Postgraduate education, some will be lucky
enough to get themselves a job fairly instantly, but
what about the rest of us? I am most definitely in this
very shaky boat, so decided to do a bit of exploration
into internships, and whether they are in fact a
valuable next step up the metaphorical ladder.
We are stuck in a Catch 22: in need of a job,
can’t get a job without experience, no one will
give a job to get experience because we haven’t got
this experience... sound familiar? Even for those
with jam-packed CV’s of anything and everything,
without industry experience it is very hard to walk
straight into a job, particularly in the Arts sector.
However, work experience and unpaid internships
can be an invaluable way to gain this experience as
well as providing vital networking opportunities.
Goodbye message from Hannah:
Many companies in the arts sector, from theatres
to performance companies to well-established
businesses, rely quite heavily on unpaid volunteers,
particularly in the current economic climate.
However, according to the Guardian, this has
caused unpaid work to become ‘institutionalised’,
or the norm. How can we be expected to work for
free, fresh out of university? Is this exploitation of
those of us in need of experience? Perhaps it is, to
some extent. However, many internships are only
part-time, sometimes paying expenses, and are
usually fairly flexible in terms of length and time
commitments. The Arts sector is a tough market to
break into, so just getting your foot in the door for a
few weeks is a step towards a paid job.
We may have to put up with working part time in
a bar or a shop for a while, but presumably if you’re
attempting to create a career in the Arts sector you
have a fair amount of passion and enthusiasm. Is
this not more valuable in the long run than finding
yourself in twenty years’ time in an OK-salary job
that you have absolutely no interest in? It’s going to
be a long hard climb, but one day our flags will be on
the top of that mountain!
As this is the last issue of the year, and my last issue
not only as the Dance & Theatre Editor, but also at
the University of Surrey, I would like to take this
opportunity to say a massive Thank You! The section
has progressed so much this year, and that couldn’t
have happened without the many people involved.
Firstly, my wonderful team of writers, who have been
incredibly dedicated, producing high quality writing
and enduring my many emails! Secondly to the many
theatres who have offered press tickets throughout
the year, including GLive and Yvonne Arnaud, as well
as many people on campus including the Surrey Arts
team and arts societies. Finally, to all of you readers! I’ve received fantastic feedback
from many of you and hope you have enjoyed the Dance and Theatre section this year. I
feel confident to be leaving it in the capable hands of Tiffany Stoneman!
© Sterlic