Aberdeen Travel Blog

Aberdeen pics IV - the last installment of pics! Scroll down to begin with our departure

2010-09-29T18:53:00.001-04:00

Aberdeen pics III

2010-09-29T18:51:00.000-04:00

Aberdeen pics II

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Aberdeen pics!

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A few reminiscences from Dancewave's Executive & Artistic Director:

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Dancewave had a thoroughly inspiring and memorable time in Scotland! We gave 6 or 7 performances in very different venues throughout Aberdeen and beyond; participated in a citywide parade through the streets of Aberdeen; performed in a 'Cabaret' night for other Festival participants, visited several Scotland castles and made many international friends. It was an amazing experience all around, and the staff and kids went through a lot to make it happen! On an artistic end, the kids were fabulous! We received great audience responses wherever we went. At the Festival, we were the only Americans and also one of the few modern dance companies. The work was seen as moving and experimental by most traditional Scottish audiences. Twice, we performed for huge audiences (1,400) at Her Majesty's Theater. One of the most amazing performances took place in a downtown Aberdeen shopping mall when we performed David Dorfman's piece underground about the 60's political group, Weatherman! I was deeply moved by the theatrical aspects of the work in a public setting. People were quite shocked but also affected. The performance took courage and quite honestly, it felt like we were the protesting revolutionaries!!

Dancewave Company returns safe and sound!

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A huge thanks to all of the wonderful people who made this possible - including our parent volunteers and community sponsors and the company members themselves! We are particularly grateful to Alan Bain of the American-Scottish Foundation (ASF), Michele Kropf of British Airways, and Nicholas Kotsonis of S Clubs Fitness in Brooklyn for everything they did to make this dream a reality!! British Airways donated the 10 air tickets that made the difference, ASF connected us to the Scottish community and helped us raise the funds to go, and Nicholas Kotsonis started the whole thing off with an unsolicited $10K Challenge Match!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Dancewave Company wins hearts, minds in Aberdeen

2010-08-05T09:57:00.000-04:00

PERFORMANCE AT ABROATH, SCOTLAND!

2010-07-31T19:05:00.001-04:00

Today was our first performance! The Festival producer selected three pieces--plus Diane's new duet for Nola/Cheryl (still unnamed) The one hour ride to this Scotland town was very beautiful because we got a chance to see some of the Scottish countryside! We shared the show with three other companies--a Phillipine-based modern company named Chameleon, a Hungarian Dance Company, who were really awesome, and a Ukrainian Dance Company based in Canada.

Earlier in the day, we marched in an international parade in downtown Aberdeen. We did try to dance down the street and I'm hoping we can insert some of Tom's pictures in the next entry! You will probably see us jumping in the air and carrying on.. Nia marched with the American flag and helped conduct our dancing! We had perfect sunshine-y Scotland weather.

Needless to say, the kids really did a great job in their first performance, and the Scottish are getting their first treat of the DC Brooklyn magic onstage. Tomorrow we dance on the streets outside and we perform the Dorfman piece for the first time---get ready Aberdeen!! Go DC!! We're all so proud of the kids!!

Performance Day!

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Sorry for lack of pictures today. Things have been quite busy! Yesterday we had rehearsal in the morning and then the afternoon to run around the beach carnival! I heard Maddie set the record for riding the teacups 8 times in a row! There was also a performance of The Rhythms of Africa. It was great to start seeing other groups perform.

Tonight is our first performance day. The festival producer choose Urban Bush Women's Flashback / Flash Forward, Donald McKayle's Rainbow Etude, Paul Taylor's Esplande and Diane Jacobowitz's Duet (a recent addition). Tom will be taking some photos so more to come! Wish us luck on our first show!!

Hugs and Kisses to Sara D

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Wow, I'm so proud of Dancewave

You guys are experiencing a great opportunity..representing the USA

Mommy TJ

Hugs and Kisses to Sara D

Take care of my baby girl Ms Diana

We rode a double decker bus.

2010-07-29T04:29:00.001-04:00

It's true, there are double decker buses in the U.K. and we are riding them left and right (as well as forward and backward). This is us yesterday on the way to the University of Aberdeen to check in (on the top level, of course).

Speaking of yesterday, we had a busy day of flight connections, bus connections, and a showing to the Festival Producer. We were all so tired at the end of the day!

Todays agenda is stretching/dancing to get out of traveling mode, the Welcome Ceremony, and a traditional Scottish Ceilidh tonight. More pictures to come!

Toodle Pip,

Jeso

Dancewave Company arrives safely in Aberdeen!

2010-07-28T13:03:00.000-04:00

The Company arrived safely around noon local time earlier this morning - they just finished running their choreography by the festival producers, who loved it!

On our way!

2010-07-27T17:03:00.000-04:00

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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Teen dancers leap over obstacles on way to Scotland festival, The Daily News, July 2010

Aberdeen International Youth Festival

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http://www.aiyf.org/

Performance schedule in Aberdeen

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Dancewave Company Aberdeen Itinerary
July 27th through August 8th

Check out the Dancewave Company's schedule in Scotland - full festival schedule at http://www.aiyf.org/ including festival brochure!

Tuesday, July 27th ‐ Depart NYC
Wednesday, July 28th ‐ Arrive London, Arrive Scotland, Producers Look
Thursday, July 29th ‐ Welcome Ceremony 4:00 PM and Ceilidh
Friday, July 30th ‐ Rehearsal Day, Free Professional Performance "Rhythms of Africa" Performance
Saturday, July 31st ‐ PARADE, Webster Theater Performance 7:30 PM (p.5)
Sunday, August 1st ‐ Rehearsal, Festival in the City Day (p.6) - Time Slots TBA per separate schedule
Monday, August 2nd ‐ EXCURSION DAY!
Tuesday, August 3rd ‐ FULL PROGRAM Performance Day (p.9) 7:30 PM Performance with Chameleon Dance Company
Wednesday, August 4th ‐ Arts Center Performance Day 7:30 PM (p.10) Performance with Cheremosh School of Dance and Doina Folk Ensemble
Thursday, August 5th ‐ DANCE GALA 7:30 PM Dance Gala at His Majesty's Theater
Friday, August 6th ‐ DAY OF DANCE, Farewell Party
Saturday, August 7th ‐ 7:30PM International Variety Gala at His Majesty's Theater (p.12)
Sunday, August 8th ‐ DEPART

Do we look ready to go??

2010-07-26T15:00:00.001-04:00

Dancewave Company got itself packed up tightly so that we could fit snugly in one of the suitcases. We figure it should be no problem sneaking on the plane when we've done such an efficient job...

--
Executive/Artistic Director
Dancewave
45 Fourth Avenue at Dean Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217
718.522.4696
www.dancewave.org

Check out our new Summer Semester!!
Summer Dance Intensive begins August 16th
Register Today!!!

Follow the Dancewave Company's Scottish Adventure on the Dancewave Blog!

2010-06-17T15:15:00.003-04:00

Stay tuned to the Dancewave blog for video posts and blog entries from the Dancewave Company as they prepare to depart for Scotland! They'll be representing Brooklyn AND the United States at the 2010 Aberdeen International Youth Festival, reaching 30,000 audience members from all over Britain. As participants, they will perform 7-8 times over 10 days. And as New Yorkers, they will be negotiating local customs, food, and accents! The road to Scotland has been a hard one (see below) and we are still looking for donations to close the final funding gap - visit www.dancewave.org to donate!

The Saga of Aberdeen....
The Dancewave Company, Dancewave’s pre-professional youth dance ensemble composed of 16 dancers aged 13-18, was invited in October 2009 to represent the US at the prestigious Aberdeen International Youth Festival. On January 15th, 2010, after working hard to raise funds for the trip (44% of Company members are on need-based scholarships) Dancewave discovered that the airfare consolidator used to purchase our tickets had deposited a check for $8,585 without booking our flights. The Dancewave Company story and subsequent scam received extensive press coverage, including articles in The Brooklyn Paper (12/9/2009 and 1/20/2010), The Daily News (12/4/2009 and 1/10/2010), and The New York Post (2/19/2010), and a featured spot on NBC’s LX-TV.

Luckily, local businesses and community members rallied to Dancewave’s side, including S Clubs Fitness in Park Slope, which announced announced a $10,000 Aberdeen Challenge Match, British Airways, which donated 10 free tickets, and the American-Scottish Foundation. Last month we also recovered the stolen funds, thanks to the work of Itkowitz & Harwood and Astoria Federal Savings. We still have a $5K funding gap but we are on our way! Donate at www.dancewave.org and help us close the final gap....

Thanks to everyone for making Spring Celebration 2010 a huge success!

2010-06-17T15:04:00.000-04:00

Check out photos from our Gala Pre-Show Reception on Saturday, June 12, 2010, courtesy of Kevin Sayama and Lenae Guarna!

We want your feedback on Nov 12 Dance College Panel Roundtable Part I

2009-11-12T13:49:00.000-05:00

Please post a comment about this unique event. We want to hear your voice!

Forsythe at BAM!

2009-10-09T17:07:00.000-04:00

Thank you all for coming out and sharing this crazy wild, interesting, provocative, irritating, funny evening! I'd love to hear what everyone thought! But certainly in alot of ways the piece was not what you and I expected!!
A few things to note--much of the movement in the piece was improvised based on a very specific instruction. I don't know but I'm guessing--something like Natalie shared with us--an arc here and a circle and thru--now do it with your elbow--now reverse it, etc. Some of this I imagine you are learning, experimenting with in Choreolab III. All the big 'events' i.e. table, group unison, solos, etc. were being 'conducted' by William Forsythe backstage. So the piece is never the same exactly. He is cueing certain moments to happen. Nonetheless, I found it very structured and surprisingly short!

The text and singing were surprising! (Actually I really enjoyed the singing section). So would love to hear your thoughts.

Hope you had a good time, thanks for coming. Please share your thoughts (even if you didn't like it!)and cc it to everyone. We'd love to hear.

XO,

Diane

Hello Dance World

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My name is Liana Segan. I am a member of Dancewave's Kids Company and have been for two years now. Even though I've been in the company for a short while, I've been part of Dancewave's roster since I was 10 years old. I remember very vividly chilling in the back of Jennifer Archibald's hip hop class making a home for myself. The talent in the class blew me away and Diane Jacobowitz, mama Dancewave, saw this and suggested I challenge myself by joining the advanced modern class. Well, after taking classes taught by dancers from professional companies such as Paul Taylor and Mark Morris I knew I had found my dance school. Ever since, the classes have been an awesome place to build my dance vocabulary and create a community of dancers whom inspire me all the time.

For this blog I am going to keep a journal of my experience in the company, with the visual aid of pictures from rehearsals, classes, performances. I also invite all members of the Dancewave school to post as often as they feel necessary.

Peace and Love

Announcing Dancewave Blog!

2009-05-14T14:57:00.001-04:00

Hello! Welcome to the Dancewave blog where you can the behind the scene scoop on our Kids Company as they learn rep, perform, and take classes!

Please stay tuned!