WORKSHOPS
This past summer in London, I taught a series of dance workshops at the House of Annetta and Centre 151. These ranged from open dance and movement workshops for children and adults to specific workshops on choreography and site-specific performance making and a movement practice for sonic meditations. If you would like to host a workshop with my facilitation, please write to me at vanessmirzacreations@gmail.com.
REFLECTION OF THE SUMMER SERIES AT HOUSE OF ANNETTA
Presented as a part of the research presentations for Anti-university Festival and the closing event of Systems R.I.P. on 30th September 2023 in London.
“On a train from Paris to Lyon~19th September 2023
Since I can’t hold back the words anymore, I make an attempt even if raw to document my thoughts from the House of Annetta project this summer.
What is a space in London? It’s everything, I feel like I could subvert Pina Bausch’s famous quote in that space, Find space, be in a space, share space or you are lost…
For the first time since I moved to London my offer to hold a workshop in a rather niche area of site-specific dance composition was accepted. What with being a student, trying to find a work placement not being allowed to work as a freelancer with the strict UK government rules that exist for international students…many attempts to start a class were just mere wishes… I sent out more than a couple of emails and CVs around…I pushed a little when told that there were no available class slots and I’d have to wait…and then often there were just no replies at all… to finally, ‘we have an open call for artists of all backgrounds at House of Annetta if would you like to present or share something…’
A part of systems RIP which I often forget the real term for but it has to do with changing a system, a system dying and a new system developing. Yes the full form is, Systems Research. In. Practice. I was accepted to start a Dance Composition choreography series for site-specific performance.
There were meetings and calls, initiations, a Body group formed, in which a lot of interest from the arts whether music, dance or the visual were teamed together.
I decided on 10 weeks of composition, instead of my initial plan of 4 classes. I thought I’d have a better chance of a selection if I provided a class for a longer period, if it generated some income, and if I could offer something unique to the kind of work that appears in London.
But more than that, this gorgeous Hugenot House just has the most inspiring feeling, and perhaps because of my being used to looking at venues as inspiration for curating dance, this is the first impulse that came to me, for what I wanted to share.
Jumping ahead, my hours of teaching became divided by ‘Space Time and Energy’, 3 weeks devoted to each heading to teach work, and the final a kind of showcase and sharing.
While I had no idea what the weeks ahead would bring, I kept participation quite liberal.
I met so many different new people from all different artistic disciplines, some visiting from different countries, some over from other English cities, the diversity was phenomenal. There were lawyers, designers, writers, researchers, dancers, actors, painters, weavers and lovers of theatre, dance and performance and CAT.
It’s hard to express why all this is so important, whether it’s just personal and I am deeply enriched or imbued by these experiences, or if something shifted; or whether I got to experience or be part of something bigger than me, something perhaps bigger than House of Annetta-a changing community of welcoming diversity, solidarity and care. I feel so privileged to be on the inside of watching this change happen. As a recent South Asian female immigrant to London, I know that I am not always as easily on the inside, but this was different.
I try to remember by name all the different participants I encountered. It was an encounter because of the house. We shared the house. It was as if the house was making us dialogue more. Making friends out of strangers. Calling people to be in conversation which perhaps we would not have otherwise had. We may have walked by each other on the street and not spoken, acknowledged or not acknowledged, seen or not seen, but here we heard, we listened, we saw, we touched, even if not physically. I feel somehow this is so important in London, where everyone is often so busy in their own lives, it’s hard to care.
Perhaps it’s more so for me as a facilitator. Being the one who was watching leading guiding right through. 10 weeks is not easy in a London sense of summer, when people are travelling, cultural events remain on a high, and many artists take their rest or break for the year. I kept going and the class kept going. And a momentum kept building.
London, 30th September 2023
We were in the time of exploring dynamics when it felt right to collaborate with the Weaving group and activities in the house. This was a second collaborative element after an impromptu to one with Alana who taught us Morris dancing which we explored in connection to rhythm. Ilinca and the group of weavers in the house were so warm and ready to embrace creative experiments it was a very inviting space. My interest had been built seeing the innovative way Artur had connected sound and weaving earlier as part of the sonic meditations earlier on.
With 3 different sessions of research and collaboration in different ways we culminated in a group performance that felt like an illumination in the space. I think the House radiated with our movements, the weaving, and collective energy in the space. It felt monumental to be present and witness the solidarity and beauty in the moment.
I end these reflections here for now, saying un grand merci to House of Annetta, Fran and Aska and everyone else who was a part of what feels like a delicious summer dream. Thank you!”
-Vanessa Maria Mirza