Jane Hall’s Art of Dance

It is perhaps the hardest challenge for any artist – how to capture the spirit and movement of dance in paint? So it helps if the artist is also a dancer, as is the case with Norfolk-based artist, Jane Hall, whose popular series of ballroom and Latin American dance paintings are full of life, movement and vivid colour. She began the series shortly after starting ballroom dancing lessons under Diane MacKenzie and has since produced 12 pictures with a dance-related theme. These include a striking trio of Flamenco pictures, a sexy hot pink Cha Cha Cha painting and a graceful, elegant, flowing Waltz.

Jane explains: “As soon as I started ballroom dancing, it was inevitable I would end up using it as a theme for my work. I have always been fascinated by colour and movement and there’s so much of that in ballroom and Latin American dance – all those dazzling costumes and stylish poses make for perfect artistic subject matter. But the key thing for me was to make it seem modern, because I started this series before Strictly Come Dancing returned and made ballroom seem glamorous and popular again. So I chose bright, bold colours and a clean, elegant painting style to keep everything modern, vibrant and fresh.”

The pictures were completed over a period of 2 years, during which time Jane spent many hours watching ballroom dancers perform. “I spent a lot of time on the competition circuit,” she says, “and saw many of what are now the famous names perform, including Anton Du Beke and Erin Boag, James and Ola Jordan and Darren Bennett and Lilia Kopylova. I was doing lots of sketching at this point, trying to figure out what would be the best poses to use, because I was aiming to capture the very essence of each dance in just one picture. And that meant choosing something elegant and timeless for the waltz, something saucy and cheeky for the Cha Cha Cha and something dramatic, striking and angular for the Argentine Tango.”

Although watching the famous names perform was a big help to Jane in selecting her poses, she looked closer to home for her painting of the Jive. “That one’s based on me and my partner, Stephen,” she explains, “so you could call that one a sort of self-portrait.”

And what of the future? Will there be more dance pictures? “That’s a question I find quite hard to answer,” says Jane. “My ballroom teacher, Diane, passed away in January and we haven’t really done any dancing since then, although we’ll probably get back to it sometime in the future and that may inspire me to return to the theme. In the meantime, I’ve been turning my attention to paintings connected with the British seaside holiday – pictures of the ice creams, hot dogs, fish and chip shops and amusement arcades that are all around me in Great Yarmouth where I live. It’s a really fun subject and the work is going well, but putting my dance pictures together for my new website has reminded me just how much I loved painting them. In fact, an artist couldn’t ask for a better subject – dancing’s great to do and even better to paint.”

Jane Hall’s dance paintings can be viewed online at www.jane-hall.co.uk.

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19 and 20 September, Saturday and Sunday, Axis Ofir Beach Resort Hotel, Portugal

Stefano Di Filippo, Nick Kremishenski, Pietro Braga and Azzurra Dogana

Local: Axis Ofir Beach Resort Hotel – 4 stars (click)

Studio: Auditório Ofir – 310 m2 (click)

Portdance Training Camp

Includes:

10 group sessions of 45 minutes:
2 group sessions with Stefano Di Filippo;
2 group sessions with Nick Kremishenski;
4 group sessions with Pietro Braga;
2 group sessions of Pilates on the garden.

Access to the swimming pool, gardens and gym;

Lunch on Saturday and Sunday;

1 night with breakfast from Saturday to Sunday

Dinner Gala on Saturday, 21hours, on Atlântic Restaurant (inside the hotel)

Total Pack: 180 Euros (Till 30 June. After increases 50 euros.)

Extra Pack Total:

96 private lessons available

Email…. newsletter@portdance.pt

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With the dust barely settled from a great Junior Blackpool festival, Geraint & Clara said that the Mums & Dads deserved a nice holiday. Spain was suggested and unanimously agreed as the best destination to relax and get some sun. And guess what? Why not combine the trip with a bit of dancing to continue getting more international experience by taking part in the III International Dance Olympiad 2009 in Platja D’Aro near Barcelona, Spain

We arrived in Platja D’Aro under a lovely hot sun after a short drive from the airport. While parents did the settling down in the apartments, the kids got to know the pool and games area. A fantastic walk to town through the cost line showed us Platja D’Aro’s gorgeous natural beauty. In town, we asked for directions to the Dance Olympiad Conference Centre which we found easily as it was the centre of the town.

The first day of competitions had started and dancers were coming in & out of the Centre; we were allowed to have a quick look from the main door, which was great. So a couple of days later, very early in the morning, it was our turn to take to the floor for the Ballroom. The couples in the final were a mixed of Junior I & II with our main rival the top Spanish Junior II Ballroom couple.

With great dancing displayed and the final over, the nerve racking results announcement came; the stepped podium was placed in the middle of the floor and the countdown to the winners commenced. As second place was called, it came the realisation that Geraint & Clara were the International Junior Ballroom champions. They took their place at the podium and were given a beautiful glass trophy in a velvety box; it was a magical moment that we will always remember. It was celebration time at the seaside for the rest of the day.

Next day and next competition, the Latin, a real challenge in a country well known for its Latin strength and confirmed by just looking at the couples warming up. The competition started at lunchtime and we learnt by talking to other people that we had all the top Spanish Junior II Latin couples as well as the top 2 Portuguese ones; obviously all aiming for the final. The majority of these couples are specialised in Latin only so it was wonderful to see Geraint and Clara’s number in the list of couples being recalled for the semi final.

As the Junior couples waited to dance the semi final, the atmosphere suddenly changed. The lights dimmed in the spectators’ area and the floor was illuminated like a centre stage with spotlights. A couple of cameras appeared and we found out that the Spanish TV was filming the Junior event. You could feel the excitement in the air from all 12 couples; they were all more determined than ever to get a place on that final. The dancing was amazing; made even more special by the cameras following these excellent dancers on the huge plasma screen as they danced.
While the results were gathered and published, the flag parade for the IDSF World Senior II Ballroom championship took place. The large floor was filled with the Senior II dancers from all over the World (269 entries); it was a fabulous display. The president of the IDSF, Sr Carlos Freitag, welcomed them and thank everyone taking part in the Olympiad for their support.

As the parade was in full flow, the list of Junior couples being recalled for the International Latin final was posted. What a fantastic moment when we saw Geraint & Clara’s number and realised that they would be taking part in such an incredible final.

For the final each couple was called individually by name and country and took centre floor to perform their show dance. It was electrifying to see the kids on the giant screen and to know that their fantastic achievement will also be watched by many millions of Spanish people in their homes. They danced their hearts out and were placed 6th; they were so happy and proud to have made this International Latin final. For all of us it was our best dancing experience ever.

Report provided by the inimitable Stephane Roy!

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A message from Jo Clifton!

If anyone’s interested and want to know about prices and hotels they MUST contact ME OR MARCO DIRECTLY and NOT the Team Diablo Office please.

An excellent opportunity and experience for more British getting abroad a bit and seeing how we train in Italy.

Thank you so much

Here’s our email addresses if anyones interested:

iamjoclifton@yahoo.co.uk

or

marcocavallaro@email.it

Download the details here:  http://www.dancetalk.co.uk/images/ITC 2009 – Info.pdf

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I was probably enjoying a glass of wine when the “brilliant” idea of writing about our DanceTalk romance occurred to me. Before I could stop myself I had sent a PM to Soulgirl asking if she thought it was a good idea …

I see from my DanceTalk profile that I first registered on 29 November 2005, so I was one of the early members here. At this time I had been competing on the open circuit as a senior with Happy Feet for about three years. It took a little while longer before I persuaded him to become a DanceTalker as well.

Shenanigan was a bit of a Johnny come lately as he didn’t sign up until 18 February 2007. He certainly made an impact on DT and clearly had far too much time on his hands since he always seemed to be popping up online and had plenty to say for himself. He definitely livened up some of our chats!

Our story started with a thread which someone started about everyone’s favourite latin dance. It seemed I was the only person whose favourite dance wasn’t rumba – everyone was saying that this was their favourite dance. I posted that rumba was my least favourite latin dance for various reasons and up popped Shenanigan saying “that’s because you haven’t danced it with a real man”!

Mercifully he survived the possibility of my 6’2” dance partner taking offence! A great banter grew between us and sometimes we would sit up late into the night chatting on DT. We had never met before since Happy Feet and I started competing just as Shenanigan had started a long break from competing.

Not long into this cyber friendship we realised we were both planning to be at the same comp in Horndean, Hampshire in May 2007. Shenanigan was in a ballroom-only partnership at the time, whereas Happy Feet and I were 10 dance competitors. Fuelled by goodness only knows how much wine, late one night Shenanigan suggested that, as Happy Feet and I weren’t planning to dance the basic rumba event at Horndean, I should dance it with him instead. So somehow I found myself agreeing to dance the basic rumba comp with a man I had never seen before in my life …

Shenanigan e-mailed me his choreography and I can honestly say I couldn’t make head or tail of it, so as the date drew near I kept hoping he would back out. It turns out that he was also wondering what on earth he had got himself into and he was hoping that I might back out! As neither of us wanted to be thought a coward we had to go through with it.

The first time I met Shenanigan was in the lobby of the venue at Horndean. I strolled up to him and asked if he knew anyone who was looking for a dance partner. We then had a couple of tracks to go through the basic rumba routine so that I finally knew what I was doing. The judges were clearly perplexed during the warm-up section before the start of the day’s comps when they saw me warming up with Happy Feet and then with Shenanigan.

The first event was the first round of the basic rumba and Shenanigan and I found out how alike we were! We gamely walked on to the floor with big smiles while spectators were trying to work out who on earth he was. I distinctly remember it was a rotten piece of music, but we smiled through it and as it finished he led me off the floor – just as the compere announced that the next event was the senior latin, so he placed my hand in Happy Feet’s and I went back on to the floor with him. This caused even more confusion.

We could hardly stop laughing when we were recalled into the final, since it was really just a bit of fun, however we finished a respectable 4th (although Shenanigan has always felt we were robbed).

I was practically mobbed when I went to change for ballroom as everyone wanted to know the identity of the mystery man.

We had such a laugh that day that we made a point of meeting up whenever there was a chance to repeat our basic rumba. We did hear a few grumbles from competitors (who finished below us) who thought we were breaking some rule by dancing with different partners, but luckily we had already been assured by Tina Sparkle on the EADA Council that this was allowed.

This went on for about six months during 2007, until Happy Feet and I decided that the Closed British at Blackpool in 2007 would be our last comp together after seven years of dancing together. At that point I hadn’t considered my next step beyond Blackpool and doing our very best there. While we were at Blackpool Shenanigan and I had a few social dances and people started to suggest that we should form a partnership.

In the event, things happened very quickly and by the time we left Blackpool on the Monday morning we had agreed to dance together. Shenanigan was living in the Midlands at the time and I was living near Sevenoaks in Kent, so we resigned ourselves to taking turns with the travelling. By a stroke of great good fortune, Shenanigan was working on a contract at the time and his employers agreed for him to be based in Sevenoaks instead of the Midlands, so by Christmas 2007 he was already living in Sevenoaks.

We practised like mad to get 10 routines ready for competition and did our first EADA senior 10 dance in February 2008 (robbed again – lol). We were having such a great time dancing together and we really were like two peas in a pod. It took a while for us to realise that there was more than a dance partnership going on, although Angieb will proudly tell you that she spotted the chemistry in our first official comp at Horsham.

In May 2008, just a little over a year after our first meeting, Shenanigan did the unthinkable and rendered me totally speechless when he dropped to his knees, produced a ring and asked me to marry him.

In August 2008 we moved into our new house together with my two teenage kids (such a brave man!) and six cats. Well, we lost two cats to old age (but gained one replacement), but we are otherwise intact and getting married on Saturday 2 May 2009!

Along the way we have met some great friends through DanceTalk, such as Angie and her husband Steve, Jayne (SassySnr), Toddy, Soulgirl, LatinHips and Michelle, Ellie, Hannah (Latin11), Bah-Humbug (already a friend of Shenanigan), Victoria and Ian, and Bamb – and they are all coming to our wedding. Of course we have made a lot of other friends along the way as well and we are only sorry we can’t invite everyone to join us on our special day.

At the (unlikely!) risk of causing total embarrassment to them, we have to thank Soulgirl and Toddy for creating DanceTalk, without which we would never have met. Not to mention the fact that we have made so many very, very good friends here as well.

Somehow, by complete random chance, Shenanigan and I have each met our soulmate. Amazingly we have also got together through this site with Angie and Steve, who are going to be the witnesses at our wedding because we think so much of them; and via Ellie we have Hannah and David coming along to do a dem for us at the reception. Our photographer is Fluffette, who was already a very good friend of mine, and Happy Feet is one of our ushers.

I know I like to make you smile when I can, but – blimey! – I have a lot to smile about when I think how far I have come. So thanks to Soulgirl and Toddy and I promise there will be some photos for the DanceTalk album!

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