Tag Archives: Contemporary dance

New PILATES X MELISSA online classes

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I’m now able to offer online Pilates classes via Zoom. I’ve found a way to make each class “closed” by which I mean only accessible to those who have been through the proper booking, registration and payment process. This is essential so participants are safe and I remain covered by my insurance.

The online classes will take place on Mondays 1230 to 1330, Wednesdays 1915 to 2015 and Fridays 0930 to 1030. They will start this Wednesday 15 April and cost £6.50.

Everything you need to know about them – who they’re suitable for, what to expect from the class, how to book and pay, how to join the class on the day etc, is on the Online Classes page of my website.

To close, here’s Hannah from this year’s The Greatest Dancer competition with a stunning contemporary dance piece to inspire our Pilates movements.  Sequin catsuit – want!

 

 

Pilates Inspiration – Dorotea Saykaly

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Awarded Best Dance Film at the 2012 Fastnet Short Film Festival, Painted is the first in a trilogy of screendance films about our tug-of-war with wilderness. Here the building’s decay is explored with the choreography and original score both in decrescendo to illustrate the building’s retreat from the physical world and nature’s advance on it.

Choreographed and performed by Dorotea Saykaly and directed by Duncan McDowall.  The original score is by Simon Marcheterre.

 

 

Pilates Inspiration – Phillip PacMan Chbeeb and Renee Kester

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Renee Kester and Phillip Chbeeb perform Slip

Contradiction is at the heart of Pilates and arguably the source its power and effectiveness. The Pilates breathing method, exhaling whilst at the same time sucking in the tummy, is a perfect example of this opposition, and it is the navel-to-spine outbreath which provides the engine and support for most of the large movements in each exercise.

In dance too, the best pas de deux involve contradiction, the meeting of opposites. This is beautifully demonstrated in a new duet, SLIP between I.aM.mE hip hop dance crew member, Phillip “PacMan” Chbeeb and ballerina, Renee Kester. Choreographed by Chbeeb, SLIP uses the languages of hip hop and contemporary dance to create a piece which explores contradiction. See how Kester’s lush extensions perfectly offset the hard angles of Chbeeb’s movements . SLIP also shows all eight principles of Pilates in action…

 

 

Music by Elliot Moss.