Previous education projects
Retina’s education projects range from one-off workshops to month long choreographic residencies. Below are just a few examples of some of the projects that Retina has led in the last few years.
Dance Beyond Borders. Retina were partners in a European Commission funded project called Dance Beyond Borders. This European professional development project was a collaboration with ArtEZ danceacademie in Arnhem Netherlands, DanceKiosk Hamburg, Escola Superior de Danca Lisbon, London Metropolitan University and SharingArts ev Hamburg. Ten aspiring choreographers did a two week residency in Antwerp for classes and mentoring from Filip and Natalie before a culminating 2 weeks in Hamburg with performances of their work.
RAUW was initiated in 2008 with a site-specific participatory project in ccBe, a cultural centre in Antwerp Belgium in partnership with Danspunt. 80 participants from age 12 to 70 danced for one week to create a series of performances throughout the building. The performance took the audience on a circuit throughout the building viewing exhilarating dance in absurd places. The success of this initial project has led to several other RAUW projects for all sectors of the community, professional dancers, youth and seniors.
PAGE1 was a unique professional training project for recent contemporary dance graduates. This Arts Council England East Midlands funded project enabled six graduates selected from audition to develop their creative, performance and teaching skills. After training and creating, the group taught workshops and performed their exhilarating work in ten regional venues with astounding success.
A park less ordinary was a site-specific project in Derby with over 100 performers. Over a period of 5 months, Retina worked with several different groups of all ages and experiences to collaboratively create a performance work for Derby’s Aboretum Park.
Iudanza University students in Venezuela enjoyed a course of technique and choreography with Filip and Natalie. Using Laban Movement Analysis as a tool for movement training and choreography, they focussed the course on movement efficiency and choreographic devices as well as Filip creating a new work for the students to perform.
ConneXion and X:SitE were projects specifically tailored to regional needs in Yorkshire and the South East supported by Regional Arts Lottery Programme funding. These projects were designed to provide an opportunity for local dancers to perform alongside Retina. Connecting students, professional dancers and dance enthusiasts from across the regions, Retina created dance works to be performed by the participants.
Romeo and Juliet was a performance project for students at Hoger Institut voor Dans in Lier, Belgium. Filip created the work on 18 advanced students for a performance with the Antwerp Philharmonic orchestra at The Singel, Antwerp.
Triggered was a commission from the South Bank Centre London. In collaboration with composer Duncan Chapman, Filip created a dance and live music performance installation with Gamelan instruments and ultrasound beams triggered by movement. Workshops were also offered throughout the production period on the ballroom floor at the South Bank Centre.
Coming Of Age for Akademi was created in 2000. An extensive and elaborate site specific performance event in and around the South Bank Centre, Filip choreographed a section of this work for Kathak dancers, which led to further work in India in 2002.
Triplicity was created for the South Bank Centre. Initiated with separate groups in England, Ireland and Belgium, each creating and performing their own site specific works, the project culminated in bringing 50 young people together for sharing, learning and creating material for a performance in the ballroom of the South Bank Centre. A truly integrative project with live music from the Jules Maxwell Project.
