Andrew Dance – Andrew Wood's dance diary

Stage dancing : Christmas Lights 2019, Oxford

On Saturday 16 November, dancer Jo Dyer, cellist Josie Webber and I, took to the stage in Oxford at the Christmas Lights Festival. We performed a revised version of the ‘In-between’ dance created earlier in the year.

Dissidence : a dance

This dance theatre composition ‘Dissidence’, uses techniques from contact improvisation. It’s intended for performance at a fringe festival or in an art gallery, or similar setting.

All life a dance : a sea life story

Fiona Bennett and I, have been writting a series of childrens’ stories involving sea creatures. One of them involves dance, and so I thought we’d share it with you. Enjoy the story.

‘I learn so much from my [dance] students’

‘I learn so much from my students’ is often said by those who teach. But is it true? Teaching/facilitating at a session of Oxford Contact Dance in October, I had something of a rude awakening!

Yoga into dance : narratives from yoga & dance

Yoga into Dance was a two hour class led by me and Ashka from Ashka Zasada Yoga on 13 October at Oxford Contact Dance. Afterwards, I pondered our use of narratives in the session.

Freiburg Contact Festival 2019: My Scrapbook

I attended the Freiburg Contact Festival 2019. Afterwards, I made a scrapbook using entries in my dance diary and accompanying photos. You can see it here (PDF).

I also photographed the Freiburg Contact Festival too.

Freiburg Contact Festival 2019: Dance the light fantastic

This summer, I attended the Freiburg Contact Festival in southern Germany. The festival is now in its twentieth year. The dancing and dancers are well documented by dedicated photographers. But the place, its light, and its buildings where equally of interest and less explored.

Fountain: a dance

Ideas for dance rarely come from nowhere. A few years ago, I saw a fantastic image of a man throwing a handful of small sticks into the air. The photograph had caught the movement, and indeed the moment in time as the sticks were suspended in a ‘stick cloud’. That was my starting point for a dance involving buckets and water.

Rope tricks: a class with Maga Radlowska – Judd

At the class of London Contact Improvisation on Saturday 15 June, Maga Radlowska – Judd explored the theme of ‘Awaken ‘ninjas’. The use of rope as a teaching aid added another to my list of them used in classes for contact improvisation.

In-between Performance films

There were two films of the In-between performance shot on Saturday 25 May by Fiona Bennett. A short feature with highlights, and a full length version. Both are presented here.