Life for dancers, and other artists, changed abruptly in the third week of March. Lockdown meant that not only were all performances cancelled but it was no longer possible to create work, lead workshops or hold regular classes in studios or community venues.  The solution was to move everything on-line, but how easy is this to do?  Tara, Assistant Producer with Hull Dance and owner of the Mckeown Irish Dance Academy reflects on how she and her students have explored zoom together.

I still can’t quite believe how quickly lockdown happened and our normal routines and support structures simple disappeared. I find it even more amazing that within a few weeks people started to find ways to stay connected and, for most of the time at least, look forward and try to find the positive in this moment of history. We know some people have suffered huge anxiety as loved ones became very ill and many suffered bereavement either directly or indirectly from covid-19.  Our thoughts are with you all, grief is a lonely place even when we have support, social distancing

By Michelle Dee Ar galiu su jumis pašokti? Contemporary Dance returned to the Live Art Space in spectacular fashion with the arrival of Aura Dance Theatre to Ferens Art Gallery this weekend. Saturday evening at Transgressions 2019 saw the first ever visit to the UK by Lithuania’s leading dance company Aura led by Birutė Letukaitė. ‘I Wish to be the blossom of a Fern’ Aura Dance Theatre at Transgressions 2019 Audiences were treated to a sensational full-length dance work I Wish To Be The Blossom of a Fern. And what a performance, with bold, imaginative choreography, beauty and exuberance. It

By Michelle Dee Kaya was tribal, ritualistic. I thought it was Egypt, Pharaohs with fantastic balance of emotion and strength and power, the strength being in performance and the ability of the dancers who although each individuals, worked seamlessly as one-Helen Powell, dancer It will please choreographer Ceyda Tanc that Helen mentions ‘Pharaohs’ when responding to the dance work Kaya. Ceyda (pronounced Jayda) actively takes traditional Turkish male choreography for her company to embody and presents it within a contemporary score. I was very taken by the storytelling, astonished by the ability to create an atmosphere of intrigue and mysticism

by Michelle Dee Dancing, breathing, learning some of the best things in life… Inside a pop-up studio on Humber Street the pro-company are applying the polish to their section of Smudge, throwing themselves to the floor, and high kicks to the heavens. The community cast wait and watch for their cue as the music and the movement builds to an angelic climax. Over six days a group of professional dancers from Hull and a community cast – including myself – made up of regulars from the weekly adult contemporary class at State of the Arts, Gary Clarke’s Into the Light,

By Michelle Dee Transgressions 2019 was a dance festival that explored questions about dual – cultural heritage, how do groups and people new to a country use dance to find their identity as individuals and artists? It is no accident that Lithuanian companies and performers feature so heavily throughout the three day programme, the first being Okarukas Dance Theatre and the site-specific work ‘Birds’. Apocalyptic scenes in a car park in Hull as something disturbing and utterly compelling  emerges from the side door of a family hatchback. This is Birds and it is unlike any dance performance I have ever