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MIDSUMMER COURSES 2024

SANQUHAR, DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY, SCOTLAND
 

20 – 24 JUNE 2024

Presented by

NONSUCH HISTORY & DANCE 

Supported by LABAN GUILD INTERNATIONAL,

UNESCO International Dance Council members

 

THURSDAY 20th June 2024

1pm – 2pm SUMMER SOLSTICE SHOW

CRAWICK MULTIVERSE

NONSUCH / OPERA LABAN / BALANCE

Tickets from https://www.crawickmultiverse.co.uk/our-events/summer-solstice-2/

 

4pm – 5pm FAMILY DANCE WORKSHOP

SANQUHAR TOWN HALL

BALANCE

*FREE EVENT (donations welcome)

 

7.45pm DANCE PERFORMANCE

SANQUHAR TOWN HALL

BALANCE SHOW

*FREE EVENT (donations welcome)

 

FRIDAY 21st June 2024

9.30am – 10.45am DANCE WORKSHOP

SANQUHAR TOWN HALL

UPS AND DOWNS

Expressive Dance and Improvisation Workshop

MONIKA KOCH (Austria)

*FREE EVENT (donations welcome)

 

1.30pm – 2.30pm VICTORIAN GARDEN PARTY

A’ THE AIRTS, SANQUHAR

NONSUCH

Family fun with dance and song

Please contact https://atheairts.org.uk

 

7.45pm MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM DANCE 

SANQUHAR TOWN HALL

NONSUCH (Renaissance period)

Social Dancing

*FREE EVENT (donations welcome)

 

SATURDAY 22nd June 2024

7.45pm OPERA LABAN PERFORMANCE

SANQUHAR TOWN HALL

DENISE TELLES HOSTRA (Brazil)

*FREE EVENT (donations welcome)

 

SUNDAY 23rd June 2024

1pm – 2pm DANCE DRAMA PERFORMANCE

CRAWICK MULTIVERSE Sun Amphitheatre

NONSUCH Laban Centenary Dance Drama project (Prometheus / Agamemnon)

*FREE EVENT with ticket to Multiverse https://www.crawickmultiverse.co.uk

 

7.45pm VICTORIAN BALL

SANQUHAR TOWN HALL

NONSUCH (19th century period)

Social Dancing

*FREE EVENT (donations welcome)

 

INFORMATION

 

NONSUCH HISTORY & DANCE

Nonsuch Is a registered UK charity

Scotland SC051378

England & Wales number 272513

NONSUCH has run international dance courses in Sanquhar since 2018, and works regularly on Theatre, Film & TV including with Len Goodman & Lucy Worsley on BBC4 DANCING CHEEK TO CHEEK.

Artistic Director: Darren Royston is an international choreographer, appearing on TV as Shakespeare’s Dancing Master.

 

KENEISH DANCE (Birmingham, UK)
BALANCE – a cellular dance show

Keneish Dance present a show called BALANCE.

 

How do your cells regenerate themselves in your body?...

Come see a dance show to learn more!

 

This is a ground-breaking collaboration between science and art.

Contemporary dance choreographer Keisha Grant has been working alongside Professor Darius Koester, at Warwick University, with PhD Biology students and professional dancers. The show dives deep into the profound mechanics and behaviour of regenerating cells. Dancers move within zorb balls and interact as energised bodies sharing the space. Cells have to be resilient in challenging environments. This is a metaphor for struggles of injustice in the wider human world. How can we find balance in an ever-changing world?

 

Get ready to be captivated by the elegance of cellular dance, conveying a powerful message of healing.

 

The performance will be presented by five young professional dancers.

A preview will be performed at the Crawick Multiverse for the summer solstice 1pm, with a workshop for Families and children of all ages at 4pm, before the full performance at 7.45pm at the Town Hall (50 minutes).

 

Keisha Grant, Artistic Director, Keneish Dance.

Born in Birmingham, UK to Jamaican parents, Keisha began dance lessons in ballet, tap, and jazz, being awarded the most promising dancer in the West Midlands, before at age 18 receiving a Dance and Drama Award at Trinity Laban in London. Having toured internationally as a dancer, she founded Keneish Dance in 2009. This project is supported by the Arts Council of England and Laban Guild International.

 

For more information see:

https://www.keneishdance.com/about/

 

OPERA LABAN: Denise Telles Hostra (Brazil)

A Solo performance with the singer Denise Telles Hofstra from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Singing and dancing the poetry of Brazilian composers Heitor Villa-Lobos and Tarsila do Amaral.

Denise trained in the art of movement, using Rudolf Laban’s interpretation of the architecture of the body.

Come see harmony between dance and song, and become immersed with the music of Brazil for an hour-long show.

 

NONSUCH HISTORY AND DANCE (UK)

MEDIEVAL MIDSUMMER SUMMER SOLSTICE SHOW

Inspired by the cosmic land art forms of the Multiverse, we will present historical dances to celebrate the Summer Solstice.

A Medieval Midsummer pageant, where the Sun & Moon invite the planets of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury to each lead a dance to display their dignified powers.

There will be an opportunity in the final part of the show for people to join in the circle dance around the Sun, performing one of the oldest dance songs in English that has been handed down to us: “SUMER IS ICUMEN IN” – Summer is Coming! 

INTERNATIONAL DANCE & DRAMA COURSE 2024 – offers classes in dances from medieval, Renaissance, Victorian periods and exploring the ideas of Noverre’s Lettres sur la Danse (1760)

 

Vis a Vis Tanztheater: MONIKA KOCH (Austria)

UPS AND DOWNS

Expressive Dance and Improvisation Workshop:

 

Friday 21st June, 09:30 – 10:45 Sanquhar Town Hall.

An introduction workshop, suitable for all levels from beginner to advanced. 

We will dance, improvise and create movement and dance together, guided by our own hopes, visions and dreams.

 

Using ideas from the European Dance Tradition, rooted in the work of Rudolf Laban, the grandfather of contemporary dance, this introduction will include Elements of Movement meditation and focused breath work.

 

“In the moment of improvisation we forget everything just like children absorbed in play,

exploring endless, extraordinary possibilities through the rhythms of human emotion in contact with others.”

 

Anneliese Monika Koch is a graduate of Trinity Laban London, Moscow School of Dramatic Art, Hilde Holger School of

Modern European Dance, Bremen University Germany, and has been professor at Trinity Laban on MA European Dance Theatre and for Vienna University.

 

LABAN GUILD INTERNATIONAL

UNESCO INTERNATIONAL DANCE COUNCIL member

Supporting the development of work in movement, dance and drama.

Subscribers receive regular copies of the magazine MOVEMENT, DANCE & DRAMA

Please contact https://labanguildinternational.org.uk

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Dancing Master:

DARREN ROYSTON

(Dramatic Dance RADA, The Laban Guild for Movement & Dance,

                                    Paradance UK, Harmonic Interactive Healing)

 

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If you have a non-dancing partner they can eat with the group in the evening, please ask for prices.

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ACCOMMODATION : 

All rooms must be booked independently. 

We can recommend the following: 

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  • Bed & Breakfast (also has Caravan Site and Self Catering accommodation) Newark Farm  www.newarkfarm.com

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AIR BnB offer bookings in Sanquhar and the local area 

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Please get in touch if you need help in finding a place to stay or with the travel arrangements.

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TRAVEL: 

Those travelling by train should arrive at Sanquhar station. 

Trains run from LONDON EUSTON to SANQUHAR with one change of train at CARLISLE. Trains run from GLASGOW direct to SANQUHAR. 

GLASGOW airport for national and international flights, including low-cost airlines from London [Gatwick / Luton / Stansted] 

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COVID:

We will be following Covid 19 Cultural Performance and Events Guidance from the Scottish Government. To reduce risk and to create a safe environment during the Course. Specific guidance will be sent out a week prior to attending. We encourage international travellers to check the latest advice from the country of departure to Scotland.   

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Any queries on the course please email [info@nonsuchdance.co.uk]

                     

SUMMER COURSE Testimonials

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In July 2019 we came together to recreate the Masque of the Planets, originally created by Leonardo de Vinci for the Duke of Milan in 1490. This took place in the Scottish village of Sanquhar, a delightful venue with the dance hall literally across the road from the Nithsdale Hotel, where many of us stayed and enjoyed excellent hospitality and food.

Darren Royston led us with friendly expertise through the steps and techniques of Italien Renaissance dance, making it easy to absorb and remember. From there we rehearsed the individual dances of the masque,.each one representing a planet, as many as were known at that time, and each expressing the culture of the era. This culminated with a performance in costumeinfront of of an audience of the local people, who really enjoyed it, as did we.

I really enjoyed the social side too, including a Sunday morning walk to the Crawick Multiverse Art project nearby, followed by a delicious buffet lunch. a superbly organised memorable few days in a lovely setting ~ I would definitely come to another Nonsuch Summer Course.

GILL PLANT

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I was inspired by the Nonsuch Summer Course 2019 in Sanquhar Scotland 2019. Darren Royston teaches from a deep historical understanding while acknowledging the socio economic humanity in which these dances were created. The dancers whether beginner or professional were challenged and included in the final presentation. The Course was well organized and provided several choices for food and lodging so that attendees could choose what worked best for them. I returned to teaching my Dance for Parkinson’s classes with many dances and steps I could use to introduce my students to historical dance. Thank you for being so welcoming Nonsuch Dance and beautiful Sanquhar.

Virginia Belt

Portland, Oregon, USA 

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