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Archive for the ‘News’ Category
April 6th, 2013 by Emma
 Baking makes a mess. And the muffins will take 20 minutes to cook. So, with 20 minutes and a pile of washing up, I check my new Nike+ FuelBand:
Fuel miles = 1028
Calories burned since start of day = 267
Right. Cleaning commences.
Washing and cleaning dishes isn’t the most taxing of duties, so I find it more interesting and challenging to activate different body parts, muscles, joints etc… wriggling (wrigglers burn more fuel), internal grooving, occasional balancing – yes, all the while, scrubbing the dishes.
Knowing that these simple household chores are good ways to get the body moving and even warm it up on a cold day helps motivate. Consider how active bodies used to be without washing machines, dryers, vacuum cleaners etc … There were a great many fit women (predominantly) about then.
Dishes done. And 80 fuel miles and nearly 35 calories burned from some causal wiggling action while doing the dishes.
The Nike+ FuelBand is not yet available in Australia, so I ordered one online. A month later and this exciting little technological toy arrived. So what does it do? It tells you how active you are being – and when you are being active – by keeping score of your day (steps, “Fuel Points”, calories and time of day) and syncing to an app on your iOS device: where you are, what you are doing and the intensity of what you are doing.
Often we think we are being active and burning fuel when actually we are not. And vice versa. A good brisk walk might not feel that active, nor doing some casual household chores, but you are in fact using all of your body and earning many “Fuel points”. I have only just started to use my FuelBand and so will keep you updated on more of its uses as I discover them.
One drawback is for yogis and cyclists: the FuelBand monitors movement through arm motion and does not monitor heart rate, so it cannot give you an accurate account of these activities – ie: ones which are intense without arm swinging action. Also, sadly, it is not waterproof (water resistant only) so swimming is out too. Still, for me, with winter on its way and a lot of time spent dancing, moving and training in studios, it will provide me with a lot of useful and quite simply interesting information.
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Posted by Emma Tags: Calories, Exercise, Nike, Nike+ FuelBand
Posted in Body Playground, Lifestyle, News | 7 Comments »
January 17th, 2013 by Emma
 Hello readers.
I have just returned from Israel where I was taking part in the GaGa winter Intensive being held at Batsheva Dance Company.
GaGa?
GaGa is the movement philosophy or approach Batsheva’s Artistic Director, Ohad Naharin, has been developing over the course of his 30 odd year career making, teaching and doing dance.
The philosophy is not so much revolutionary as it is contemporary and evolutionary. “Availability” is the term thrown about… Availability and attention. The idea is that through listening and awakening your body you are able to fill your movement with such a full presence of mind and matter you take greater joy from the dance and move with greater “honesty”.
The philosophy is one thing, the class is another.
GaGa classes have been developed in two streams: GaGa/Dancers and GaGa/People. They follow a similar structure of guided improvisation work flowing through series of imagination and visualisation movement “drivers”. The instructor guides you through these drivers using a system of energy spikes – peaks and troughs of size, form and speed with each different motivation. As you progress, you accumulate layer upon layer of information and discovery within the body so that by the end you are filled with movement possibilities as you embark on your own improvisation dance.
50 dancers (and some non-dancers) flew in from around the world to take part in this winter intensive. For me, the most powerful component was being in Tel Aviv and learning at the source. There, one fully grasps from where the ideas have grown. Although I would argue the philosophy is not unique to Israel and to GaGa, it is the approach to the philosophy, its application and the abandon and joy one finds through the movement that are intimately linked to the place of its birth.
I experienced learning from a great many teachers – and as is always the case, some worked better for me than others. The success of the class is very much reliant on the ability of the teacher to transmit the ideas both physically and vocally. The teacher must have both a physical embodiment of the practice, that can be observed and responded to, as well as an intuitive skill with movement metaphor. Naturally, as we are all different, we are all going to respond differently to different bodies and ideas. However, there were certainly some teachers who unequivocably appealed to everyone.
Most of the teachers were either past or current Batsheva dancers, and as is the way with the “approach”, they each develop the class and the philosophy through their own individual voice. In this way, it is an ever growing and evolving practice as new discoveries and motivations are constantly being found and incorporated.
I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in Tel Aviv – not just the course, but the new cultural encounter. The people, the food, the language, the place. Back in Australia, I am looking forward to incorporating more and more of the ideas I gathered into my own movement practice, as well as communicating these ideas through the classes I offer.
From my first taste, GaGa felt familiar and intuitively sympatico, like I’d come home. For me, the body is a playground. It has always been one!
This recent experience of GaGa has provided just another way to explore the body’s toys and tools- its slippery dips, slides and swings- finding ever more possibility, courage and joy.
 
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Posted by Emma Tags: Batsheva Dance Company, Emma Sandall, GaGa, Israel, Ohad Naharin, Tel Aviv, training
Posted in Body Playground, Enquiries, Lifestyle, News, Wellbeing | No Comments »
July 11th, 2012 by Emma
 Fleck&Flecker, the Ludwig dance duo’s new work about, well, themselves and life and creation… with animated extras.
Subiaco Arts Centre Upstairs Studio – August 22 to 25 – Tickets through Bocs Ticketing 08 9484 1133.
http://www.bocsticketing.com.au/whats-on/1381/fleck-and-flecker/
“Life and creation. The two hand in hand, a not always loving relationship, everyday creating another day of living in the world and being and negotiating with new dreamt, junked, dealt with regard.”
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Posted by Emma Posted in News | 1 Comment »
June 16th, 2012 by Emma
Again, a long distance between blogs, but here’s the latest Ludwig news… Since returning from Stuttgart in April, we completed the second development process of Fleck&Flecker and are now ready, with support from the DCA and from OzCo, to enter the final stage of development. The funding we received will also enable us, as planned, to perform the work at the Subiaco Arts Centre Upstairs Studio in August. Dates are yet to be finalised… but watch this space. We are planning five shows and places are limited! F&F gives you an extremely intimate insight into the weird and wonderful world of Cass and Emma as well as a space to drift off into your own reflections on partnerships, dance and what it’s all about.
But that’s not all. Meantime, Cass has begun a new work with West Australian Ballet to be premiered in 2013 at the Quarry. It is more than a delight to be working with the outstanding dancers of the company in their stunning, world class, new premises.
This dance veteran has never seen such beautiful and well considered facilities for a company in the world. Congratulations WAB!
I had a wee adventure of my own, joining Sofie Burgoyne and Martin del Amo, in the studio at CIA to play with concepts and tools for thinking about text in dance. It was an inspiring workshop, filled with ideas and exercises and a room of lovely, interesting creative movers.
In a week’s time, the dance students of PLC will be putting on an evening of work including a small contribution of my own to Janis Joplin’s “Summertime”. Although time to create and rehearse was, well, non-existent, the girls have done a good job. Fingers crossed…
So, that’s about all for now. We will keep you up to date with our progress and look forward to seeing some of you in Subi in August.
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Posted by Emma Tags: CIA studios, Martin del Amo, Subiaco Arts Centre, West Australian Ballet
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April 1st, 2012 by Emma
Fleck&Flecker is a dance duet. It is a piece about… partnership. From the personal to the political. It touches and touches on, moves through, around and with, ideas about getting together, staying together, morphing, growing, adapting and compromising, sometimes… With Ludwig’s signature twist, Fleck&Flecker incorporates animated projection, absurdist and sketchy, like the minds of its creators.
Fleck&Flecker will be premiering in August 2012 at the Subiaco Arts Centre Upstairs Studio.
For more information and to keep up to date, subscribe to our blog or join our mailing list by writing to del@ludwig.com.au 
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Posted by Emma Posted in News | 4 Comments »
March 25th, 2012 by Emma
 For the past week Emma and Cass have been in Stuttgart participating in the 16th International Solo-Dance-Theatre Festival, a special year dedicated to the late Tanja Liedtke.  The festival is held in the Robert Bosch studio theatre at Treffpunkt Rotebuhlplatz, a fascinating complex of studios, halls, spaces and staircases. 
18 solo works from around the world were presented over three nights and ours, BodySong, was presented as the final work on the second night of performances.
Cass danced Emma’s extremely demanding piece superbly, with heightened energy, charisma and interpretation. It was extremely well received. Following the performance, the dancers and choreographers sat informally on stage to receive audience questions.
The Stuttgart Solo-Dance-Theatre Festival doubles as a “competition” for which between six – eight works are chosen for the fourth night gala and subsequently six awards (three for choreography and three for dance) are given by a jury consisting of five distinguished, international figures from the dance world. Cass and BodySong were chosen to be presented in the gala along with seven other works from Israel, Chad, England, Portugal and Germany. And Cass was most deservedly awarded the third prize for best dancer. 
This festival is yet another brilliant platform for new work to be seen, tried, tasted and responded to. It is also a wonderful arena for creators and performers to push their boundaries and experiment a little further conceptually, theatrically and physically.
Such events as this are so important for meeting and networking with other people from your medium – opening doors for new opportunities and creating connections for the future.  
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Posted by Emma Posted in News | 1 Comment »
December 3rd, 2011 by Emma
From March 15-18 2012, Stuttgart is hosting its 16th International Solo-Dance-Theatre Festival at TREFFPUNKT Rotebühlplatz and Ludwig will be there. BodySong, a new work created by Emma and performed by Cass, has been chosen along with 17 other solo works from around the world. The Solo-Dance–Theatre Festival celebrates and showcases equally choreographers and solo artists, so we are extremely excited to be involved in this prestigious event.
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July 31st, 2011 by Emma
 Hello everyone who follows our blog posts. Sorry it’s been a wee while. We’re in Vienna if you didn’t already know. Impulstanz has put us up in a lovely apartment in Burggasse for a month and we are profiting from seeing 22 performances which are here as part of the festival. So far we have seen nine. They have ranged from the extreme mad pointe-shoe choreography of LaLaLa Human Steps to the extreme mad in-your-face theatrics of Jan Fabre. There’s some in between stuff but for the most part here work tends to be in the realm of the extreme! What we will take from it we will all see…
We are creating. We have a studio that we use seven days a week and yep, we’re making a work for us, on us and not only about us. Fleck and Flecker make a little appearance as well. It’s going swimmingly. We like it! We’re writing text, making music, making animation and generally luxuriating in creativity for a month. It makes us happy and determined so watch this space.
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Baking makes a mess. And the muffins will take 20 minutes to cook. So, with 20 minutes and a pile of washing up, I check my new Nike+ FuelBand:
