KJ’s thoughts on ‘Us’

We asked KJ (one of our fantastic dancers) to share her experience on creating ‘Us’ with GlassHouse. This is her response….

I am lucky to have been working with GlassHouse for over a year now. I started with the company back in April 2014 with the creation of “You, Me & Everybody Else”, I am currently working on the creation of “Us”. I feel very privileged to be a part of such a wholesome company which nourishes my creativity and pushes my performance skills in new exciting directions.

image1
What a wonderful journey it has been so far… Beautiful people creating a beautiful and free environment to hatch fresh ideas. Throughout this week GlassHouse (Laura McGill and Sarah Lewis) have been researching and creating with both myself (KJ Mortimer) and Luke Brown for new work which will (fingers crossed) tour in the near future.

image2
I am writing this blog on my train home from our first week and am feeling full up of gratitude… At the forefront of my mind stands the feeling of how special it is to work with lovely people whom you can share laughter and drive to create work you all feel excited by. This week has pushed Luke and KJ’s Characters within the GlassHouse narrative to another level, another space in time and whole new realm of fantasy and imagination! It’s been a delight to work with Laura and Sarah (and Luke) within this week getting to know them both as people and their choreographic minds. I fully respect their ethos and in making dance for the street and busking dance theatre I get to be a part of this exciting journey too! Is the street ready for “a brand new beat?… Summer is here and the time is right for dancing in the street” with “Us”.

This is a little snippet of the week…
Arriving. Train. Ipswich. Norwich. Dance. Dance East. The Garage. The Arts Centre. Studios. Sunshine. Rain. Fun. Friends. Artistry. Ideas. Creativity. Relationships. Smiles. Drinks. Horoscopes. Cancer. Virgo. Gemini. Leo. Love. Love stages. 9. A Love duo. Luke. KJ. Luke’s bandana. Laura. Laughter. Sarah. Street art. Street dance. Busking. Swing dancing. Cartwheels. Contemporary Eric. Cocktails. Kate Bush. Running. More laughter. Guess the Into. Decades. Ultimate Hits. Coffee trips. Chocolate. Cashews. Dolly Parton. 90.s. George Michael. 4 shows. 2 days. A week of absolute fun, hard happy work and a now a new duet “US” .

image4

It’s a pleasure to invest in Laura and Sarah’s vision and help bring those creative sparks to life. This week has been full of inspiration, energy, excitement and laughter. Thank you Laura, Sarah and Luke!

By KJ Mortimer

Love Dance

lovedancewebsite

We love dance, so we are hosting a social event to show it. We will kick off by teaching a special one-off social dance workshop to get you moving. This will be followed by live music from The Vagaband as well as dj’s spinning all sorts of dancing tunes to get your feet shuffling. Dance films and cabaret performances will be presented throughout the night. So put on your dancing shoes, dust off your favourite moves and come and show your love of dance!
This is a fundraising event for GlassHouse, all proceeds will be invested in the company allowing us to continue making exciting and engaging performances as well as offering opportunities for everyone to experience dance.

Doors open from 7pm. Dance class at 7.30pm

Wednesday 10th June 2015
7:00 PM
£6.50 Adv : £8.00 Door
Venue: Norwich Arts Centre

Tickets are aviable online www.norwichartscentre.co.uk or by calling 01603 660352

You, Me and Everybody Else

You, Me and Everybody Else
May 10th 2014
Norwich
11am, 1.30pm and 4pm

A new dance-theatre performance for the street by GlassHouse

Set in various locations across the city, three duets unfold to tell the story of a relationship seen at different points in time. The audience is taken on a journey that reflects the couples own, at points comic and laugh-out-loud at others poignant and touching. Beginning with them falling in love for the first time, the question is where will you and they end up next?

All performances begin at The Book Hive, London Street, lasting for approximately 1 hour.

This performance is the first stage of development for GlassHouse.

These are FREE performances as part of Norfolk & Norwich Festival

Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/glasshousedance
Web:glasshousedance.wordpress.com

  

Inspiration: Wildwood

My final post on inspiration behind ‘Space to Move’. I love this book. At the heart of it Roger Deakin writes beautifully on how important trees are to our culture and our lives. The wood is where we go to ‘grow, learn and change’.

Roger Deakin: Wildwood

“The Chinese count wood as the fifth element and Jung considered trees an archetype. Nothing can compete with these larger-than-life organisms for signalling the changes in the natural world. They are our barometers of the weather and the changing of the seasons. We tell the time of year by them. Trees have the capacity to rise to the heavens and connect us to the sky, to endure, to renew, to bear fruit and to burn and keep us warm through winter.”