Community Dance is the focus of our group, the journey of expression and creativity in the form of dance. We are a small group of over 55’s and simply love dancing, we use our thoughts and expressions to challenge the creative process. We meet weekly and undertake class to prepare our bodies and minds for physical activity and enjoy exploring the different choreographic devices to create work. We each contribute our ideas and thoughts into movements and collectively explore themes and produce performance pieces. I have been working with this group for a little over two years and during this time we have undertaken a range of performance projects. Our favourite being our lockdown piece on zoom.

Working with the over 55’s is a pleasure, not without challenges but the life experience they bring to the creative journey is one to be celebrated. They are open to creative challenges, supportive of alternative suggestions and highly aware of their limitations. Physically there may be differences, but we communicate and accommodate the varying physiques to enable our expression to be individual. Creatively this group are proving to be interesting and innovative. It is a pleasure working with them.

‘Sustentation’ was a piece that started our journey, in our living rooms, via zoom. The restrictive and oppressive nature of the space and confinement in which we were living, isolated from friends and family initiated our creative project. Expressing our feelings using Laban’s movement analysis as a stimulus for creative tasks we individually choreographed our solos. It is what kept us going through lockdown and served to feed our creative needs. Upon returning to the studio our joy and freedom was expressed in our dance of ‘waves’, the unison and linking of our movements whilst exploring the octahedron and personal kinesphere in a larger space is reflected in our group piece. This harmoniously and seamlessly flows into our finale piece, aptly titled the ‘happy phrase’. Each section represents a different stage and emotion during lockdown and into the new normal of our current world. It is dance that has kept us going through challenging times. The combination of Laban’s movement analysis with gestures of the everyday makes for an interesting combination of movements. This is something that I find makes dance personal and relatable. Fusions of styles, techniques, and everyday movements with the juxtaposition of time, space and effort is a creative journey I enjoy.

Dance for camera is a new passion for me. I wanted to guide the viewer and take them on a journey to see moments, extracts of movements, to try to create a different viewpoint for the audience. I wanted the audience to feel part of the journey.  Whilst we normally undertake site specific pieces, our recent choreography has taken a different turn. This is our first dance for camera piece and the challenges this has brought have been exciting. I hope to explore future projects and dance for camera for our site-specific pieces.

I love working with NTR performers, a mixture of eclectic styles and background, some experienced dancers, others new to dance. This provides a rich culture of diversity and inclusivity, something I am passionate about. Dance as a means for expression, creativity, and joy. Dance for all.

Gemma Siamantas

Book your place at HOST https://www.danceeast.co.uk/workshops/host-2022-lets-create/