"This is it!"
I thought to myself, at my first training session with Candoco dance. Three weeks passed by so quickly, and before I knew it I was already sitting on my flight back to Armenia. I couldn't help notice that, in a way, this act of flying actually pretty nicely reflects my current "post-Candoco" state of mind. I have been on this unique, all-inclusive "trip" upon which age, ability, and background have had almost no bearing, and in some ways the experience has been almost exactly like being carried by a tremendous aircraft, bringing all of us on this journey irrespective of any of our individual characteristics. We have, in some ways, all been propelled forward by a force greater than ourselves, hardly realising what has been carrying us or how high we were, or even what direction we have been heading... and this is what I am left with now at the culmination of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at Candoco Dance Company in the UK.
I can only express my gratitude to the British Council for giving me the opportunity to experience this unique opportunity of "flight", in all of the literal, figurative and symbolic senses of the word. I must also thank Candoco Dance Company for opening to me this chance to "fly" mentally and physically with everyone who I met for those three precious weeks, never for a moment focusing on my own abilities and those of others. The course was all about individuality, the main aspect of which lay in each person being perceived and interacted with as a special and unique being on this planet. Throughout, I could not but bear in mind that together with these people, we share the kinds of values and approach that could truly change the world.
Thinking back to how all of this began, I recall the phone call from a British Council colleague, Narek Tovmasyan. “You have been chosen with three other participants – Seta White (a theatre director, producer and actor based in the UK), Marianna Poghosian (a ballerina with the National Ballet of Armenia) and Hayk Hobosyan (a hip hop dancer/teacher and winner of the first So You Think You Can Dance? in Armenia) – to represent Armenia for a three week internship with Candoco dance company. The aim of the project is that, with the support of British Council in Armenia and with your help as individuals and your shared values as a group, we will be able to establish a professional inclusive dance company similar to Candoco which could shed new light on the dance industry in Armenia.”
The actual journey for me started on 18 October 2013. First, we met our mentor, Victoria Malin, an artist from Candoco who did everything for the "A team” as she chose to christen us. Our first training day started with a professional contemporary technique class with Jürg Koch, a previous Candoco dancer, and an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. His unique approach towards the inclusive technique class gave us the opportunity to explore our abilities within our limits. This five day section culminated in a dialogue discussion event at Trinity Laban, where Jürg presented his work alongside other panel members, such as Kate Marsh (Dance lecturer and PhD researcher at Coventry University). The exchange was all about how inclusive dance started, where we are now, and what we have to do to expand and deepen the idea.
We then had three days of intensive teacher training led by two Candoco artists, Annie Hanauer and Andrew Graham. It was wonderful, as a trained teacher at Royal Academy of Dance in London, to be taught by other experts over three intense days.
We not only had the chance to be present at Candoco's rehearsals and see the way they work inclusively as a group of seven artists, but we also had the chance to enjoy the pieces on different stages. I have to mention the fantastic piece called This is it, performed by our mentor Victoria Mali and choreographed by Mattias Sperling. This performance had a tremendous impact on all of us and the title of performance has stuck in my mind ever since.
There was one particular day at studio when we had a guest Candoco artist Dan Daw; he is such a bright and intelligent person, with a personality that influenced me a great deal in the short period of time we had. I had been given a chance to choreograph a small piece that everyone performed (including Victoria Malin, Dan Daw and our 'A team'). Remarkably, on that day we had guests from BBC’s See Hear programme: they came and filmed the choreographic piece we developed as a group, while also filming Hayk Hobosyan's small hip-hop routine. It was magic.
Our internship came to an end with a moving and beautifully choreographed/performed inclusive piece by Cando2, with the collaboration of students from the Centre for Advanced Training at The Place. The performance was part of Yael Flexer’s Anniversary, and I truly would have never imagined seeing such an amazing piece of inclusive collaborative work.
You know when there are times in one's life where an odd confluence or convergence happens, where everything appears all at once so great and so beautiful that one only gets a feeling of fear that you will lose the beauty, all in one second? Or those moments that you start to realise that just maybe, finally, all your hard work for years and years has just been realised, manifested and appreciated? This is also the kind of moment where you start feeling the alignment, the sense that you are finally on your mission and on the path for which you were born? These were the kinds of feelings that overcame me more than once throughout and at the culmination of these three weeks.
You may now understand why, sitting in that plane on my return flight home, I explored this unusual range of feelings about the concept of flight. I want to take this journey I have been on and bring it to bear on every single person I work with in Armenia. I want this feeling to influence all those who may be open to the unparalleled beauty and potential of inclusive dance. This brings back memories of my first meeting with Arevik Saribekyan, Director of the British Council in Armenia, and her words to us, "This project is my baby and I trust you guys to take care of her”. Today, I can only think how I could not anything BUT to make every effort to cultivate and nurture that little baby that she has entrusted in us... so that the Candoco "flight" I am still on, can continue to be an open journey in an unlimited blue (Armenian!) sky.
