“As choreographers, dancers and directors, we understand the pressure artists have on their body and the need to continue training, as well as developing their creative ideas. As a company, we understand the value of working with other artists and receiving advice. As sisters we had each other to give that support and guidance. It is now our turn to share our experience and expertise.”
Kristina and Sadé Alleyne
What is the Alleyne Dance Mentorship Programme?
The Alleyne Dance Mentorship Programme is an online programme that supports the professional development of early-career dance artists as they navigate their career paths. The mentorship programme seeks to offer a holistic approach that includes practical learning, sharing of knowledge as well as guidance to help inspire and encourage artists.
The Alleyne Dance Mentorship Programme offers:
• The opportunity to work close & personal with Alleyne Dance
• Access to resources & external support from Alleyne Dance contacts
• Regular online contemporary dance training through pre-recorded classes
• Access to resources & external support from Alleyne Dance contacts
• Personal + Professional Development
• Guidance for furthering your career
ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT
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Who is this for?
2-Month Programme led online for Artists who want a look into how they are laying their foundation as a freelancer; For Artists in a transitional period of their career, such as a recent graduate; and for Artists interested in training in the Alleyne Dance style of movement.
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What you’ll get:
Regular Online Contemporary Dance Classes, Workshops and Creative Sessions
Building your freelance package: CV / Cover Letter / Showreels etc
One-on-one feedback on audition techniques
General advice on networking
Direct guidance on your artistic and professional growth
Detailed resource sheet with projects and opportunities listed
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Criteria:
In order for an application to be considered, the artist must:
- Be a dance artist with some contemporary dance understanding
- Age 18-26
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One-on-one Meeting Dates:
Beginning February 2024
Fees
£250
Option to pay in full or in 2 installments of £125
The Programme
The Artistic Development programme strand is a 2-month programme providing a look into how the artist is laying their foundation as an individual artist.
Upon our first meeting together, Alleyne Dance will outline the programme and learn more about what and how you want to grow within these 2 months. We want to further understand your goals to ensure we create a personal and progressive experience for you to carry forward after the programme.
Artistically
We will focus on different artistic and professional preparations during our one-to-one meetings. Our meetings here are to help tailor everything you provide in the industry to honestly present you and your talent.
Each session we will focus on and create revisions of:
- Organisation for job applications/castings/auditions such as:
- CV organisation
- Letters of interest (also known as cover letters)
- Showreel feedback
- Audition preparation
- Headshot tips
- Biography writing
- Opening conversations with companies and choreographers you want to work with
- Discussions on upskilling and discovering new pathways in the industry
Physically
We will track your movement progression and stylistic growth. You will have access to weekly pre-recorded classes and will have a check-in with Alleyne Dance halfway through the training to talk about how the sessions went and any questions you have to help for your last half of the programme. We will work on:
- Isolations of the body, focusing on where movement begins & how the body responds
- Hands focusing on how the hands create texture, imagery & memory in movements
- Spirals focusing on distorting the body, exploring momentum & fluidity in movement
- Breath focusing on the texture of movement & allowing the breath to initiate movement; exploring moments of more effort & moments to do less; acknowledging when to release & do less
- Undulation focusing on qualities, finding a groove in movement; exploring how physicality can create an emotion.
TEACHING
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Who is this for?
3-Month Programme led online for current and aspiring teachers who want to develop and strengthen their teaching style and content.
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What you’ll get:
Understanding your way of moving and how to transfer onto different movers
Design of your own class structure
Planning and execution strategies for your classes to tailor to all levels
A teaching language formulated to be most suitable and most natural for you
Guidance of how to continue to improve upon your teaching after this programme
Understanding of how you want to present yourself as the teacher you want to be
Opportunity to teach your own class to other members of this programme
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Criteria:
In order for an application to be considered, the artist must:
- Be a contemporary dance artist developing work on their own body
- Have at least 3 years of dance training experience
- Have ideas of the age / level of the group / ability of participants they want to teach
There is no age limit; We are very interested to hear from different generations of artists.
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One-on-one Meeting Dates:
Beginning February 2023
Fees £500 Option to pay in full or in 2 installments of £250 Option to pay in 5 installments of £100
The Programme
The Teaching programme strand is a 3-month programme with monthly one-to-one sessions with Alleyne Dance.
Our introduction meeting together will outline the programme and get to know one another as artists. We want to hear a bit of your journey of how you got into teaching / what inspires you to teach and how you want to continue to grow as a teacher.
Artistically
We will discuss and workshop your movement style and how you want to transfer your movement to other bodies in our monthly one-to-one sessions. How you translate your movement into words, imagery, stories and rhythmic patterns will be a part of creating a mutual language for you and your participants to understand. One of the key elements we aim to highlight will be what you want your participants to gain from your classes and how you plan to achieve that.
Throughout these sessions we also want you to note your strengths and weaknesses, and together we will talk through how to continue to improve them as your teaching career progresses. Elements we will look into to support your teaching journey:
- Teachers and/or workshops that stand out to you
- Description of your movement and performance style
- Improvisation, and how you transfer your improv to other bodies
- Leading improvisational tasks for yourself and in a class
- Creating phrases and how to break them down to execute them in a class
- Your movement in relationship to music and choices of music
- Different ways of learning e.g., visual, descriptive, storytelling, rhythm patterns, music, physical placement
Physically
We will track your movement progression and stylistic growth. You will have access to weekly pre-recorded classes and will have a check-in with Alleyne Dance halfway through the training
to talk about how the sessions went and any questions you have to help for your last half of the programme. We will work on:
- Isolations of the body, focusing on where movement begins & how the body responds
- Hands focusing on how the hands create texture, imagery & memory in movements
- Spirals focusing on distorting the body, exploring momentum & fluidity in movement
- Breath focusing on the texture of movement & allowing the breath to initiate movement; exploring moments of more effort & moments to do less; acknowledging when to release & do less
- Undulation focusing on qualities, finding a groove in movement; exploring how physicality can create an emotion
DIRECTING / MENTORING SOLO- GROUP WORK
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Who is this for?
This Programme is a bespoke programme for Choreographers at early stages who want to further develop an idea or existing work. The timeline and course will be designed specifically for the needs of the choreographer.
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What you’ll get:
Bring your choreographic ideas and concepts to life
Research and resources to support the work
Advice on how to translate your ideas, concepts, and feelings into movement
Deeper understanding of your creative and choreographic processes
Guidance on your creative research to continue to fuel your inspiration
Staging advice (lighting, props, music)
Guidance for Performance opportunities
Opportunity to share your work-in-progress to an audience
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Criteria:
In order for an application to be considered, the artist must comply with the following criteria:
- Being a dance artist of any traditions/ expression developing work on their own body/ others
- Having at least 3 years of dance training experience
- Early stages of ideas/ themes for their creative work
There is no age limit and we are very interested to hear from different generations of artists.
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One on One Meeting Dates:
Beginning February 2024
Fees:
Upon request
The Programme
The Directing / Mentoring Solo Work strand is a bespoke programme for work created under the direction of Alleyne Dance.
Our first meeting together will allow us to get to know one another and get a deeper understanding of the work you want to create or develop within this programme. We want to ensure we know what the final feeling of your work should be and your future goals and dreams as a choreographer. From there we will talk about what we can offer throughout this programme to guide your creative process and devise a timeline that suits the progression of your work.
Artistically
We will continue to unpick the aims for your work and create a structure with the ideas of your work during our one-to-one sessions. You will be presented with questions and investigative tools to further your creative research and movement language, such as:
- What is the work about
- What is the audience taking away from the work
- Where can the work be presented
- Why are you making the work
- Images, sounds, and stories that inspire the work
- Setting and mood of the work
From here we can explore different movement qualities and music devising.
Towards the second half of the program, after most of the movement and concept research, we will want you to look at the work as a whole by:
- • Connecting each section and element together to create a full piece
- • Lights, costume, and staging for the work
Physically
We will track your movement progression and stylistic growth. You will have access to weekly pre-recorded classes and will have a check-in with Alleyne Dance halfway through the training to talk about how the sessions went and any questions you have to help for your last half of the program. We will work on:
We will work on:
- Isolations of the body, focusing on where movement begins & how the body responds
- Hands focusing on how the hands create texture, imagery & memory in movements
- Spirals focusing on distorting the body, exploring momentum & fluidity in movement
- Breath focusing on the texture of movement & allowing the breath to initiate movement; exploring moments of more effort & moments to do less; acknowledging when to release & do less
- Undulation focusing on qualities, finding a groove in movement; exploring how physicality can create an emotion