Hayley Izzard

Things I've noticed within my body Pre-lockdown I hadn't really danced properly since I was 22. I would attend one off yoga or contemporary classes every now and then, but since lock down I have been able to commit much more to my practice.  Pre-training I had noticed that: My left leg has the tighter hamstring of both legs. To bend forward and stretch my hamstring in my right leg at the start of this process felt much more available to me, but yet I could only just about not reach my toes. (hence point below in availability of the hips opening) Space wasn't that available in my hips - so to focus on exercises that opened my hips and stretched my hamstrings evenly were essential. Strength is lacking in sit ups/push ups - need to improve strength in my arms/biceps. During yoga, I felt the tension in my ankles to reach my feet down to the floor. I couldn't achieve this pre-lockdown. After 3 months I feel: Much more open in the hips which enables me to grab my toes and fee...

5 years later and...I am back! What have I been up to since Uni? Well.. I graduated with a 2:1, gained a Communications Internship at DanceXchange, which developed my interest in Arts Marketing. I moved to Leamington Spa for love, took a few detours of working in retail and progressed to Temporary Store Manager level, however, knowing it is not what I wanted to do with my life, reverted back to Marketing where I worked for an emerging self driving car company. This then allowed me enough experience to gain a position in Digital Communications at The Royal Academy of Dance. Alex and I bought our first home so all in all, not a bad 5 years, albeit it has not been easy!  Why have I decided to return? So the past 3 years in the UK has been such a turbulent time with the UK voting to leave the European Union, and the stress that we, as a country, have all had to endure watching that process and to witness the decisions that were made that would ultimately affect ours and our ch...

Reading the Bales article twice, it has confirmed and contextualized my understanding of how I am progressing internally and externally in my dance training. I have always known and thought that what we do in lessons, and in ‘postmodern’ practice, that it acts as a learning and a base for improving skill, technique and awareness in, not just Contemporary dance, but in other art forms, for example yoga and ballet. There was particular reference in the article to how artists differentiate their training patterns, contrasting maybe having skinner releasing classes alongside ballet classes. The article expresses that artists choose to have this contrast as a complimentary combination, for reasons such as a release and a rest from a highly aesthetic style (ballet); having the combination of a skinner class would enable the dancer to maybe have a sense of themselves during ballet class, and pay subconscious attentions to other aspects, for example trying out barre work without ‘holding’ in ...

I feel my practise has significantly changed, especially in this past month. I feel experiential anatomy has played a huge part in development; as working with surface, alternating perceptions, (seeing out and internal awareness) yielding and yield and push/reach and pull have all been contributing factors. The imagery of the digestive tract has been an interesting source for me to work with. To move with this awareness I feel, even in the moving of the simplest of tasks, has allowed me to see my movement open up and soften, even elongate and be allowed to breathe. The imagery of the mouth has been another interesting one, in terms of I've heard others say they struggle to connect with this stimulus but, in my own moving, I found a way to use it where it was another initiation point for me and I noticed a different quality to my moving, which allowed me to experiment with weight. Weight is one thing this month that I feel I've played with; my one goal has been from the star...

I found Dianne Madden an interesting choice after looking through some artists; her style is exploratory with weight and 'powering through the floor', With very specific and particular focus to establishing articulation and connection through the joints. Reason I found her interesting is I felt I could relate to her techniques, especially with exploratory of weight as that is an awareness I keep with me in my practice. She uses mainly Improvisation, as her tool to hone time and space perception and integrate with deepened movement awareness. She explores a special interest in spacial specificity, combining compositional tasks and using phrase material from Locus (1975) and Opal Loop (1980) to teach spatial specificity and to broaden movement quality. Improvisation is added to the mix to keep the ideas ongoing and endless; new everytime.

A positive start to the year - exploring space with touch, sensing and perception, and playing with surface were all highlights for me in experiential anatomy sessions.  Sensing and perception article interested me in terms of learning how our perception can affect our whole way of seeing and living life. Environmental, genetic and happenings in life build and create our mindset, which then creates situations where we experience emotional responses for example; if you feel sad or paranoid that someone is upset with you; that does not necessarily mean they are upset with you, but you PERCEIVE it to be that way, depending on the conditioning of what your brain and body have been exposed to; example is repetitive situations where similar situations have occurred, almost like when it triggers fight or flight response. It's the brains way of protection; this is all that I realised and found out from our group discussion.  Exploring with space and touch made me notice things ...