Archive for July, 2010

**Please pass this on to anyone who you think would be interested**

Kinetic Elements is looking for mature, experienced and professional dancers for upcoming shows!

We are looking for dancers that can pick up choreography quickly and can be from any dance background. Our first show we are casting for is the Movies Bazaar- August 31st!

Please bring a headshot and resume. There will be a combination taught at the audition. Sign in will start at 5:30pm and we will start teaching the combination at 6:00pm.

Where: George Brown College – Casa Loma Campus
160 Kendal Ave,
Toronto, ON
Building C – Studio D
If you have auditioned for Kinetic Elements in the past 6 months, there is no need to re-apply.

For more information on Kinetic Elements, please email artistic director Kendra Hughes at kendra@kendrahughes.com.

Hope to see you there!

Great job dancers!

Next week is a holiday weekend and there will be no beginner contemporary class, but check out our classes tab to read all about the new sessions and a new class starting. Hope to see you there!

Here is an example of a beginner contemporary class with Kendra:

5 Tips on how to audition

Auditions are the single best way to get yourself out there. Sometimes they can be daunting, but here are some tips on how to do a successful dance audition. Please feel free to leave comments or other tips that I might have missed!

1. Great a good night’s sleep the night before

Nothing can more important that getting a good night’s sleep before an audition. Getting the proper amount of sleep can leaving you not only looking your best, but feeling your best. You never know what is going to get thrown at you at your audition. Most likely you will be asked to freestyle or you might be given specific direction of what the artistic director wants to see different. A good night’s sleep will better prepare you for these moments. It was the first audition tip that came to @mattox1 on Twitter. Good advice!

2. Don’t look like you are about to take a dance class

When showing up for an audition don’t wear clothes that look like you are about to take a class. Wear something that reflects your personality and that makes you stand out from the rest of the crowd. As well ladies, you want to wear some makeup. Of course you don`t want mascara streaming down your face while you are dancing, but you want to wear at least some makeup. You want to fit the look of the company that you are interested in auditioning for.  Do your research **see the last tip**

3. Remember – the audition starts the moment you walk in the door

From the moment you enter an audition, whoever is on the panel is watching you. Are you friendly? Are you talking to other dancers? Companies only have a short time to get to know who you are and if you are right for the company. Remember, the company doing the auditions want YOU, they want dancers who are friendly, easy to work with and who makes friends with other dancers. Remember you are on display from the moment you walk in the door to the moment you walk out the door.

4. If you mess up – keep going!

This is to go along with tip number 3. If you make a mistake during the audition, don`t worry about it and just keep going! Most likely those who are running the audition are more interested in your style, your personality and how well you handle these moments like making mistake during the audition. Just keep going and show your love of dance!

5. Do your research

There is nothing worse than showing up to an audition not doing your research. It says a lot to me when a candidate gets into the interview process and has seen videos on YouTube, or knows a little bit about the company and the dancers. I had one dancer asked me during the greeting ask me what kind of dancing my company does. This is not the first impression you want to make on an artistic director or a choreographer. If you haven`t seen the dance company live at one of their shows, check out and see if they have a website, or a page on YouTube, or are they on twitter? With all the different social media websites out there, information is easier to find, take advantage of it.

Last Note:

If you do not get an audition, do not let it stop you from pursuing your dreams. There are so many reasons why a dancer does not get a part. The important thing to remember is that you are going to auditions and putting yourself out there. Just keep taking classes, meeting other dancers and have some fun with it! Best of luck in the future!

Eternal Eclipse

Now that the Fringe is over I have been going through some major withdrawal. Luckily, I have some video that I was able to put together in a little trailer for the show! Lots of news coming up soon, so stay tuned for more on what’s to come next. In the meantime check it out here….

Venus “the Morning Star or the Evening Star”
Goddess associated with love, beauty and fertility

I first choreographed a piece for The Bazaar -Latin Fever called Heartbeat in February earlier this year and it was a piece about relationships. About how sometimes we stay in a relationships that are not good for us. How we can blind ourselves to the reality of a situation and what is really going on around us.

Daniel, Ashley and I all collaborated on this quite extensively since this was my first duet and I was diving into a dance world that was unknown to me (the tango). Daniel and I met with Michelle Mitchell of Rhythm Dynamix Dance in Oshawa and then we went back to the studio in Toronto to create our first version of Heartbeat.

Later I adapted Heartbeat to become the Venus section of our first full length production Eternal Eclipse. I really wanted to put a twist on the idea of the goddess of love. So we went back into the studio and I wanted to make it a little more darker, to flush out some more of the ideas I had for the dance. The dancers worked fabulously on this and I am very happy with this piece reworked.

Here is the final piece:

Thank you to everyone who came out to our last show at the Fringe. Lots of thoughts and commentary to come on the whole experience. Artistic Director Kendra Hughes managed to get surprised by a twist ending.

You can see it here:

**New Interview**

Hear all about Eternal Eclipse, the dancers and the creative process in behind the work!

Ashley, Hilary and Kaylan

Photography by Ryan Joyce

Here are some shots that we took during our tech rehearsal on Monday for Eternal Eclipse. It was so wonderful to see all the pieces on a stage with lights and sound. What an experience. I am looking forward to our opening and hope to see you there!

The cast of Eternal Eclipse working things out while lighting is being set.

Cast members: Ashley Desson, Daniel Grys, Hilary Krull, Kaylan Shearer, Ashima Suri

Photography by Ryan Joyce

Artistic Director Kendra sitting at the board with stage manager Jennifer McKinley setting lights for the dance pieces.

Photography by Ryan Joyce