Events & conferences
As well as joint projects, the Conservatoire runs events to enable staff, students and supporters to meet one another and learn about the different schools. These are social and educational occasions and a chance to celebrate our progress.
Information about individual Conservatoire schools’ performances that are open to the public can be found by following this link to What’s On?
Activate - Staff Conference 2013
4 January 2013 at Circus Space
The annual CDD Staff Conference took place on Friday 4 January 2013 and this year was hosted by Circus Space, with around 110 staff attending from across the affiliates. This year’s conference had a clear remit, reflected in the title, Activate: to ensure that conference discussions retained the high level of enthusiasm and creative ideas of previous years, but also to ensure that they resulted in some clear actions. With this in mind, discussion groups were facilitated by a team of Activators who had joined a training session with conference facilitator Debbie Kingsley a month before the conference. Across the 16 discussion groups, a total of 61 actions were proposed.
The Combustion Chamber at Circus Space in conference mode
This year also saw student input for the first time, with a panel of four students who had attended the CDD Student Conference in November. They presented to us on their impressions of the day and some of the actions they hoped to take forward. We had inspiring presentations from Joint CEO of Circus Space Jane Rice-Bowen, CDD Joint Principals Veronica Lewis and Edward Kemp, HEA Teaching Fellow Tim Roberts, and Circus Space’s Eira Gibson, who brought together recent graduates, current students, and aspiring young artists in a presentation on widening participation work across the schools. The day concluded with a fantastic cabaret presented by recent graduates and students of Circus Space.
2012 graduate and handbalance artist Niamh O’Reilly coordinated the presentation of a Cabaret
CDD Student Conference 2012
18 November 2012 at The Place
In November 2012, around 35 students from the eight affiliates came together for the first CDD Student Conference, hosted by The Place. The day was organised by three LCDS Contemporary Dance students with support from staff at LCDS and the CDD central team, and the programme included communications and movement workshops, an invited panel of industry specialists, and small discussion groups on themes chosen by the participants.
The student organisers chose the theme ‘Collaboration’ in order to explore and foster closer links between the schools and between specialisms. At the end of the day the students were invited to put forward topics for consideration at the annual CDD Staff Conference in January. Suggestions included: raising greater awareness of CDD and the development of a CDD student body or network; more opportunities to see and share one another’s performances; more opportunities to develop technical-performer relationships.
Participate - Staff Conference 2012
Friday 6 January 2012
2012 launched with Conservatoire’s fifth CDD staff conference, Participate, which was hosted by The Place, home to LCDS. Around 90 staff from across the eight schools brought their energy and ideas to a range of discussion topics which included entrepreneurship, cross-affiliate curriculum development, staff development, and sustainability. We saw presentations from staff about joint projects and school exchanges. Barry Ganberg, Ross McKim and four dancers from Rambert School performed a beautiful piece from the School’s Cathedrals project.
The day left us with lots of suggestions to take away. As always, feedback from participants emphasised that the best part of the event was the chance to meet or renew contact with staff from other schools.
Rambert School Cathedral Project
Tenth Anniversary Gala Performance 2011
Saturday 14 May 2011 at the Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre
On 14 May 2011, students and staff from all eight of the Conservatoire’s affiliate schools came together for a one-off gala performance celebrating the Conservatoire’s tenth anniversary year. The day was hosted by RADA. Performing students and rehearsing staff from the eight schools and a team of technical students from RADA and Bristol Old Vic were in the building at 9am to begin teching the show.
It was a long day, but offered students a rare chance to meet their peers from different schools, as well as the opportunity to watch one another perform. We were hugely grateful to RADA’s Nona Shepphard and Neil Fraser for curating and producing the show.
CDD anniversary gala
The evening performance was preceded by a guest reception, with technical theatre demonstrations of hair and make-up in the foyer and students from Circus Space performing outside the building. As expected, the students put on a fantastic show with a range of pieces encompassing ballet and contemporary dance, circus, theatre, stage fighting and musical theatre. It was wonderful to see so much young talent on one stage. The occasion also marked the end of Sir Bob Reid’s tenure as Chairman of the Board. At the end of the performance Conservatoire Joint Principals Edward Kemp and Veronica Lewis thanked Sir Bob for his dedication and support since the earliest days of the Conservatoire, and welcomed James Smith CBE as his successor.
Illuminate - Staff Conference 2010
Monday 4 January 2010, The Place
On a bright January morning at the start of term, staff from all the affiliates came together for Illuminate, the Conservatoire’s third staff conference. Conservatoire Governor Andrew Summers and Joint Principals Veronica Lewis and Edward Kemp welcomed a mixture of teaching, management and admin staff to The Place, home to LCDS. Illuminate aimed to shine a light on the collective work of the schools and the Conservatoire. With so many individuals all with enthusiasm and passion for their profession all in one place, the usual buzz created by the collective energy was evident.
Discussion touched a plethora of subjects such as how we can lead the way in technical training, student support, research and UK v European dance. An ‘out of the hat’ session was a new addition this year and proved to be popular with 12 different groups discussing a variety of topics suggested by staff. The need for collaboration, more of it and a need to progress with it was conveyed by many. As always, staff found one of the best parts of the day to be the chance to meet up and network with like-minded individuals and fellow professionals. One participant felt sharing experiences with other staff members was ‘a very liberating experience and I feel galvanized into action’.
The Power of Eight Staff Conference 2009
Monday 5th January 2009, Woburn House
Our now annual and second Staff Conference took place early this year with staff from all affiliates coming together to meet, network, and share thoughts and ideas on a variety of areas all relating to collaboration; and consider how our eight Schools can get the most out of their relationships as affiliates and as part of the Conservatoire. Joint principals Veronica and Jane’s warm welcome was followed by an inspiring key note speech from Bonnie Greer.
The buzz and creative energy in the air was fantastic with many commenting that the opportunity to meet, share ideas and common ideals with other affiliate staff was one of the best parts of the day. Some of the areas of discussion included the promotion and profile-raising of CDD amongst students and the wider population; the creation of future collaborative performance projects; the development of a cross-discipline training module; student support, what is important to be provided in the future and how CDD can best facilitate this.
Joint Student Performance
22 May 2005 at The Place
celebrate the Conservatoire’s expansion to a family of seven schools, a celebratory performance was held at The Place, home of London Contemporary Dance School, with an invited audience of staff, students, governors and Conservatoire supporters.
Students from all seven schools performed pieces, ranging from a lesson in how to climb a pole by students at The Circus Space, to a piece of Hofesh Shechter choreography performed by London Contemporary Dance School’s postgraduate performance company EDge, to a rendition of Salt ‘n’ Pepa’s Push It by students from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
