José Agudo

from the18th of February till the 1st of March

José Agudo, began his career performing as a Flamenco dancer. He worked as a performer with Charleroi/Danses, Ballet de Marseille, T.R.A.S.H, Shobana Jeyasingh and Akram Khan Company. As a rehearsal director and assistant choreographer Jose has worked for Akram Khan in the creations DESH, iTMOi, TOROBAKA, Until the Lions, Chotto Desh, London 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony, and Sylvie Guillem’s farewell tour Life in Progress. In 2011, Jose started to study Kathak under Akram’s guidance. He reconnected with his roots and began to explore traditional forms in a contemporary context and he created; Paradiso focused on Indian dance; Silk Road with Bharatanatyam artist Mavin Khoo; and Carmen focus in flamenco and the Mediterranean culture. Jose’s choreographic commissions also include, Ki for Phoenix Dance Theatre and English National Ballet School; Selah and Carmen for ZfinMalta Dance Ensemble; A Thousand Shepherds for ACE Dance and Music, later restaged with Cape Dance Company; ARCTIC for LCDS; and Regnum for Festival International de Music y Danza de Granada. During 2018 Agudo will create commissions for Area Jeune Ballet and NORRDANS, premiere his first short film Selah with co-director Matthew Beckett, and perform an international tour of Silk Road.

 

ATTACK RELEASE: The centre of the body as the origin of dynamics

Jose’s class is fast paced and aims to improve stamina through precise and simple movement patterns. The principles of the class are influenced by a diversity of traditional forms such as Kathak, Flamenco and martial arts. The initial warm-up is followed by more complex movement material with a dynamic focus on the concept of “attack and release”. The technique allows joints to relax and energy to flow with maximum efficiency. All of this work prepares the body to travel, exploring the broadest movement in space. This is an energetic class, focusing on intention, clarity and extreme physicality.

CONTEMPORARY FLAMENCO SPIRIT

Participants will experience the fundamentals of Flamenco dance such as rhythm, expressive use of the arms and footwork, and then explore how those skills may be brought into contemporary dance. They will learn Jose’s repertoire from his production Carmen and play with the spontaneous aspects of Flamenco. There will be space to improvise with these rhythm patterns and techniques. We will encourage each other to have fun and let go into the groove and warmth of the contemporary Flamenco spirit.