Teaching about movement

Press, 19 February 1986, Page 20

Teaching about movement

Jamie Bull, dance and movement tutor, celebrates 10 years of working in her profession in New Zealand this year.

She felt the occasion was worthy of noting, as much for what it heralded for the future as what is summed up from the past. “It hasn’t been easy.

Ten years working as a professional, pioneering all the time. “I sat down and had a good long think about what I wanted to do ... whether I wanted to go on.”

And the answer? “Oh, I had no choice. Of course, I’m going on.”

The Wellington-based tutor has a number of irons in the fire but the particular project to mark the anniversary is “Different Dance.” With a fellow Wellingtonian, Sue Jordan, she is choreographing works on five dancers.

The two choreographers have teamed up to hire the dancers for the work, which will be first performed at the Flying Kiwi fringe festival in Wellington next month.

Jamie Bull has called her piece “Boundaries.” “We had to name the dances before we started work on them for publicity reasons. That was something new for me. Usually a dance only takes shape once you begin work on it.” She hopes to tour “Different Dance” once the Wellington season is finished.

“I would like to bring it to Christchurch.”

The choreographer is artist in residence at Pori-

rua Hospital, where she has workd with patients, on and off, for four years. This year she has begun taking classes for the staff.

"Last year everyone I worked with performed in a Christmas concert. We have some severely disabled people but they were part of the dance concert.” After the Christmas show there was a time when the patients could “give back” to their teacher. That, says Jamie Bull, is important. “There must be a space where they can give back to us. It has to be a two way thing. Sometimes it’s difficult to make the time and the space for that to happen.” Her attitude to teaching the disabled is much the same as that towards teaching her students at the School of Dance.

“Many people are not aware of their bodies, of the image they project. I teach about movement.”