Dancing the Invisible - late work

Does the dancing stop when the body ages?  

How does the older dancer draw on sensory memory and the imagination to make dances?

What does ‘mature ballet’ look like?  

'what IS a mature dance?'

Jennifer Jackson (Senior Lecturer and ballet choreographer) leads a group of mature dancers with rich careers in companies such as the Royal Ballet, Rambert and Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet in dance performance that investigates these intriguing questions.

Susie Crow and Jennifer Jackson in Haiku from Late Work

With musicians who are skilled improvisers they presented a live music and dance event that interweaves set and improvised dances – and engages the audience in discussion about maturity, ageing and dance.  

Joined by ballet expert Susie Crow and musicians Malcolm Atkins of the Oxford Improvisers Collective, Emily Burridge and Andrew Melvin this performance builds on Jackson’s research with From Here to Maturity Dance Company at the South Bank Centre, London and solo improvisation practice that she has presented at conferences (Society for Dance History Scholars Dance and Spectacle Conference 2010, Pinter Fractured Narratives Conference 2009).

Our work involves the sharing and development of professional dance practice amongst mature artists in the South East with feedback on work in progress in Oxford and Guildford from choreographer Liz Agiss and Woking Dance Festival’s Young Ambassadors. The project develops the research material already made to create performance within a structure that integrates intergenerational feedback and experiment with staging at the University’s Ivy Arts Centre.

The Mature dance artists (aged 45-65) from diverse backgrounds, all have substantial experience of teaching, directing or choreographing alongside impressive dancing careers as independent artists and with prestigious companies. See the project artists’ page for more details.