2023-24
Masterclasses are held twice a term on Sundays in our Frome studio.
Students can apply to join at any point in the year.
Masterclasses Application Form
Mark Bruce Company are delighted to be continuing their initiative of Contemporary Masterclasses taught by professional freelance dancers over the course of the academic year 2023/24. These sessions are aimed at pre-vocational dance students aged between 15-18 who are passionate about, and aspire to pursue a career in professional dance. (We will consider students aged 14 if recommended by a dance school). Students must have a base in classical or contemporary technique, and demonstrate an eagerness to enhance their dancing with this additional, complementary training. There will be a series of two Masterclasses a term, taught by different teachers. Mark Bruce Company reserves the right to select students based on their ability to ensure they can benefit from the class safely.
This is an opportunity to learn from industry experts, improve skills, build self-confidence, meet other like-minded pupils and above all have fun.
Sunday dates:
2023 Autumn term 17 September and 19 November
2024 Spring term 28 January and 24 March
2024 Summer term 28 April and 9 June
Times:
Each session will start with a 90-minute contemporary technique class followed by a 2-hour creative session. Students can arrive from 12:30pm, class will start at 1pm. There will be a 15 minute break at 2:30pm and the day will finish at 4:45pm.
Location:
All Masterclasses will be held at BlackBirdRedRose Studios, Unit G, Vallis Mills Trading Estate, Frome, Somerset, BA11 3DT. There is free parking on site and a green room.
Cost:
Sessions cost £40 for one class, £75 per term (two Masterclass days) or £200 for the year billed in advance.
Meet the teacher
Last year's classes were taught by Stephen Berkeley-White, Steven Brett, Antonia Grove, Daisy West, Carina Howard and Hannah McGlashon.
Session 2 - Natalie Dodd
Natalie Dodd is a London-based dance artist who began her training at Susan Robinson's School of Ballet, went on to train at Rambert School and gained a Masters Degree, focused on Dance for Parkinson’s, through the Northern School of Contemporary Dance.
She has performed in music/promotional videos, toured in Mark Bruce Company’s The Odyssey and performed twice at The Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms. She has performed works by choreographers such as Kerry Nicholls, Mark Baldwin and Kenneth MacMillan and has worked with the English National Opera, The Royal Shakespeare Company and Alexandra Green Dance.
Natalie has choreographed works for the over 60’s group, Chronicles, YAGP and Prix de Lausanne participants, galas, dance schools and for her own solo performances.
She has taught for establishments including Rambert School, Rambert, Trinity Laban, The Place, Royal Academy of Dance, DanceWest and BBO Dance, amongst many others. Natalie is a co-syllabus devisor, delivering artist and examiner for Rambert Grades.
Session 1 - Mark Bruce
Mark Bruce has choreographed, directed and danced internationally for over 30 years, working with Rosas, Bern Ballet, Ballet Black, Introdans, Gibson/Martelli, Probe, and DJazzex among others.
He formed the Mark Bruce Company in 1991. Productions include Moonlight Drive (1991), Lovesick (1995), Helen, Angel (1996), the celebrated collaboration with Polly Jean Harvey and John Parish titled Dance Hall At Louse Point (1997), Horse, Dive (1999), Sea of Bones (2006) Love and War (2010), Made in Heaven (2012) and Dracula (2013) which won the Sky Arts South Bank award for Dance, the National Dance Award for Best Male Dancer for Jonathan Goddard as Dracula, and the award for Best Independent Company. Bruce's production of The Odyssey toured in 2016 and his Macbeth in 2018, both received National Dance Awards nominations for their dancers. He created Return to Heaven in 2020 and his triple bill Phantoms in 2022 when the company was also nominated for Best Mid-Scale Company at the National Dance Awards.
In 2005 Bruce created Fever for Probe, Green Apples for the Royal Opera House’s Clore Studio Summer Collection and in 2006 Bad History for The Place Prize. In 2008 he created The Sky or a Bird for Probe and Stars for Dance South West. Bruce’s first commission by Bern Ballet, Crimes of Passion, premiered in January 2010 and his second, Medea, premiered in February 2011. He created Second Coming for Ballet Black in 2015.
Bruce’s theatre work includes the Royal Exchange Theatre’s productions of Peer Gynt, The Bacchae, Antigone, The Revenger’s Tragedy, Antony & Cleopatra, The Glass Menagerie, As You Like It, Fast Food, Still Time and The Way of the World. He co-devised Skellig, an opera based on the book by David Almond, for the Sage Gateshead in 2008. He directed Rick Bland’s award winning Thick which toured the UK, US and Canada. He worked with Singapore Repertory Theatre on their 2015 production of The Tempest.
Mark Bruce has also worked in a variety of new media, screen and interactive stage productions with Ruth Gibson & Bruno Martelli. He has written music for his own work and also for art installations and is published by Mute Song. Albums include Girl in a Graveyard (2019) and World of Love and Wonders (2022). His book of short stories, Blackout Zones was released in May 2010 and his book On Choreography and Making Dance Theatre was published by Oberon in 2018.
Applications for our Sunday Masterclasses series for pre-vocational students are open.
