Manmade: the Boys’ Dance in a Day!

The first workshop of Dance Week kicked off on Wednesday 18^th June with Will Hodson leading our Years 7 to 10 boys in a contemporary movement experience. Entitled ‘Manmade’ to emphasise the purely male involvement of this particular creative process, the workshop focussed attention on the theme of trying to understand one another; am I an outsider? am I part of the group? Where do I fit?

Will explained the rationale behind his delivery saying: “This is a boys’ thing, it’s a man thing. It’s just giving boys a chance to dance and express themselves without any pressure of judgement through dancing with girls who are very technical and clean. With the boys on their own they can just use their emotions, it can be a bit raw. They don’t have to worry so much about does it look pretty? does it look nice? No, actually, does it feel good? If it feels good we can make I look raw; we can enhance it with a different set of eyes to what it is to dance with girls.”

Beth Butler, Head of Dance, was pleased to welcome Will back to the Park: “I invited Will again based on the success of his work when he’s visited us before. He is a really excellent male role model for boys’ moving and he really challenges them and he does it in a very supportive way. They almost forget that it’s dance that they’re doing because they are just being strong and physical. That’s what I really like about him.”

Concluding the session Will watched the boys performing their own choreography and commented “You guys are so good I wish I could have a whole week with you!”

Will formerly danced with ZoieLogic Dance Theatre and 2Faced Dance Company before becoming a freelance dance artist and associate contemporary dance lecturer at Performers College in Birmingham.

The final piece created by the students will be performed in tomorrow’s ‘Let’s Dance’ annual dance showcase which this year features over 50 performances; our biggest yet! Will’s workshop forms part of the 2025 Leighton Park Dance Week which includes NATD examinations, ‘Let’s Dance’ and an aerial hoop workshop. You can see more pictures here.