NORTHERNISMS
The student run NSCD blog!
Christmas events in Leeds!!
Leeds Christmas Market– 22nd Nov-22nd Dec
Leeds’ Christmas market is back this time just covering two locations Millennium Square and City Square. With an additional weekend market on Bond Court.
With food, drink and stalls selling gifts and crafts.
Ice Cube Christmas ice skating rink–Friday 22nd Nov – Tuesday 31st Dec.
On Millennium Square and Victoria Gardens.
General Admission- Peak £12.50 Off peak £9.50
Student- Peak £11.50 Off peak £9.50
Off-peak times: Monday–Thursday, 12.30pm, 2,30pm & 4.30pm sessions except school holidays.
Many Many Markets
Every Saturday & Sunday during the Leeds Christmas Market (22nd Nov – 22nd Dec)
A weekend artisan market from Little Bird Made will be held on Bond Court (off Park Row), celebrating independent producers and makers.
Every Sunday from the 17th November
Little Bird Made will be bringing artisanal market traders to Briggate, amongst the shopping centres of Leeds.
Thursday 7th – Sunday 10th November
For four days over 130 local makers, crafters and producers will fill Harewood’s North Park Walk for this special Artisan Winter Market curated by Little Bird Made.
Various dates throughout December
Various dates throughout November and December
The oldest part of Leeds city centre is home to one of Europe’s largest indoor markets; the iconic Grade 1 listed Kirkgate Market dates from 1875 and is the birthplace of Marks and Spencer, with a replica of the original Penny Bazaar. As well as over 150 independent traders to source your fresh festive produce, Kirkgate Market has a packed Christmas programme starting with speciality markets and festive visitors.
ARTSMIX MARKET
Every Saturday until Christmas on Albion Place
Situated in the heart of Leeds City Centre, the Albion Place pop-up Artsmix Market is great fun and offers shoppers original creative goods at great prices.
Every Sunday from the 17th November
Little Bird Made will be bringing artisanal market traders to Briggate, amongst the shopping centres of Leeds.
Sunday 1st December
Leeds Indie Market takes over The Key Club where you can expect to find a delicious array of dark, witchy, unusual and otherwise alternative crafts, art and wares for a different kind of Christmas present.
Saturday 16th November
You’ll be able to find The Tetley taken over by local artisans and entrepreneurs showcasing their art, makes and wares with all kinds of treasures from ceramics and jewellery to art and prints, gifts, accessories and so much more to fill your loved one’s stockings with this year.
Living with an injury with Helen Lee.
Injuries are as big a part of being a dancer as dancing, everyone gets injured at some point in their life. No matter how big or small, injuries are one of the biggest frustrations. We expect our body to be at peak form at all times, but the whole concept of a peak resides in the existence of troughs.
In 2022 Helen Lee tore her right anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) during a partnering class in her first year. The injury meant she had to take a year out to heal and strengthen before coming back to continue second year. Whilst she’s back dancing as strong as ever, the journey of being injured takes a toll on you both physically and mentally, sometimes the mental barriers being the hardest to break past.
After the accident in the partnering class Helen went to A&E where she was told she had just bruised her knee and would be completely fine. After waiting two weeks for the swelling to go down and slowly regaining the ability to put weight on it, Helen attempted to start dancing again, (the recovery time for a torn ACL is 6-12 months). Obviously not being able to straighten her knee she went back to the doctors, where she was again told she was fine. But she wasn’t. So she went back to the doctors again and again until finally she was referred to a specialist who immediately sent her for an MRI and quickly discovered that her ACL had completely split in half and was no longer attached to anything. This diagnosis came 3 months after the actual injury had occurred.
This whole time the mental drain of not being able to dance whilst being told she was fine and that it was all in her head had taken its toll mentally. Trying to work through something that you’re being told is fine when the lived reality is so different leaves you feeling dramatic and weak as is Helen’s experience.
Fortunately Leeds hospitals do all their knee surgeries through a private specialist through the NHS, so three weeks after being diagnosed Helen went in for knee surgery. Sometimes the waitlists for things like this can be years.
An ACL cannot be recovered within a year, especially if you want to go back into high level physical dance training. So Helen was told she would have to take a year out which was heartbreaking. Not only from a physical standpoint but emotional too. Knowing that her classmates would be moving up without her, not getting to see housemates graduate. Deferring takes an emotional toll, especially when it’s a choice made for you.
But there was comfort in the validity of the pain, knowing that all the pain she had felt had been real. After her surgery Helen moved back home with her parents to recover from the surgery, which was tough on all accounts. A week after the surgery she went into her first physio appointment which luckily was with a physio trained to work with dancers. One of the many hurdles to jump through in injury recovery as a dancer is trying to retrain your body to not only get back to an average level of use but to get it back to this incredible intense and niche range that you once had as a dancer. Often our bodies are not the same after injury so not only do you have to relearn, once, simple manoeuvres you also come back as a different body and therefore dancer as well.
Helen was only allowed to start dancing again six months after her surgery as the first year always holds the most risk of the injury happening again. In Helens case her injury had been caused by an impact rather than wear and tear which meant her knee had been strong to begin with so would more easily regain its strength back.
Helen moved back to Leeds with the financial help from her parents, as most jobs are not compatible with trying to heal a torn ACL. She started ballet classes at Northern Ballet with these making up the most of her rehabilitation back into dance. Contemporary dance however is much harder to ease back into, the movement is very full body and unlike ballet often focuses on letting go rather than slowly building up strength. Helen notes how little accessibility there is to classes for advanced dancers recovering from injury. Beginner classes are too easy and advanced classes aren’t accessible the whole time, which is annoying if you’re paying £10 to only do half a class.
Another aspect that injury and deferring a year strips from you is support. Once you are removed from the place and people that trained you, that support system also goes with it. Once you defer the year you are no longer a NSCD student, which means legally Northern cannot be responsible for you. This loss of support is hard too as although you may be physically and mentally ready to join back you have to wait until a new year starts. Navigating that is difficult as although you are not officially a dance student you never actually stop being a dancer.
This takes us to the mental toll injury takes on you, as dancers our bodies are our tools but they are also ourselves and trying to navigate that space of tool and self is very tricky. Especially when our tool is not as functional as we may like. It does not mean we are broken or a failure but typing to detach from that mentally takes a lot of work and pain.
However after taking a year to strengthen and heal it was finally time for Helen to come back to Northern for BA2 with a whole new year group. Coming back was tough, lots of familiar faces were gone and although you can do classes whilst injured you can’t train for the long intense hours you come back to. Other skills were also weaker when Helen came back, she found that her memory and ability to pick material up, her stamina to dance full out and her confidence to dance in a room full of people had all lessened. As dancers we hone many more skills than just moving and whilst movement is always our biggest focus we shouldn’t undervalue these other skills.
Overcoming an injury definitely changes your outlook not only in dance but in life. Having her ability to move taken away gave Helen an appreciation for how strong her love of dance was. It also changed her outlook on injury generally, just how much mental drive it takes to keep motivated when a huge part of your life and degree is taken away.
Advice that Helen would give to people going through an injury:
“Give yourself credit, as much as an injury is physically tough it’s also really mentally tough as well. You’re a lot stronger than you think and the injury shows that and shows your endurance through it. Although it was a bad situation, I don’t think I’d be the same without it, it made me realise a lot of stuff about myself and injuries definitely give you a different, stronger mindset. ”
Overall injuries are our worst fears but also unfortunately a reality we should prepare ourselves for. Injuries aren’t the end of careers, although it may feel like that at the time. We are all stronger than we think and with patience, understanding and both mental and physical support the road to recovery doesn’t have to be as long and scary as we think.
Interview and article written by Helen Chick
Sweet potato, Carrot and coriander soup
PERFECT for these dark winter months, especially if you
have a case of the freshers flu…
This meal is also amazing to cook in bulk and can be easily frozen, meaning it’s the ideal option for after those later night rehearsals/just really don’t want to cook.
*disclaimer you need a blender or food processor* INGREDIENTS:
(the measurements can be free depending on if you want to meal prep)
seasoning of your choice (I normally go for smoked paprika, crushed chilli flakes and of course salt and pepper)
Extra tips:
Add a small nib of finely chopped ginger (found in lidl, aldi or even medina) for a heart-warming boost to fight off any illness.
I also like to add either some roasted crispy chickpeas for an added bit of protein
Or even a sprinkling of feta (Greek salad cheese for the ones who know) on top for the little bit of zing.
Paired with a scrap of bread or a slightly stale bagel, you have yourself a hearty autumnal meal.
And now for a sweet treat…
CINNAMON ROLLS
I’ll admit this recipe is kind of a lot of work, but I find
baking quite a mindful and fulfilling activity so if you
have a spare autumn afternoon you won’t regret making
these for friends or family. Happy baking! 🙂 Dough (makes 10-12)
Optional soak (for extra softness)
Method
*A very Special shoutout to Nina Lewis for this super yummy recipe*
An Interview with VERVE’s curriculum lead Matteo Marfoglia
By Helen Chick
Helen: How did you get into dance and what were your biggest inspirations surrounding that?
Matteo: I guess my biggest inspiration as a child for dance were my parents because they were both dancers. They didn’t do it professionally but they were like in community groups, evening classes so I was dancing when I was in my mum’s belly basically because she was dancing whilst she was pregnant. Then when I was young and growing up, they were surrounded by lots of friends and artists who were in lots of shows and I was always around different creative settings. I guess then I started to take dance classes when I was little, but the thing that got me into dance was that it was the only place I felt I could be me ,whatever that meant. I didn’t know what me was at the time but I knew that dancing was where it felt good to be me. So it was nice to have a place where I felt completely in my body, in my mind, in my soul and somewhere that I could express who I was.
Then slowly it became more and more of a necessity of wanting to do this but where I grew up ,in a small town Italy, there was not a lot of access to train professionally in dance so then I started to look with my parents around places where I could do that. So I went and I auditioned for a few schools and ended up training in Rome at the National Ballet Academy at age 14. However I only lasted four months there because of the environment. The environment was very toxic, and I felt like the Black Sheep you know. When I arrived at the school the class already had been divided into male and female classes, and all the males that were there had been training at the school since they were seven. So being the only one who arrived from the outside, already 14 is a lot behind compared to everyone else.
The teaching approach was super old school, rude and abusive from teachers, so I just felt like my insecurities and my self esteem went completely down. I decided to go back home and look into places that felt like they would appreciate me or could help me become what I wanted to be. Then after I moved to the equivalent of the National Ballet Academy but in Florence which was more contemporary focused. From there I went to train in CODARTS in Rotterdam at the age of sixteen.
Helen: Had you done much ballet and contemporary prior to going to these schools?
Matteo: I had done ballet, contemporary, jazz and hip hop at the dance school in my village and every day would be a different class so I got a little taste of everything. But I wasn’t truly trained into something specific. Then when I went to the academy in Florence it was much more focused on ballet and contemporary everyday and that became a bit more consistent and it helped me to enter into CODARTS.
Helen: What happened after you went to CODARTS?
Matteo:I was there for two years, the degree was four years but with an opportunity to do an apprenticeship ,so similar to what we have here as a PPS, in the third or fourth year. If the company thought you were ready you could go in the third year but if not you could apply again and go in the fourth. So I went in my third year into a company called Introdans, which again was very interesting because I guess my upbringing in dance was very balletic and then through CODARTS I went a bit more contemporary because of the training and then went into a company like Introdans which was very balletic again. Yeah so I started to dance there professionally at the age of seventeen.
Helen: Have you ever had a preference between ballet and contemporary?
Matteo:I knew I never wanted to dance ballet professionally but I could see how many of the techniques supported my body for the more contemporary techniques. So I understood how it benefited me. Introdans as well was quite neoclassical so I could still put the elements I’d learnt from ballet on stage without having to dance Swan Lake.
I started Introdans when I was 17 and I was there for five years and it was a great time because it was still when there was much more financial support within dance.
Helen: Do you find there’s a big difference between Italy and the UK in terms of financial support for the arts?
Matto: Yeah definitely, for example within Italy we don’t have an arts council like there is here, in Italy we just have a Minister for culture which means there aren’t any open processes for which people, artists, freelancers, companies can apply to get funding directly. But the minister of culture directs the money meant for companies to the places they want to, and then if you want to make work or if you want to have residencies, then those companies should create those opportunities for those artists. So you don’t have the equal value of access to money as a big company. Whereas here (the UK) although there is not much money for everyone you still have the chance to access it with funding bodies like the arts council.
Continuing on with the next steps in his career
Matteo: I was in Holland with Introdans, I was there for 5 years which was great because we travelled all over the world going to places like South Africs, Portugal, Brazil, Holland, Hong Kong, China. Which was great because I was so young and got to see so many places but then I got to a point when I was 23 when I wanted to be a part of creative processes and find what I could offer to the creative process, instead of just learning what other people had made as Introdans was a rep company. And I knew I had no work to go to but I knew I had to leave, so I resigned and went back to Italy for 6-7 months. It was also a point where I hadn’t ever not danced. I danced in schools then professionally training then into a company and suddenly I was 23 and so much had changed. Especially at that age so much about you changes so I wanted to know is this something I genuinely enjoy or is it something I’ve just always done? So I decided to take a break from dance for 8 months, going back to Italy spending time with friends who had nothing to do with dance, not looking at any auditions until I felt I needed to or until I missed it. That’s when I auditioned again and looked for projects. Then through a contact I had fostered in the Netherlands who was a dancer and was dancing with NDT (Netherlands Dans Theatre) at the time and was choreographing. He said “Oh I’m doing a project in London, why don’t you come for 6 months and if you want to get out of dance again after you can”. So I went to London and I did this 6 month project which was incredible as it involved 40 something artists. It had dancers, a choir, a band, visual artists, it was very multidisciplinary which was great.
Helen: Was that the first time you experienced interdisciplinary work?
Matteo: Yeah, and so it was the first time I was part of the creation of a new work surrounded by different artists of all different ages all over the world, all freelancers. Most of them had already worked with choreographers so they knew what that meant. I was still learning what it meant to have a relationship with a choreographer and what they are asking of you. It was a great experience to be surrounded by people who had already done that and I could be inspired by the way they approached it. Then I was in London and after the project finished I started to audition for companies again in the UK and Europe. And then I ended up , well I auditioned and got the job in National Dance Company Wales (NDCW), where \i was a dancer for 5 years. Then I got to a point where I was around 28 where I danced professionally for 20 years and I wasn’t loving dancing anymore. I knew I wanted to stay in dance but I didn’t have the everyday effort it requires to have that level of fitness and creativity to work in that field. Which is interesting because now skipping ahead I wish I would’ve stayed in it longer because I really miss it and I think it’d be very hard to get back into it. But I knew I wanted to move away and I knew I was interested in teaching and choreographing. NDCW also had a great platform whilst I was there which was called alternative routes, which meant at the end of each year in January, they would give whoever was interested in the company a month to choreograph their own work. Then they would produce the show and there would be 4 shows at the end of the month. So I started to input choreography and explore it through that process. They would also always partner with the Royal Welsh College of music and drama and their MA students who were into set, costume and lighting design. And I found what I really enjoyed about creating was collaborating and that’s something that’s carried through to my practice now. It cannot come from one voice, I can open up a conversation but I need to hear other perspectives for the work to be richer and more layered and speak to more people. For me to to also learn about it because otherwise I can’t learn new things about the project
I slowly started to freelance more and more. I was the rehearsal director of NDCW for a year after I was a dancer, so I transitioned from dancer to rehearsal director.
Helen: Was that strange to go from a dancer to a rehearsal director within the same company now directing the people you used to dance with?
Matteo: It was very strange yeah, I feel it was more from me, the dancers all supported me. But I did feel strange to change the dynamic when directing them when before we were all directed by someone else. I guess because they all supported me the transition became organically smooth, and because they knew me they knew how to support me. I was very open as I was new to the job too and they’d help me to find the answers if I didn’t have them. It was very collaborative in that sense.
Helen: Did you apply for that role or were you offered it?
Matteo: I applied for it, because I knew it was only for one tour and it was a fixed term job so I knew that it would come to an end. I knew I wanted to explore more stuff and different things so I didn’t want to lock myself into the company again, just in another role. Then from there I started to branch out into me as an artist and into what areas of work I wanted to work within.
I started to choreograph more but also worked a lot within site specific work, lots of work that was in collaboration with different artists in different sites. I did a work in the North Wales forest in Snowdonia with a French architect who made an incredible sculpture with 4 miles of thread between trees. He created this almost laser like sculpture and we had dancers to respond to it. One time I choreographed a piece in Malta, it was on the harbour and all the dancers arrived on the sea in boats and all the audience were on the shore. But I also really enjoyed working in theatre and I worked a lot as a movement director in theatre. Again because it was another opportunity to collaborate, this time with theatre directors and see how they worked. Still with movement but not necessarily with trained bodies and how much they actually can relate with movement and the practice. It was really nice to support them with that and not be the sole maker of a show but to support the creation and bring the movement out of it.
Then 3.5 years ago now I applied for this job, and moved here in Summer 2021.
Helen: How have you found being in an educational setting and role, especially in a higher education institution?
Matteo: I really enjoy working with young adults, it’s the part I enjoy the most about my job. I learn a lot from them, even though they come here to learn from me but it’s two ways. I also enjoy the knowledge that I have the responsibility and the pleasure of training the next generation of dancers. Not only as physical people but also as artists in the future. How they want to challenge the arts and see the arts, how they want to move the arts forward in a different direction. That is something they can only do as they are the next generation. The hardest part was the academic language, it was very new to me when I moved here. Especially as English is my second language and although it’s been my working language for the past 20 years it still feels like my second language. It’s hard to relate the artistic language I have been using over the past 20 years into an academic context without feeling like I don’t belong here because I don’t speak that language, because I still have the same knowledge it just was under a different format.
Helen: What’s your favourite highlight or moment of your career?
Matteo: Because my career has always been very international, working in a pre Brexit UK I really thrived and grew because of the interchange and exchanges we had with the rest of Europe. I don’t think I would have been here if it wasn’t for the artists I worked with from different backgrounds and cultures and upbringings. So something I’m very proud of with Verve is that I try to keep that European link even though we are a British institution. It’s very important for me to connect to more than just the local or national landscape. For example bringing choreographers like KOR’SIA or (LA)HORDE who came to the UK for the first time because it feels sometimes like there are these choreographers in Europe who keep growing and growing but somehow they never make it through the channel. So for me to bring these European highlights to the UK and then tour it is something that makes it special and important and makes me proud of what I do.
Helen: What do you want to achieve next, will you stay here forever or what’s next for you?
Matteo: No, each to their own I guess but no. I guess next is to continue the trajectory I’m on now not that I know what that is but I know that I am never happy with myself and I will always want to try and do more. VERVE has this great format of touring three works and then repeating but there isn’t much room to do anything else. So in the future I like to think where I can take dance further than just a triple bill. So I see myself working in a place either here or somewhere that has a wider reach and layered approach and impact within a company or institution, but I still want to be a creator and keep making. But again different formats within that, I’ve missed my site specific way of making whilst I’ve been here. But I’ve worked in the UK for 13 years now and sometimes when Igo back to Europe to work I do miss it. I think in Europe there is still appreciation for art to be art which I feel is fading away in the UK, art is only becoming a tool to serve something. I miss spaces and places where I see audiences seeing a piece of dance and get moved by it just because it is a beautiful piece of art. I wish we could bring a little bit of that lightness and openness back.
Helen: Do you ever find yourself becoming homesick for Europe or especially Italy?
Matteo: I go back to Italy twice a year but I used to not feel homesick when I first left but now as I get older I miss it more and more. But i don’t know what I miss about it yet, well I know i miss the culture and their way of living life but i don’t know how my professional life sits across there yet. I don’t know if it’s just a fantasy because I go there on holiday or if the reality is very different.
Helen: Who would you say you are outside of dance?
Matteo: I am a very social person, I like to spend time with people a lot, I like to spend time looking after my house and build a place that feels cared for. I’m also a really good friend, I really take care of the relationships I build, which can be hard because I build them through work so I find friends all over the place. I find it’s important for me to keep connected to people that had a big impact on me. I like to spend time with them and visit them and reach out and care for them. I am also married, I have a husband and one cat called Lily, she’s 14.
I also have a love for food, I always said that if I wasn’t in dance or if I ever left dance I would be in food somehow. Something I like and miss a lot and I used to recharge from is the sea. I grew up by the sea in Italy and something I’ve been missing here in Leeds is going to the sea and just observing the infinity, even if it was a cold January day. I need to find places like the sea that make me feel that there is something bigger than myself, especially as work can sometimes feel so overwhelming and it can be the only thing you do. So if you step out of it the big bubble you created is invisible in the bigger schemes of things. Sometimes it helps me to put things into perspective.
Helen: Would you say nature is a big part of your work and sense of self?
Matteo: I would say that it’s a part of who I need to be, but it’s a part that does not overlap with my work. I don’t necessarily get inspired by nature themes or ideas but I do need nature with me as a person. For example I have an allotment which I love to go to, in spring and summer i like to go there after work. It’s the perfect place as you can’t see any buildings and your phone has no signal and it’s super quiet. It’s almost medicinal for me after a day of work to go there. Just be myself with nature and the earth, to grow things that look after me when I eat them.
Helen: Is there anything you’d like to say or offer?
Matteo: I guess I’d say to the people who read this, to be passionate and driven but also enjoy what we do. The best advice I can give is to enjoy what we do because it is a privilege to do what we do and at the end of the day it is just dance. So give passion and effort into it but we all started dancing because we enjoyed it and sometimes I need to reconnect back to that. If you get to a point where joy isn’t there anymore, question yourself why and try to bring that joy back again, even if it means taking a step back like I did.
