Working with Iratxe Ansa

Student Viola Iida reflects on her time working with Iratxe Ansa in Sydney Dance Company’s Pre-Professional Year:

After an incredible first term and a relaxing dance-free holiday, I clearly did not know what I was in for in term two!

The super energetic Iratxe Ansa and her husband Igor Bacovich placed countless challenges on us during the first three weeks back. As a group, this was the first time we had been faced with such an intense and profound approach to both improvisation and choreography. Although at first, many of us hesitated to take up the challenge (maybe we were feeling a little overwhelmed), after three weeks we had all grown not only as artists but as individuals, left with intense hunger, passion and ardor.

Throughout these unforgettable and exhausting three weeks, Iratxe and Igor made it very clear that without true commitment to the intention, the message of movement can’t be communicated and that we can always go much further than what we perceive to be our maximum capacity. We were able to come to the understanding that art is not about the execution of movement, but rather how and what you feel whilst executing the movement.

I personally can’t thank Iratxe Ansa enough for allowing us to experience such a valuable and informative three weeks. We were able to gain greater strength and stamina and each and every one of us has grown and connected much more deeply as a group.

Thank you Iratxe and Igor!

Viola pictured above second from the left.

Click here to register your interest in our 2016 Pre-Professional Year.