Cardiff City Football Club to receive tips and techniques from the dancing world to get a new edge to their game
Cardiff City FC are to attend a specially tailored, dance-inspired workshop on Tuesday 26th November at Wales Millennium Centre. The workshop, led by the director and company members from performing arts company Clod Ensemble will be attended by players and staff from across the senior, development and under-18 teams. The workshop marks the start of Clod Ensemble’s Performing Medicine: The Anatomy Season at Wales Millennium Centre.
While football and dance might initially appear at very opposite ends of the physical spectrum, they still hold plenty in common, with both relying heavily on coordination, teamwork, balance, strength, intention, dexterity, creativity and stamina. Planning formations on a pitch could be considered a form of choreography.
In this workshop footballers and dancers will explore what movement vocabularies they share, what they can learn from each other and what we can learn about anatomy by comparing the physicality of highly skilled dancers and footballers.
Through the collaboration, players, coaches and physiotherapists from Cardiff FC and dancers from Clod Ensemble, will share ideas as to how best to prepare the body and mind before stepping out onto the pitch or the stage.
Outlining her hopes for the specially devised workshop, Suzy Willson, director of Clod Ensemble, said: ‘Football has often been called the beautiful game – we look forward to finding out whether the grace of the players translates from the football pitch to dance studio, and perhaps our knowledge about movement and creativity might find it’s only valuable place out on the pitch.’
Cardiff City’s Head of Performance Richard Collinge MCSP SRP, said of the event: ‘Cardiff City is pleased to be collaborating with Clod Ensemble on this exciting project. We look forward to working together again in the future, as we look to further explore the physical and psychological similarities and overlaps between the performing arts and professional football. We thank Wales Millennium Centre for their invitation and drive in putting this project together.’
The workshop is the perfect example of Clod Ensemble’s capacity to unleash the diverse potential of performance and movement in a range of different contexts. It also marks the start of Clod Ensemble’s Performing Medicine: The Anatomy Season, in association with Wales Millennium Centre, a series of conversations, performances and workshops inspired by the theme of anatomy (26 Nov – 7 Dec). An innovative programme of events, Performing Medicine: The Anatomy Season fuses expressive dance, original music scores, visual art, history and medicine in order to explore what goes on under the skin and present an inspiring, illuminating interpretation of the wonders of the human form.
For further information on Performing Medicine: The Anatomy Season and to book tickets, visit www.wmc.org.ukor call 029 2063 6464.