
Welcome to the news and journal section where snippets of my latest adventures can be found. In the sidebar you can find posts listed by Categories and Tags or use keywords in the search bar. There are all sorts of stories in here, from personal accounts of gigs to progress on projects.
Enjoy!
Annette
Confirmed: Sir Bruce Forsyth CBE trained at the Buddy Bradley Dance School
Finally, I’ve found the details that confirm what I’d suspected that, like many other British film and television stars of the mid-twentieth century, Bruce Forsyth had trained at the Buddy Bradley School of Dance in London. Other stars who were coached by Buddy include Jessie Matthews, Jack Buchanan, John Mills and Audrey Hepburn. Many ballet dancers were also coached by him, including Dame Alicia Markova, but I’ll come back to that another time.
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As of December 2021, I’m on a PhD Postgraduate Research in Performing Arts programme… Once again, I’m a student!
I’ve started full time doctoral research on a studentship from the University of Wolverhampton as part of the Black History of British Musical Theatre project led by Dr Sarah Whitfield and Sean Mayes (the book: www.bhbmt.co.uk/ and the blog: bhbmt.org). The focus of my research will be on uncovering the choreographic work of Buddy Bradley and finding out, in what way his dance practice was significant to the development of dance in the UK.
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💫 Build a foundation of Tap technique
💫 Embody the language of Jazz
💫 (Re)Discover the playfulness of rhythm
Links to the latest courses/classes are below and also available on linktr.ee/annetteuk
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Mark Friday 11th June 2021 in the diary!
I’m happy to announce that after more than a year of the entertainment industry being largely shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, things are not only looking brighter with things starting to opening up but I have my first gig of 2021!
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PUTTING TAP DANCE RESEARCH IN THE SPOTLIGHT
I’ve been a steering committee member since its inception in 2019. Below are abstracts for the TDRN UK panel discussions I’ve presented in for conferences:
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I’m pleased to announce that I’m on the Advisory Panel for the Review of Jazz in England commissioned by the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group (APPJAG).
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In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Buddy Bradley was coaching many stars of Broadway musicals, including Fred and Adele Astaire, Ruby Keeler, and Eleanor Powell. However despite being well known (and well paid) within show business he never received credit for choreographing a show with a white cast in America. In 1930 Buddy was invited to London to choreograph for Jessie Matthews’s show, Ever Green at the Aldephi Theatre for which he received his first choreographic credit. It was a great success for both Jessie and Buddy and in 1934 it was made into his first British musical film, Evergreen, launching him into the emerging English film industry. Buddy staged over thirty musical productions during the 1930s and choreographed a number of British musical films during his thirty-eight years in Britain.
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Tuesday 18 August 2020
7pm BST
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PUTTING TAP DANCE RESEARCH IN THE SPOTLIGHT
TDRN UK provides a space for researchers, artists, academics, and practitioners to share knowledge, information, and research around Tap Dance.
In May 2019 Jess Murray coordinated a ‘Tap Dance Research Symposium’ which led to the formation of the Tap Dance Research Network UK.
Our initial Steering team formed in May 2019 and included Jess Murray, Sally Crawford-Shepherd, Annette Walker, Trish Melton, Deborah Norris and Karen Wood with Junior Laniyan, Lee Payne and Nathan James joining in June 2020.
I’ve presented at TDRN UK Online Talk Series and on panels we’ve formed to present and discuss our individual research at conferences.
Find out more at http://tdrnuk.com
Did you catch me in BBC’s YolanDa’s Band Jam #39 (series 2, episode 19) first aired on CBeebies 14 March 2020? Look out for repeats on BBC iPlayer. (UK)
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