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Backing dancing is one of the most exclusive career paths for a dancer to go down. Even if you’re a dancer whose main interest is theatre, who wouldn’t say yes to dancing for Justin Timberlake? Well-paid, high-profile and all your friends will probably recognise you on TV.

But what happens when you get offered the role of backing dancer and it’s not your favourite artist? Are you confined only to dancing for one artist? Luckily the answer is no.

You can dance for as many different clients and artists that you want and usually they won’t mind. If anything it will make your CV look more impressive if you’ve previously done backing dancing and may even make it easier to dance with your favourite bands.

Most people have loads of different artists and groups on their Ipod or Cd collections. Perhaps too many even to be able to name a favourite. So it’s great that you have permission to dance for lots of them.

There are a few things however you may want to consider. For example if you know that a certain artist has a rival artist (think Britney Spears vs Christina Aguilera) then it might be harder to dance for your favourite artist if you’ve already danced for their rival.

The fact is that production companies usually go to the same couple of agencies for their dancers so naturally some dancers will have worked for several music artists. It won’t come as a surprise to them although sometimes they just want fresh faces which haven’t worked with too many artists.

Sometimes dancers can work for one artist and then work for another rival artist. It happens because dancers are not always at the forefront and unless heavily featured they’re not that easily recognisable. After all every time they cast for dancers they want the best dancers for the job.

The artists or band members aren’t always in the decision-making process for the dancers, although sometimes they are. Sometimes the whole image and production team may be involved in the decision to make sure that the dancer’s style of dancing and image will compliment their artists. It’ll sometimes be video footage they study of the auditions and you won’t even know the artists are helping pick the dancers.

So take a look through your music collection, decide which artists you want to work with and starting plotting for your success. But remember to spend as much time practising your actual dancing skills rather than deciding which artists are your favourites!

Ryan Heddik has enjoyed a successful dance career dancing on TV numerous times and is the author of the groundbreaking e-book ‘Dance In A Pop Video.’ The book teaches aspiring dancers the exact process they can follow to find work in music videos with tried and tested principles that actually work. Find out more about it at www.boxdancer.com

It seems that street dance is becoming more and more popular in the UK. Lots of dance styles have had their turn in the spotlight over the years and it looks like it is the turn of street dance at the moment.

But what exactly is street dance? And what can you expect to learn in a street dance class in London? The London scene is very different to many other countries and it’s worth exploring.

Street dance classes often teach street dance routines which loosely take dance moves from a variety of dance styles which may include hip-hop dance, locking, popping, street jazz and jazz amongst others. It can also include acrobatics when danced in dance troupes and can fuse with other styles very different from street dance such as contemporary too.

In fact looking at the term more closely, ’street dance’ is more an umbrella term encompassing all these dance styles and many more. Different people have different opinions on what constitutes street dance. For example some people would also put dance styles such as the breakin’ and the crip walk under the street dance categories whilst others would not.

So if you see a dance class advertised as street dance you can expect to learn dance routines which are very similar to hip-hop dance and including elements of the other styles, but not necessarily to hip-hop music. Whereas most of the time a hip-hop dance class will have routines to hip-hop or R&B music for the most part.

There are other clues for what you might expect form a street dance class in London. Sometimes ’street’ will be followed by another name. For example ’street jazz’ would combine street and jazz, ’street locking’ would be lockin’ and ’street urban’ would be similar to hip hop dance or urban dance.

The term ’street dance’ is popularly used in the UK and a number of other countries. So if you decide that you want to start going to some street dance classes it’s helpful to know what style of street dance you want to learn.

Dance styles which might fall under the street dance category such as popping, locking and hip-hop dance will often have dance classes which are just called by their names instead of ’street’ something.

If in doubt about a street dance class in London, take a class so you can find out whether it’s general routines you’ll be learning or a specific street dance style. Many times you’ll find you’ll enjoy a dance style that you weren’t even planning to learn!

Kevin Shwe runs the Hip Dance Moves street locking dance classes in London. Teaching students funky moves that are ideal for all settings, in just weeks he can transform a complete non-dancer into a confident dancer with the funkiest demeanour. Check his website www.hipdancemoves.com for more details.

Many dancer’s dream is to do be a backing dancer for their favourite music artists and bands. Whether it’s just to be able to meet them up close and personal or just being able to say you’re one of Britney Spears’ dancers!

How is it possible to dance for your favourite artists? Well you could try the luck route. Wade Robson won a competition to meet Michael Jackson as a kid and when Jackson saw his moves he decided that he wanted to do some backing dancing for him. Lucky kid!

But if you’re down on luck, fear not because there’s another way! It’s easy to find the way, whether you’re picked to be one of the dancers is another matter of course.

The first thing to do is to do some research into your artist. It helps at this point to make sure that this is an artist that actually uses backing dancers - unfortunately if you’re idols are Pearl Jam you probably won’t have much of a chance being one of their dancers unless you pull a brilliant sales speech on them and they realise that they really need dancers after all!

You want to go to a popular search engine like Google and type in the artist’s name and ‘choreographer.’ So using Britney Spears as an example you’d type in ‘Britney Spears choreographer’ into the search box and hit search. You should be able to find pages which will have information about which choreographers have worked with Britney Spears.

You’ll probably come up with the names of quite a few choreographers. To really save time be more specific and get your information in one go. In order to do backing dancing for them you need to find out who the artist’s choreographers are right now. So type in the name of their current album or recent single release along with ‘choreographer.’ Or if that doesn’t work try replacing ‘choreographer’ with ‘choreography’ or similar words.

That’s the first step. Once you know who the choreographers are just do a search for them and find out which agencies they work for. You can do this just by typing the choreographer’s name and adding ‘dance agency’ or ‘choreographer’ into the search.

Sometimes you’ll find they’re with different agencies and you won’t know which agency asked them to provide the choreography. But it’ll probably be one of the top agencies or one that does a lot of TV work if they’re a well-known artist.

Once you know which agencies they’re with you need to audition for that agency so you can possibly be sent to any future auditions where that choreographer needs dancers for your favourite artist. So now you know how to give yourself a chance of dancing with your favourite artist.

Don’t forget to check audition boards as they sometimes hold open auditions or even in some cases auditions to be a backing dancer are posted on the artist/ band’s website. Keep your eyes peeled!

Ryan Heddik has enjoyed a successful dance career dancing on TV numerous times and is the author of the groundbreaking e-book ‘Dance In A Pop Video.’ The book teaches aspiring dancers the exact process they can follow to find work in music videos with tried and tested principles that actually work. Find out more about it at www.boxdancer.com

Being a naturally talented dancer has its benefits as well as downfalls. The benefits are that you can of course already dance your own way without needing too much help. The downside is that being naturally gifted stops many dancers from going to dance classes and learning other skills.

Many dance jobs and auditions specify for the dancers to be skilled in particular dance styles whether it’s commercial dance or breakdance. So if you’re self taught and learnt all your moves by watching MTV videos can you become a dancer on TV as well?

The answer is yes you can - but you make it 100 times harder for yourself than if you trained in some other dance styles as well. Most dance auditions will teach a dance routine or choreography in a particular dance style. If you’ve never been to a single dance class in your life you’re unlikely to pick it up and perform it at the required standard.

The chance you have of dancing on TV will arise mainly from freestyle dance auditions. If an audition has choreography and freestyle they’d usually expect you to be good at both. However at freestyle only auditions there is no choreography so you’re free to let loose.

The disadvantage you have over trained dancers at freestyle auditions is that you’ll be dancing your own way and whoever is judging the audition may not be able to pinpoint your dance style. Many judges like to know what they’re seeing - if only for their own ego boost!

However if your freestyle is truly amazing and they like you then there is no reason why you cannot get the same parts that trained professional dancers are also auditioning with you for.

If you are a self-taught dancer with aspirations of dancing on TV or in music videos you would be strongly advised to go to a dance college or start training at a dance studio though. By being able to pick up choreographies in different styles and learning the subtleties of each one you’ll become a better dancer.

If you train at dance classes and dance studios and are able to pick up choreography you of course give yourself many more opportunities. You’ll be able to attend more auditions which of course means you’ll have a better chance of getting more jobs.

Also the new moves and skills that you learn in the classes you’ll be able to incorporate into your freestyle also and make your freestyle even better. So if you just want to try your luck then you can use your current skills, but if you want to make a real go of it start training at your local dance studio!

Ryan Heddik has enjoyed a successful dance career dancing on TV numerous times and is the author of the groundbreaking e-book ‘Dance In A Pop Video.’ The book teaches aspiring dancers the exact process they can follow to find work in music videos with tried and tested principles that actually work. Find out more about it at www.boxdancer.com

Below are nine principles regarding the audience’s visual experience of a performance of magic. Magicians that understand these principles will know how to work their routine in harmony with these principles, ultimately creating a more successful production.

1- During the performance of an effect the audience is always looking somewhere.

2- Each spectator sees/gathers a series of images during the effect.

3- Spectators often gather slightly or even starkly different images depending on a wide range of variables including seating position, mental concentration, emotional involvement, etc.

4 - Each spectator’s collection of highly subjective images make-up the raw visual ingredients of their ultimately unique experience of the effect.

5- There are six primary areas of audience focus: the performer’s face, his right hand, his left hand, the props, the face(s) of any participants and hands of the participants. When the magician is holding a prop (rather than placing it on the table) or when both of his hands are within a few inches of each other, the separateness of the spheres vanishes and a single sphere of focus is shared.

6- The performer’s focus, though not absolutely controlling the audience’s focus, powerfully guides it.

7- To aid in this guiding, the experienced performer will employ his eyes, the direction and angle of his head, his hands, words, and props.

8- The odds of the audience’s focus shifting from a sphere of attention are in direct proportion to the length of time nothing of interest has happened in that area. With this sphere of attention a moment before you desire them to not be looking there. Just prior to executing a Classic Pass, I use my eyes, the angle of my head and the position of my hands to draw the audience’s attention to the deck, usually as I am the audience looking up into my face when, a moment later, I lower my hands, straighten my shoulders and look the spectators in the eyes.

9- It is far more effective to guide the audience’s focus towards something rather than away from something.

Working your routine around these principles collectively will feel like an unachievable task. Don’t try to bite more than you can chew! Master each principle one-at-a-time before moving onto the next. You will n ultimately create extraordinary experience for each audience member, resulting in a magnificent performance for you. Remember, you are not just a magician, but a performer too.

Jay Sankey is a true magician’s magician and is widely considered to be one of the most original thinkers and finest magic teachers alive today. He is also one of the most prolific magic creators on the planet. Visit www.sankeymagic.comfor more information about Sankey Magic. Receive a free trick every month
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I love the intimacy of close-up magic and especially the challenging work of maintaining a variety of relationships with several people at the same time. This maintenance is achieved in many ways, though ultimately much of it comes down to sigh, sound and touch. Glances, words and physical contact.

Of course, very few routines are constructed in such a way that you touch every member of the audience (without going to jail.) Though you can direct your comments towards a single member of a crowd, your words are usually heard by everyone present. Which is why, to first initiate and then develop different relationships with the individual personalities making up your audience, glances can often be the most effective means.

You glance at a spectator, then shift your glance to a second spectator, and as your glance shifts, the first spectator glances at a third spectator. And so it goes, everyone ceaselessly “checking in” with each other even as you all take part in the group activity of creating the magic effect. A glance takes but a moment to deliver and receive, and in that moment an incredible amount of information and feeling can be conveyed. At the same time, glances can be completely private, even while surrounded by other people. And unlike words said above a whisper, every glance can be sublimely tailored to the moment and recipient.

Even a fleeting glance directly into the eyes of another human being is a multi-layered event analogous to two mirrors suddenly turned to face each other, creating an opportunity for an almost infinite interplay. Looking into the eyes of a member of the audience, I see them just as surely as they see me. And they see that I see them. And I see that they see me. And so on.

During a performance of close-up magic, I am forever shifting my gaze from participant to participant, and as the show unfolds, these glances acquire a history, even a familiarity. As a result, we begin to see each other in a richer, more individual light. When I look into someone’s eyes, it is as if I have just dropped a penny into a well with no idea of how far it may fall. Sometimes I discover the well is frozen and the penny’s descent is stopped dead. More often, the waters are more receptive. And quite regularly, the coin falls deeper than I can gauge.

My job as a performing artist is to follow the coin and make the most of wherever it lands. Words and touch are undoubtedly transcendent tools, but when it comes to nurturing unique, individual relationships in a close-up magic setting, the eyes definitely have it.

Jay Sankey is a true magician’s magician and is widely considered to be one of the most original thinkers and finest magic teachers alive today. He is also one of the most prolific magic creators on the planet. Visit http://www.sankeymagic.com for more information about Jay and Sankey Magic.

My advice is, if you don’t already do SOME kind of sponge magic you are NUTS! Almost nothing is stronger than when people open their hand and those extra sponges appear. It always takes them “right back to wonder.”

I worked with classic red balls for years, but I got sick and tired of playing hide and seek with them when they rolled off the table. I also got sick of the clown nose comments. This is why I further developed sponge magic.

I have spent many years developing material (plenty of classic sleights and several different routines) but the handling I do most often is a quick “Miser Dream.” I slip my hands into my back pockets, grab the jumbo earplug in the left hand and one of the small earplugs into my right. Then I quickly pretend to “find” several earplugs on other people’s elbows, ears, etc- and each time I pretend to put in into my left hand, but of course just hold out the same one earplug in my right.

To finish, I produce the earplug from my own ear (or wherever) and jam “everything” that is in my left hand into a spectator’s hand. I just tap the back of their hand with the one small earplug and just stand back and SAY NOTHING - the longer they wait, the more tension builds and when they open their hand - BOOM. Talk about feeling like a REAL magician!

This is also a great trick for serious hecklers. They make some dumb comment and I say something back. And then when they make another dumb comment (which they almost always do) I just say, “I don’t think you’re listening,” and I pretend to spot something in their ear. Finally, I just say “Ohhhh, that explains it!” and pretend to pull the jumbo earplug out of their ear. Without saying a word I’ve been able to make the heckler the butt of a great magic sight gag, with all his friends busting a gut. It’s clear sailing for the rest of the show!

There are other great magicians who have created effects with stuff OTHER than sponges. “Lazarus” is a wonderful bar effect where the classic “do as I” routine is performed with matches.

“Re:Cap” is a very fresh transposition between a borrowed coin and the CAP of a salt shaker standing at the end of a table. Magicians constantly floor folks with this stunning opener for years.

There are a lot of different things magicians can do with sponges. Look around for a sponge magic trick to work into your routine. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by the reactions you get from your audience.

Jay Sankey is a true magician’s magician and is widely considered to be one of the most original thinkers and finest magic teachers alive today. He is also one of the most prolific magic creators on the planet. Visit http://www.sankeymagic.com for more information about Jay and Sankey Magic.

A lack of understanding does not necessarily create a sense of mystery. A confusing magic effect is a perfect example of this. (Though “a confused magic effect” may be a more accurate phrase because there are far fewer inherently confusing effects than there are confusing ways of presenting effects.) If you share an effect with your audience and unintentionally lose them somewhere along the way, perhaps because you raced through an important part of neglected to clarify an initial condition, at the end of the routine the audience will fail to grasp the overall effect.

This lack of understanding will create confusion and possibly frustration, but not a sense of mystery. Paradoxically, mystery requires clarity, even a certainty as to the events surrounding the mystery.

ORCHESTRATING FOCUS

Here are nine principles regarding the audience’s visual experience of a performance of magic.

During the performance of an effect the audience is always looking somewhere.

Each spectator sees/gathers a series of images during the effect.

Spectators often gather slightly or even starkly different images depending on a wide range of variables including seating position, mental concentration, emotional involvement, etc.

Each spectator’s collection of highly subjective images make-up the raw visual ingredients of their ultimately unique experience of the effect.

There are six primary areas of audience focus: the performer’s face, his right hand, his left hand, the props, the face(s) of any participants and hands of the participants. When the magician is holding a prop (rather than placing it on the table) or when both of his hands are within a few inches of each other, the separateness of the spheres vanishes and a single sphere of focus is shared.

The performer’s focus, though not absolutely controlling the audience’s focus, powerfully guides it.

To aid in this guiding, the experienced performer will employ his eyes, the direction and angle of his head, his hands, words, and props.

The odds of the audience’s focus shifting from a sphere of attention are in direct proportion to the length of time nothing of interest has happened in that area. With this sphere of attention a moment before you desire them to not be looking there. Just prior to executing a Classic Pass, I use my eyes, the angle of my head and the position of my hands to draw the audience’s attention to the deck, usually as I am the audience looking up into my face when, a moment later, I lower my hands, straighten my shoulders and look the spectators in the eyes.

It is far more effective to guide the audience’s focus towards something rather than away from something.

Jay Sankey is a true magician’s magician and is widely considered to be one of the most original thinkers and finest magic teachers alive today. He is also one of the most prolific magic creators on the planet. Visit http://www.sankeymagic.com for more information about Jay and Sankey Magic.

The Fringe Festival has been in existence for just as long as the Edinburgh Festival proper. Both inceptions are inextricably knitted together and began life bound up way back in 1947. Our story begins when what can only sufficiently be described as a mob of eight theatre companies turned up uninvited to the newly formed Edinburgh International Festival. Taking advantage of the huge crowds pulled in by the official festivities, these rogue gatecrashers bolstered their way in with one grisly intent: to showcase their alternative and edgier drama to the unassuming masses.

The following year Scottish playwright and journalist Robert Kemp covered the festival. In his report he described how “Round the fringe of the official Festival drama, there seems to be more private enterprise than before… I am afraid some of us are not going to be at home during the evenings!” Coverage like that was obviously something too enticing to be passed up and Kemp’s description was taken on by the companies. From this point on the ramshackle bunch of illegitimate performers were banded together, drawn in by one report and given a name. They were no longer the shabby, uninvited trouble makers at the party; they were ‘The Fringe’.

During the 1950s and 60s the popularity of the Fringe element of the Festival underwent somewhat of, well if not a boom, than a definite and distinctive blossoming. In the twenty years from 1959-1989 performance companies at the Fringe expanded from just 19 to 494. Since the 90s the popularity of the Fringe has simply exploded. Last year it is estimated that 1,697,293 tickets were sold to Fringe sector productions alone.

And there, it would seem, is the rub. How can you compare the handful of studenty productions that kicked around the first years of the Edinburgh Fringe to the million selling shows of today? Frankly, in quite a literal sense, the Edinburgh Fringe has sold out. It has sold out because it has had little choice to do otherwise.

The popularity of the festival is not just the only threat to the Fringe’s identity though. For the past twenty years detractors have commented on the slow invasion of stand-up comedy. In fact, The Stage reported on the 5th June that this year will see the first time that comedy shows will out number any other genres. It stated that there will be 668 comedy shows in 2008, a whopping 32% of the total. What’s more, where as the Fringe has long been associated with rising talent, many have criticised the recent move of established names putting on huge shows at the festival. Ricky Gervais charging over 30 GBP for a ticket to his stand-up show amassed a lot of negative attention before it was announced that all proceeds were being donated to Cancer Research.

So, as many have asked, how has this been allowed to happen? How has this fairly bohemian rebellion been turned into a playground for the stargazers and the super rich? Well, the answer, as is so often the case, is embedded in the very seed of the thing itself. If we peer back through the history of the Fringe, through the success, the smoke and the mirrors to the grimy digs of its origin, we come to its hazy vague manifesto… or lack thereof. In 1959 a constitution was drawn up in which the policy of neither vetting nor censoring shows was established. From that point forward the principles have reached, well their logical conclusion.

When questioned about the influx of comic acts current director of the Fringe Jon Morgan exclaimed quite plainly “The fringe is an open access festival”. In effect, it is open to everyone who wants to perform and it always has been. The experience of the Fringe may be very different now to the one in the 40s and 50s, but the underlying principles that created whatever ‘golden’ era of the festival you care to remember are the same that now pull big brash names and bigger and brasher crowds. To claim that it’s lost its integrity, artistic or otherwise, is pointless because, by design, it never had any.

The only way to revert to the bygone bohemian age, if that is really possible or indeed what anyone wants, is to move on to pastures, places and performers new. Experimental drama need not be tied to any time or location, by its nature it should be free, unfettered and malleable.

However, if you simply want to sample the distinct magic of the Edinburgh Fringe then you’ll just have to look a little harder. Ignore the hype, and the crowds, and the press, and the celebrity, and the hangers-on, and seek that which really interests you.

With such diversity and variety bursting from every venue, the modern Fringe must have something to suit your taste. Seek, it seems, and so you shall find.

Samantha is a London theatre fanatic and regular West End theatregoer. She writes and researches some of the biggest London shows you can view examples of her work here Oliver

I recently saw an Origami set for sale in a toy shop near me. I was very surprised, because as I remembered it, Origami is the art of paper folding. You don’t need any scissors, or glue, or fancy bits - just a sheet of paper. I was intrigued, and wondered how toy manufacturers could get away with selling a pack of paper as an Origami set. I considered popping down to the beach, scooping up a bucket full of sand and selling it as a build-you-own-beach kit (just add water). As I suspected, the main ingredient was paper.

But not just your ordinary bleached white printer paper. No, this paper was multicoloured. It had a gorgeous feel to it that suggested it might well be recycled, or even handmade. The colours were largely pastel, and the edges were, for some of them, crimped. The kit did also come with a book of instructions, and so I forgave the manufacturers my earlier cynical remarks and began wistfully recollecting the fun I had as a child with Origami.

I remember being given one of those Reader’s Digest books, a huge great tome it was, and full of everything under the sun. It included excerpts from Little Women right next to advice on how to escape your car if you drive into a lake. It even had diagrams.

But tucked unobtrusively away in the mid section of the book was a half dozen pages on the art of paper folding, and I was immediately transfixed by this idea. What really caught my attention was a page that suggested that it was possible to fold a piece of paper into a box that was so sturdy, it would actually hold water. I tried it. Miraculously it worked first time, although the attempt to carry this makeshift bucket downstairs to display to my fond parents how artful and ingenious I was, was less successful. Cue: damp carpet, disappointed parents.

The instructions took me further on a journey which included making a bird which flapped its wings, a boat which really sailed, and a triangular thing which you stood on its end, and waited, and after a while it would flip over ‘as if by magic’. As I recall it relied on the physical properties of the molecules in the paper to apply their natural tendency to reduce the curvature caused by a fold by pulling together within the partially collapsed chains of molecules and causing the natural elasticity to reduce the acute angle of distortion to one more obtuse. Of course, back then I just thought it was a springy corner you tucked underneath and waited until it popped. But then, what did I know? I was only a child.

I kept that huge book for years, simply because of those few pages, and the Origami kit in the shop brought it all back. It made me realise again just how magical and absorbing something as simple as a piece of paper can be to a child. Give a child a sheet of paper and the most basic of tools, and she will craft you a world, forged with miniature hands, and magnificent enthusiasm.

Here’s to the simple toys, and all they teach us.

Victor Epand is an expert consultant about kids toys, dolls, and video games. You will find the best marketplace for kids toys, dolls, and used video games at these sites for kids toys, simple toys, origami kits, dolls, and used video games.