Contemporary Dance Final BBC Young Dancer


Contemporary Dance Final

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The line-up for the Grand Final of BBC Young Dancer 2017

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is almost complete.

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In week one, Jodelle Douglas dazzled with his individual technique,

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to take the street dance title.

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He was joined by Rhys Antoni Yeomans

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from the English National Ballet School, who won the Ballet Final.

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And last week we saw Kathak dancer Shyam Dattani

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triumph in the South Asian category.

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Tonight it's the turn of contemporary dance.

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Five finalists compete for the category title

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and the chance to perform on this world-famous stage at Sadler's Wells,

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when the competition reaches its finale next Saturday.

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Also at the end of the programme,

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we'll find out who's been chosen as this year's wild card

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from across all four categories.

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Two years ago, contemporary dancer Connor Scott

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was the selected wild card, and he went on to win the entire thing -

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and was crowned the first ever BBC Young Dancer.

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The search for the BBC Young Dancer 2017 began last year,

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when dancers aged 16-21 entered in the competition's four categories.

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After a round of auditions,

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15 of the country's best young contemporary dancers were invited

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to DanceEast in Ipswich for round two.

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MUSIC: Something Just Like This By The Chainsmokers & Coldplay

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They had to impress a panel of judges,

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all prominent figures in the world of contemporary dance.

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Laura Jones, choreographer and dancer with Stopgap Dance.

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We were looking for maturity of movement

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and a knowledge of their body.

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Whether they were able to show different things,

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different moods, different qualities of movement.

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Fleur Darkin, artistic director of Scottish Dance Theatre.

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For me it was really how much emotional commitment

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they could make.

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And ultimately it's the ability to be able to move the audience.

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And Caroline Finn, artistic director of National Dance Company Wales.

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There was a lot of freshness, which was great.

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And there were some pieces that really moved me emotionally

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and gave me a real visceral reaction.

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With five places in the category final at stake,

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each dancer performed two solos.

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The five dancers that we've now chosen to go through

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will make a really exciting evening.

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There's quite a variety of dancers, so hopefully it will show

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a good cross-section of contemporary dance.

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I don't envy the jury members for the next rounds at all.

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It's going to be a really hard decision.

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The finalists are...

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21-year-old Nora Monsecour.

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She's from Ghent in Belgium, and currently studying at

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the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds.

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Dance is just my passion.

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It's communication I adore so much.

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Every time I feel the need to let it all out,

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I just dance, and then...

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It sounds very cheesy, but it's actually like that!

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Jacob Lang is 20 and in his second year

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at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in London.

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I've never done a competition before,

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so the only thing I know is about performance.

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So I'm just going to take what I've done in rehearsal and just perform.

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And that's all I... All I can do, really.

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18-year-old John-William Watson has recently moved from his hometown

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of Leeds to study in Belgium at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp.

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For me, dance is about sharing.

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I come to share something with the audience,

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the audience share something likewise with me as a dancer.

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So I view it as that, as opposed to...a show.

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Nafisah Baba is a member of Chrysalis -

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a postgraduate dance company based in London.

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She's 20 years old.

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If I'm honest, I'm very nervous.

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But as soon as I get into the movement and I see the

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audience watching, I'm sort of like, this is what I'm...

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This is what I want to do.

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And Joshua Attwood, who's 19.

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He is currently in his second year of training

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at the London Contemporary Dance School.

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Something I really enjoy about dance is the opportunity

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to collaborate and meet new people.

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I'm so happy that I'm doing it now, so that's great.

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All of tonight's finalists are working towards careers

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in one of the most diverse forms of dance - contemporary.

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There's no rules with contemporary dance, really.

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It's a very free medium.

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It encompasses so many different styles.

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Just the nature of contemporary dance means that

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nothing is ruled out.

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It's a dance form where change is part of its nature.

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And I think that's what makes it so interesting.

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Contemporary dance is about,

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for me, being relevant to who we are, and the world that we live in.

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And it gives us that platform to sort of present work that can be

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challenging, and challenging's good.

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As well as performing,

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many contemporary dancers also choreograph their own material.

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In this final, all five dancers are presenting work

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they've choreographed themselves.

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You can't help but be impressed by a dancer who is creating

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their own choreography as well.

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It's like the singer-songwriter, isn't it? You sort of...

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It's somehow more personal to them and you appreciate it

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that little bit more.

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With the opportunity to showcase all their skills,

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tonight's final could be a launchpad for a career in dance.

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It's quite incredible that this is happening.

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And I think if they can realise the opportunity that this can provide

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for them, they'll definitely take this as the next stepping stone.

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It's early January, and to prepare for their appearance

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in the Contemporary Final, the finalists are invited

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to a workshop at the Riverfront in Newport.

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It's their first meeting with the mentors who'll support them

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through the competition.

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They know how you dance, so give them something else.

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Sade Alleyne is a dancer, teacher and choreographer

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who's trained in many different styles of dance.

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You've done the hard work already.

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-Work hard now. When you're on stage, you enjoy it.

-Yeah.

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Choreographer and dancer Miguel Altunaga

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joined dance company Rambert in 2007, after six years with

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the National Contemporary Dance Company of Cuba.

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You are humans. We're all humans. We always want to feel the nerves.

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But it's how we use it.

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You always give yourself a boundary.

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That's something normal, everyone does that.

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So my job is to hopefully push the boundary a bit further up,

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where they can go on stage and be fearless.

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'The guys have been through so many moments, like they've been going through right now.

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'I can give them a different way of performing,'

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and also approaching to the performance.

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First to work with Miguel is Nora.

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MUSIC: Midnight by Lianne La Havas

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I really wanted to be a bit more comfortable in the way I should perform the solos,

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and I think Miguel really helped with that, and he really made sure that I found a balance

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between really dancing, but also finding relaxing moments,

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and finding detail in what I was doing.

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Uh, uh... Yeah? Little bit more space in between...the sequence.

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I was emphasising in little moments whether she can actually trust

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the stillness and do nothing.

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Because she's constantly moving on stage.

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And then she was kind of taking for granted these little moments,

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very important, and very...touchy and...emotional.

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Nice!

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Jacob is being mentored by Sade,

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and she's keen to draw out the different qualities in his choreography.

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There you go.

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And also, just for that one, make your hands stronger.

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'For him, it's clarity.

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'He's really strong, but he can be extremely soft.'

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And for me it was to really...separate those two.

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So the audience can appreciate both qualities while he's dancing.

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Go, go, go...back!

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Yes, gorgeous.

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Sade was mainly getting me to really push every movement

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and think about every part of the body, right from the fingers,

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and, you know, making sure that I really articulate from every part

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of my back and head, using my head a lot more.

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Nice!

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With John-William, Miguel focuses on the way he uses the space on stage.

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I wanted to enhance a little bit more his execution

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by asking him to make the movement a little bit larger,

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and also, you know, expand himself,

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to the point that he looks almost, like, massive onstage.

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Whoa, nice.

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And really, really open. Yeah!

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We've been really focusing and working on making the movement

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more expansive, and trying to make every single movement as big

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and as full as it could possibly be to really push the boundaries

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of what the choreography can go to,

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and where my performance can push to as well.

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Nafisah is working with Sade,

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who focuses on improving her connection with the audience.

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Ah!

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Hold.

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Nice!

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With Nafisah, I wanted to work on the power that you can look at the audience,

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whether it's actually looking out, or just scanning across,

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looking far into the wind, or close up.

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If you focus on certain bits, you're already connecting to the audience.

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It changes everything.

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I get a lot about eye focus,

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but it was different to be told what to focus on.

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So rather than glaze my eyes around, you know, just look in a direction,

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to look at something, and to make eye connection with it.

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So I'm not just glazing over.

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I see, like, the fire exit.

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I see the person in the front of the audience.

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With Josh, Miguel spends time looking at the motivation

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behind the movement.

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Yeah, yeah. Yes.

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Yeah.

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'With him I was working very much on how to make the execution

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'really clean and clear.'

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The movement has to be very well executed.

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Otherwise it all could become a little bit blurry.

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And shum, shum, shum, shum! Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam!

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That's cool, that's cool.

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He questioned, like, "Oh, so, why are you doing this?"

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And then I'd be like, "Oh, actually, I don't know why I'm doing it."

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"I'm just doing it for choreography's sake."

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And then he kind of changed my way of thinking.

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But then it also gives me things to work on now I have time

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in between now and the actual category final.

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Nice, that's cool.

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With just over a week to go until the Contemporary Final,

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the dancers return home to work on the notes given by their mentors.

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Preparations have been coming on very well.

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It's been getting exciting, more and more every day now.

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And every little rehearsal I do,

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little tweaks to the solos or the duet,

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it just really builds that feeling of excitement.

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I think it's about getting the movement down,

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so that you don't need to think about it so much.

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But being able to experience the music each time that you do it.

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I'm feeling quite anxious because I kind of feel a little underprepared.

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But it's, like, how can I spin that to be positive?

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I've rehearsed a lot, especially with the mentoring.

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I made sure that all the notes that the mentor gave me were applied,

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and that I did the adjustments I need to make.

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I've been going to the studio quite a lot

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and just doing my solos back-to-back.

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Trying to dance tired.

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Because one of the tips my mentor said was to learn

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how to dance tired, and to push through it.

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So trying to do that,

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but also not trying to injure myself at the same time.

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It's the end of January, and the day of the Contemporary Final.

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With just a few hours to go,

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all five dancers have the final rehearsals on stage at the Lowry

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in Salford, under the watchful eye of mentors Sade and Miguel.

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They're all looking really beautiful and ready to go.

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So I'm looking forward to how they're going to

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take it to the next level.

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I'm really excited to see how they deal with nerves.

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Will they crumble?

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All of five of them are natural performers.

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So I'm very sure they're going to go at it

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and hopefully leave with no regrets.

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Being in the last five is really exciting.

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It's just, we're all so different and we're all giving different tastes.

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And I hope for other dancers that we can just show that individuality.

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I'm just excited.

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I'm nervous, I can feel it building up.

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But I think that's a good thing.

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That's part of why I perform and why I enjoy performing.

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Being down to the last five is a huge honour,

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to have where I am and my dance training kind of recognised.

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It's quite a humbling feeling that I'm one of the people

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that have been chosen to share the work that I've been creating

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and the sort of style and the way I dance.

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I keep swapping between being nervous and excited.

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So one minute I sort of want to cry because I'm so nervous,

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then the next minute I'm like, "Actually, no, I'm really looking forward to it."

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For the winner, a guaranteed place in next Saturday's Grand Final

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at Sadler's Wells awaits.

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First they must perform two solos and a duet

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in front of a panel of leading dance experts.

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Chair for all these category finals, Shobana Jeyasingh,

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who's a critically acclaimed choreographer

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and the artistic director of Shobana Jeyasingh Dance.

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I think the standout candidate always has to have

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an element of sparkle.

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You need to be a super performer.

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And communicate yourself as an artist.

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Mark Bruce is an award-winning dancer and choreographer

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and the artistic director of the Mark Bruce Company.

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It's something you feel when you see people.

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It's a kind of magic that we're all looking for,

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and that can be a combination of so many different things.

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Just the way they do a subtle accent,

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or just the way they phrase something.

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And completing the line-up, artistic director of

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Leeds-based Phoenix Dance Theatre, Sharon Watson.

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I'm looking for a lot of variety.

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Contemporary has very little boundaries in that area.

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When you see that come together,

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it's the skill of knitting that, so that it becomes one piece of fabric.

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It's a big job, but I think, they've got this far,

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they'll be able to achieve that.

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First to perform in this BBC Young Dancer Contemporary Final

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is 21-year-old Nora Monsecour.

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Nora is from Ghent, in Belgium.

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She started taking ballet lessons when she was four,

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and at nine was studying full-time at ballet school,

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where she was first introduced to the freedom of contemporary dance.

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It's such a creative way to express myself.

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So I started taking a class in that as well,

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and then I shifted from ballet school to contemporary school,

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and from there, like, a whole new world opened.

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Her search for further training brought Nora to the UK,

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and she's now in her second year at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds.

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I never expected myself going to study in England,

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but I came here and I just loved the atmosphere,

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the building, the people.

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There's something magical about it.

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Since starting at the school,

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Nora has been developing her choreography skills,

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and she'll perform two new solos in this final.

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In the lead-up, she works on them with teacher Francesca McCarthy.

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Great.

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It's always useful to have feedback, so I asked her a couple of times

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to come in and just give me feedback on what I could do differently.

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-How does that feel?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

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It's challenging, but it'll be fine.

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We like challenging, though. Well, you like challenging.

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I like watching challenging.

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'She's kind of like your ideal student. You know, she's humble

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'and she's open to everything. She's really curious.'

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She wants to kind of know and learn and she's just like a sponge.

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If I have three weeks or even summer without dancing

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I just get very nervous and stressed up.

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So it's really something that I have the urge to dance

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in order to fully let everything go that's inside myself.

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When I'm in the wings, I usually just think of...being grounded,

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being down to earth. Breathe.

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And then I go on stage and then I just perform.

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To open this Contemporary Final,

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Nora is going to perform one of her self-choreographed pieces

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inspired by a song from one of her favourite artists, Lianne La Havas.

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MUSIC: Midnight by Lianne La Havas

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APPLAUSE

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Nora Monsecour getting this BBC Young Dancer

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Contemporary Final underway.

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In her duet, Nora was partnered by Cameron Stamper.

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To end her programme,

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she performs a piece based on her experiences growing up in Belgium.

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It's quite nostalgic.

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It's about recollecting memories from before, with family,

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with friends, but also how I was a child and how I am now.

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It's kind of a journey through memories that I wanted to portray.

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MUSIC: Ian by Tom Rosenthal

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APPLAUSE

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Nora Monsecour,

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the first of our BBC Young Dancer Contemporary Finalists.

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I think what I notice about Nora

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is her lovely long lines.

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She's blessed with really long limbs

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and I think she really put them to good use,

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especially her first solo.

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I thought it had a very direct

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-emotional quality.

-I thought

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Nora was incredibly graceful.

0:23:230:23:25

Elegant.

0:23:250:23:27

I think she has a real skill of articulating

0:23:270:23:30

a really sophisticated lower half of her body with

0:23:300:23:33

a very kind of contrasted movement

0:23:330:23:36

to her upper body.

0:23:360:23:37

And I thought she delivered that

0:23:370:23:39

incredibly well this evening.

0:23:390:23:40

I'm really happy.

0:23:420:23:43

I'm not going to lie, I was really scared and really stressed,

0:23:430:23:46

but it went all fine, I think.

0:23:460:23:48

Like, of course, there are little mistakes, but it doesn't matter.

0:23:480:23:51

Like, what our mentor said earlier,

0:23:510:23:53

you should embrace your mistakes and your flaws within it.

0:23:530:23:55

And I tried to do that, so I'm really excited.

0:23:550:23:57

I'm still quite nervous

0:23:570:23:59

and the adrenaline is, like, kicking in, but... Yeah.

0:23:590:24:02

Next to perform, 20-year-old Jacob Lang from London.

0:24:050:24:08

Jacob is in his second year of training

0:24:150:24:18

at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance.

0:24:180:24:21

After taking ballet lessons from the age of three,

0:24:210:24:24

he was introduced to a new style of dance when he was still only seven.

0:24:240:24:28

I didn't see it as contemporary, it was just a class that I went to.

0:24:280:24:31

And it was just very open and very,

0:24:310:24:34

"I can do what I want here. I can move how I want to move.

0:24:340:24:37

"I can experiment with different movement types."

0:24:370:24:40

You know, at that age, I think it's less logical.

0:24:400:24:42

It's less like, "Oh, I'm doing this because this."

0:24:420:24:44

It's just, "I love this, I'm going to do it!"

0:24:440:24:47

Also studying at Rambert

0:24:480:24:50

is the winner of the first BBC Young Dancer competition,

0:24:500:24:53

Connor Scott, who's been giving Jacob a few pointers.

0:24:530:24:57

Connor's a really cool guy and he's been helping me out

0:24:570:24:59

a little bit as well, just sort of saying, "Go for it,

0:24:590:25:03

"don't get shy or anything," because I have a tendency to do that.

0:25:030:25:07

It's a great feeling, you know, to have one of your friends

0:25:070:25:10

embark on the same journey that you've kind of been on.

0:25:100:25:12

All I can do is be here for him and, you know, just root for him.

0:25:120:25:16

I'll be there, like, do you know what I mean, cheering him on.

0:25:160:25:18

For his appearance in BBC Young Dancer,

0:25:190:25:22

Jacob has taken on a new challenge, to choreograph his own solos.

0:25:220:25:27

Also, what if there's a bit more spiral on this one?

0:25:270:25:30

So it's this way, spiral and then it stays where it is.

0:25:300:25:34

Jacob's made this incredible solo on himself,

0:25:340:25:37

which is very personal to him, I think, and the way he moves.

0:25:370:25:41

I've been working with him to add a little bit of sharpness to places

0:25:410:25:45

or just adding little bits of line here and there.

0:25:450:25:48

And basically just shaping it a little bit more.

0:25:480:25:50

I've never choreographed a solo in that sense or anything like that,

0:25:500:25:55

so I was interested to try that out.

0:25:550:25:57

I thought, "This is a great testing ground."

0:25:570:25:59

I think, when I'm performing,

0:26:030:26:05

it's a sense of I'm speaking and I'm being listened to,

0:26:050:26:08

so there's an audience, you know, a whole room full of people

0:26:080:26:11

and they're all listening and I can give what I want to give.

0:26:110:26:16

To begin his performance in this final,

0:26:170:26:19

Jacob is performing a piece he's titled

0:26:190:26:21

Frank A Einstein.

0:26:210:26:23

It was based on artificial intelligence,

0:26:230:26:27

and I think the character is almost alive but not quite.

0:26:270:26:32

And I think the character has a conflict going on

0:26:320:26:35

and I think its experience of being is quite painful.

0:26:350:26:38

MUSIC: This Bitter Earth by Dinah Washington

0:26:400:26:43

APPLAUSE

0:29:150:29:17

For his duet, Jacob was joined by Tania Dimbelolo

0:29:190:29:22

in a piece called Endeared Strokes.

0:29:220:29:26

MUSIC: Que Je Sois Un Ange by Nana Mouskouri

0:29:260:29:28

To end his programme, Jacob has created a piece called Labyrinth.

0:30:240:30:28

It's quite a different

0:30:280:30:29

style of movement.

0:30:290:30:30

It's a lot bigger, punchier,

0:30:300:30:32

and it's just based on

0:30:320:30:34

a kind of landscape, a kind of place

0:30:340:30:36

where the air is thick.

0:30:360:30:38

And I placed a creature in there.

0:30:380:30:40

What kind of creature lives in that environment?

0:30:400:30:43

And I choreographed from that basis.

0:30:430:30:45

MUSIC: Into the Labyrinth by Kraddy

0:30:450:30:47

APPLAUSE

0:31:280:31:30

Jacob's a swift mover.

0:31:440:31:46

He's very pliable, and has a lovely

0:31:460:31:48

feeling of using the floor.

0:31:480:31:50

It's a lovely quality to see.

0:31:500:31:53

He has an incredibly powerful

0:31:530:31:54

way of moving.

0:31:540:31:55

He really kind of got over

0:31:550:31:57

an image of this robotic entity.

0:31:570:32:01

Yeah, I feel that went well.

0:32:030:32:05

I felt invigorated onstage and that's why I perform.

0:32:050:32:08

And so, yeah, I'm good.

0:32:080:32:10

If you'd like to see tonight's performances in full,

0:32:110:32:14

you can find them on our website...

0:32:140:32:16

Still to come,

0:32:200:32:22

20-year-old Nafisah Baba,

0:32:220:32:25

and Joshua Attwood, who's 19.

0:32:250:32:27

But first, it's 18-year-old John-William Watson.

0:32:290:32:33

John-William has been dancing since he was 11.

0:32:400:32:43

After trying a few styles,

0:32:430:32:45

he decided that contemporary dance was his future.

0:32:450:32:48

His training has now taken him from his hometown of Leeds

0:32:480:32:53

to Antwerp in Belgium.

0:32:530:32:54

I moved to Antwerp last September. And being 18, it was a big move.

0:32:540:33:00

It's the first time I'd moved out of my house,

0:33:000:33:03

let alone moved country or gone abroad by myself.

0:33:030:33:06

And now, looking back,

0:33:060:33:07

it's so strange because I feel so at home here.

0:33:070:33:10

Now at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp, John-William was attracted

0:33:120:33:16

by the style of contemporary training on offer.

0:33:160:33:19

I heard of this school through artists I worked with within

0:33:190:33:22

the National Youth Dance Company and something really inspired me

0:33:220:33:25

by the style of movement that was taught here.

0:33:250:33:28

Four, five, six and one, two, three, four.

0:33:280:33:34

It's as much as an art form, an artistic practice,

0:33:340:33:37

as it is an athletic one.

0:33:370:33:39

As well as conditioning our minds and our creativity,

0:33:390:33:42

we condition our bodies also.

0:33:420:33:45

Five, six...

0:33:450:33:47

It's a lot of hard work, it's a lot of grind.

0:33:470:33:50

It's just so incredibly physical.

0:33:500:33:52

It does have, like, a sport element to it and their bodies have to be

0:33:520:33:57

so resilient to this.

0:33:570:33:59

It's just a wonderful thing,

0:34:010:34:03

when you're moving in a space with other people that are

0:34:030:34:06

as passionate about the art form as you are, and are as driven.

0:34:060:34:09

And it's that real passion that stirs up inside when I dance,

0:34:090:34:13

whether it be myself,

0:34:130:34:14

with one person or with a whole class of people.

0:34:140:34:17

It's an incredible experience

0:34:170:34:19

and one that's very hard to put into words, I think.

0:34:190:34:21

APPLAUSE

0:34:260:34:28

It's a really special feeling, being able to work on something

0:34:320:34:36

in a studio and really put your heart and soul into it,

0:34:360:34:39

and then be able to share it with people,

0:34:390:34:41

you know, whether it be friends, family, strangers.

0:34:410:34:44

It's a nice experience.

0:34:440:34:46

John-William's first solo is performed to

0:34:460:34:48

Max Richter's recomposed version of Vivaldi's Winter.

0:34:480:34:52

MUSIC STARTS

0:34:530:34:55

It really sort of is about

0:34:590:35:01

the vulnerability and exposure

0:35:010:35:02

that comes at putting myself out to the world

0:35:020:35:05

and meeting new people, experiencing different things,

0:35:050:35:07

auditioning for schools, for example.

0:35:070:35:10

It's really sort of a labour of love, I think.

0:35:100:35:12

It's very personal to me, this solo.

0:35:120:35:14

For his second solo,

0:36:480:36:49

John-William has created a piece called If Not Now Then When?

0:36:490:36:53

MUSIC: If I Didn't Care by The Ink Spots

0:36:530:36:56

I really sort of explored

0:36:590:37:00

the feeling of nostalgia and the two

0:37:000:37:03

things that come with that.

0:37:030:37:05

The reminiscing and the lovely feeling,

0:37:050:37:07

but also the feeling of sort of loss and sadness that can come with

0:37:070:37:10

being nostalgic about things

0:37:100:37:12

or people that you don't have any more.

0:37:120:37:14

APPLAUSE

0:38:020:38:04

For his duet, John-William is joined by Beth Emmerson,

0:38:080:38:11

a friend from back home in Leeds.

0:38:110:38:14

I wanted to explore the idea of

0:38:160:38:18

proximity and closeness,

0:38:180:38:20

whether that be emotional

0:38:200:38:22

or geographical and the sort of tension that comes between

0:38:220:38:26

stretching that distance and that closeness.

0:38:260:38:28

MUSIC: Ne Me Quitte Pas by Nina Simone

0:38:280:38:31

APPLAUSE

0:40:040:40:06

I really enjoyed his duet.

0:40:180:40:21

He uses gesture a lot, which I found really interesting, and I think,

0:40:210:40:24

you know, it takes a particular kind of imagination to deploy

0:40:240:40:30

gesture to such an extent as he did.

0:40:300:40:34

He's a storyteller.

0:40:340:40:35

So, in order to do that, you have to really connect with an

0:40:350:40:38

audience in a way that is

0:40:380:40:40

a little bit further than just the physicality.

0:40:400:40:42

It's about getting into the mind and I think he took us there.

0:40:420:40:46

Overall, I feel happy. It's been a great process.

0:40:470:40:51

A lot of build-up, you know, a lot of blood, sweat, tears.

0:40:510:40:54

Tears!

0:40:540:40:56

But yeah, it's really nice that it's over now,

0:40:560:40:58

so I'm just excited now and whatever happens, happens, you know?

0:40:580:41:02

Next is 20-year-old Nafisah Baba from London.

0:41:060:41:09

Nafisah started dancing when she was very little,

0:41:190:41:21

inspired by some colourful television characters.

0:41:210:41:24

I used to watch the Teletubbies when I was about three,

0:41:260:41:28

like one-year-old, two, three, so I started...

0:41:280:41:31

I think there was an episode when there was

0:41:310:41:33

a little girl tap-dancing and my mum saw me doing the movements,

0:41:330:41:36

so, I think, from there,

0:41:360:41:38

she was like, "Oh, wow, I'll take you to your first ballet class."

0:41:380:41:40

After graduating with a national diploma in professional dance,

0:41:420:41:46

she is now with Chrysalis London.

0:41:460:41:48

A company that helps contemporary dancers who have completed

0:41:480:41:51

their training prepare for a career in the industry.

0:41:510:41:54

The biggest thing is my confidence because, for me,

0:41:550:41:57

my eye line was just here, like, I never looked up

0:41:570:42:00

and Jodie has just...

0:42:000:42:02

He's brought out, like, a completely different person.

0:42:020:42:05

I've got a lot of work to do but, I feel

0:42:050:42:08

now I'm starting to develop as an artist.

0:42:080:42:10

Slide!

0:42:100:42:12

Control. Down, down, up, up, drop.

0:42:120:42:15

'When she was training, she had such low confidence.'

0:42:150:42:18

When she was speaking to you,

0:42:180:42:20

she was stuttering and I just wanted to relax her and just by

0:42:200:42:24

giving her some confidence, she's just flown over the last two years.

0:42:240:42:28

The improvement is incredible.

0:42:280:42:30

The athleticism behind her jumps and her floor work and attack,

0:42:330:42:37

and Nafisah brings that strength but also with control,

0:42:370:42:41

and you just can't keep your eyes off her when she's onstage.

0:42:410:42:45

Nafisah's confidence may have grown since joining Chrysalis

0:42:450:42:49

but stepping out onto the stage remains a challenge.

0:42:490:42:52

It's about a minute before the performance and I'm thinking,

0:42:520:42:55

"Is it too late to do a runner?" But once I get onstage and...

0:42:550:42:59

Seeing the audience and knowing they're there for a reason,

0:42:590:43:02

you know, they're not there because they don't want to be,

0:43:020:43:04

and for me, it's coming offstage, you have that feeling of...

0:43:040:43:08

That adrenaline rush. It's like, "I want to do it again."

0:43:080:43:11

I'm excited but also nervous to share my piece with the audience.

0:43:110:43:15

The judges especially, but also my friends, family.

0:43:150:43:18

They said they were going to bring a banner, so I'm sort of hoping

0:43:180:43:20

they leave that outside the theatre.

0:43:200:43:23

Nafisah's first solo is called Inescapable.

0:43:230:43:26

In it, she reflects on a difficult choice she had to

0:43:260:43:28

make when she was younger - to play netball or to become a dancer.

0:43:280:43:33

It was quite a difficult decision and I chose dance so,

0:43:360:43:39

you see me sort of with an invisible ball.

0:43:390:43:41

I'm showing the quick, strong focus that you need

0:43:410:43:43

in netball but also forcing myself into first position and being

0:43:430:43:46

torn between which one to do.

0:43:460:43:49

CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS

0:43:500:43:52

APPLAUSE

0:45:170:45:20

For her duet, Nafisah is joined by

0:45:200:45:22

fellow dancer from Chrysalis London - Lois Wong.

0:45:220:45:26

CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS

0:45:260:45:28

MUSIC: Clown by Emeli Sande

0:46:390:46:43

Nafisah's second solo is to a song by one of her favourite artists.

0:46:430:46:48

It's called Clown.

0:46:480:46:50

I just really love the track by Emeli Sande and I just wanted to do

0:46:500:46:55

a beautiful dance and replicate that movement to the song, to show

0:46:550:46:59

what I can do.

0:46:590:47:00

APPLAUSE

0:48:060:48:08

She had the courage at the beginning to just be incredibly still

0:48:200:48:25

because, often, when you're dancing,

0:48:250:48:27

you want to move fast because you want to impress the audience

0:48:270:48:31

with your technique and your speed, but I think it takes

0:48:310:48:35

a particular kind of dancer to actually not do that.

0:48:350:48:38

To have stillness and know that you are still engaged is unbelievable.

0:48:380:48:43

That's a quality that I think takes a lot of professionals a long

0:48:430:48:46

time to capture.

0:48:460:48:47

I was freaking out a little bit but it went

0:48:470:48:50

so much better than I expected, and, just at the end,

0:48:500:48:52

seeing the audience and just looking around and being like, "Wow."

0:48:520:48:56

Being in this theatre and just being watched, it's amazing.

0:48:560:48:59

Bringing this BBC Young Dancer Contemporary Final to a close,

0:48:590:49:04

Joshua Attwood from Nottingham.

0:49:040:49:07

19-year-old Josh is a second-year student at

0:49:110:49:14

London Contemporary Dance School.

0:49:140:49:17

I first got into dancing through primary school.

0:49:250:49:28

Me and my mum would just go to the odd evening class - like salsa -

0:49:280:49:31

and it was just really nice to spend some time with my mum.

0:49:310:49:35

It was also, like, validation that it was OK to do what I want to

0:49:350:49:39

do in the future.

0:49:390:49:40

Josh is keen to develop his own choreography and has created

0:49:400:49:44

all three pieces for this competition, taking

0:49:440:49:47

inspiration from his recent travels.

0:49:470:49:48

This I like, this is nice, yeah.

0:49:480:49:50

In the summer,

0:49:500:49:51

he went for a workshop in Israel and worked with the choreographer of

0:49:510:49:54

the company where I danced before and so this solo

0:49:540:49:57

is based on material from some repertoire that he learnt.

0:49:570:50:01

It's only based on it but he's taken some of the characteristics.

0:50:010:50:05

Yeah, so no rebound, Josh. Not this way, but...

0:50:050:50:07

The tuck is coming in the pelvis.

0:50:070:50:10

He is very striking in his long limbs and

0:50:100:50:14

his clarity but you can work with it,

0:50:140:50:17

so he has a very strong sense of self but he still is

0:50:170:50:19

malleable and you want to be someone who can be like a material,

0:50:190:50:23

you're malleable as a dancer,

0:50:230:50:24

because that can give you many opportunities.

0:50:240:50:28

I really like being sassy and I just kind of have this drive to

0:50:280:50:33

challenge what people know as contemporary dance.

0:50:330:50:36

They might have other ideas about what contemporary dance is,

0:50:360:50:40

and then, maybe, I can shift it a little, be a little bit sassy,

0:50:400:50:43

a little bit cheeky, like, "It's just a bit of fun, we all love dancing."

0:50:430:50:47

Josh has choreographed his first piece

0:50:500:50:52

to Rockaway Beach by the Ramones.

0:50:520:50:54

He has titled it 169 Bar.

0:50:540:50:57

This piece is kind of me just having fun in kind of like

0:50:570:51:03

a bar or club setting.

0:51:030:51:05

That's kind of all I want to say because I think it kind of

0:51:050:51:08

speaks for itself when you see it.

0:51:080:51:09

MUSIC: Rockaway Beach by the Ramones

0:51:120:51:14

APPLAUSE

0:52:200:52:23

Josh's second solo is another self-choreographed piece,

0:52:300:52:33

called Not Too Much.

0:52:330:52:35

ELECTRONIC MUSIC PLAYS

0:52:350:52:37

For his duet, We Won't Be Us,

0:53:120:53:14

Josh is joined by his friend Donna Ashery.

0:53:140:53:17

We had just hooked into this idea that we need to show that we

0:53:170:53:22

have a great connection with each other,

0:53:220:53:24

even if we are not, like, staring at each other and creating this

0:53:240:53:28

intense kind of intention that we can be connected.

0:53:280:53:32

UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYS

0:53:350:53:37

APPLAUSE

0:54:430:54:45

Joshua is a genuinely interesting performer.

0:54:540:54:58

He uses dance to be witty, to be humorous, and within his pieces,

0:54:580:55:04

he made some really interesting choreographic decisions.

0:55:040:55:08

Joshua is definitely on a trip about something and I think he's

0:55:080:55:12

discovering what it is and I think that he's finding

0:55:120:55:15

a way to express that and that's really good to see.

0:55:150:55:18

I feel I managed to show some artistry as well as, like,

0:55:190:55:22

technique and personality and, yeah, it's just great.

0:55:220:55:26

Josh Attwood bringing this BBC Young Dancer Contemporary Final

0:55:280:55:32

to a close.

0:55:320:55:33

You can see all the performances in full on our website...

0:55:330:55:37

Before the result,

0:55:410:55:42

some thoughts from the judges on tonight's finalists.

0:55:420:55:46

I thought the standard was incredibly high

0:55:460:55:48

and a lot of the dancers actually did their own choreography.

0:55:480:55:51

I thought they all made interesting choices, and each

0:55:510:55:55

one of them was a joy to watch.

0:55:550:55:57

There is so much going on in contemporary dance because

0:55:570:56:00

everyone is exploring all kinds of things and I think they're

0:56:000:56:03

really on a good journey and I think that that journey never stops.

0:56:030:56:06

It's encouraging for me as an artistic director to be in this

0:56:060:56:10

environment and to see the talent that's coming through.

0:56:100:56:14

To announce the winner, Sharon Watson.

0:56:160:56:20

I have to say, before I actually announce the winner,

0:56:200:56:23

that this is an absolute wonderful opportunity that we've been provided

0:56:230:56:26

to see all these dancers delivering such incredible work

0:56:260:56:30

and I hope it continues.

0:56:300:56:31

And now, the winner of

0:56:310:56:33

the BBC Young Dancer 2017 Contemporary Category is...

0:56:330:56:39

Nafisah Baba.

0:56:390:56:41

APPLAUSE

0:56:410:56:43

Nafisah's presentation was really quite breathtaking.

0:57:050:57:09

I think what she was able to do was to show a range of her talent.

0:57:090:57:13

She had a very, very good stage presence. You had to look at her.

0:57:130:57:18

It was the maturity, the moments of stillness, the strength

0:57:210:57:27

in the legs and that she really dropped her weight into the floor.

0:57:270:57:31

I think she is quite an exceptional performer and

0:57:310:57:34

has an incredibly bright future.

0:57:340:57:36

I sort of stalled. I just sort of looked at the floor and then, I think,

0:57:390:57:43

someone gave me a nudge as in, like, "That's you."

0:57:430:57:45

And I was like, "Oh, my gosh, it is me." I couldn't believe it.

0:57:450:57:48

Yeah, I just couldn't believe it.

0:57:480:57:50

Congratulations to Nafisah Baba,

0:57:500:57:52

winner of the 2017 Contemporary Final.

0:57:520:57:55

And some good news for another of tonight's dancers,

0:57:550:57:58

John-William Watson.

0:57:580:57:59

He goes through to the Grand Final as the wild card selected

0:57:590:58:03

from across all four categories. Congratulations to him.

0:58:030:58:06

They will both be joining the winners of all the other

0:58:060:58:09

categories, Street, Ballet and South Asian Dance,

0:58:090:58:12

for the Grand Final of BBC Young Dancer 2017.

0:58:120:58:16

This magnificent stage here at Sadler's Wells awaits them.

0:58:160:58:20

I'll be here, together with my co-host for the evening,

0:58:200:58:23

reigning Strictly Come Dancing champion Ore Oduba

0:58:230:58:26

and ballet legend, the wonderful Darcey Bussell.

0:58:260:58:30

Do join us next Saturday from eight o'clock on BBC Two.

0:58:300:58:33

It promises to be quite a night. I'll see you then.

0:58:330:58:37

I think it will be brilliant for these young dancers to dance

0:58:370:58:41

on Sadler's Wells. What an iconic stage it is, the history of it.

0:58:410:58:44

The showcase element of it for these dancers is amazing.

0:58:440:58:48

It's a huge buzz just to step onto a stage,

0:58:480:58:51

you know, hundreds of thousands of people watching this on television.

0:58:510:58:54

I think, mostly, I'm looking for a dancer that feels like they're free.

0:58:540:58:57

If someone has the talent, it shines through whatever form they take.

0:58:570:59:01

In the end, I think it's going to be that person that

0:59:010:59:04

really just smashes it on the night.

0:59:040:59:07

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