According to Dave (the production manager), left-side-of-the-road traffic developed because it allowed people to use their sword arms if it turned out that the person coming their way was dangerous.
When the French Revolution took place, though, traffic got swapped over to the right hand side of the road. This is because being able to use one's sword arm was associated with the nobility, which completely antithetical to the ideals of the French Revolution. This change took place, and the rest of the Continent soon followed suit.
Cool, huh?!
At Mind the Gap, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays all start with an hour and a half dance and movement session.
Mondays are contemporary dance, Tuesdays are street dance, and Wednesdays are contact improv.
The dance sessions were instated about three years ago, and since then, Dave says, everyone's fitness, stamina, energy, and coordination have improved. I myself love starting out the day getting the blood pumping, warming up muscles, and getting my motor skills working.
Yesterday, Lorraine and Anna showed me a dance they had created at lunchtime to the song "Take a Bow." They had choreographed it themselves, and today I asked if I could tape it for the blog!
Here it is:
Lorraine and Anna told me that they make up dances like this a lot. They use what they learn in their dance sessions to influence their own work. They were both very proud that this was their own choreography, as well they should be! That kind of thing isn't easy.
Below are some stills from today's Street Dance session. Usually, I participate in the dancing with them, but today I missed most of the dance session, because I got to sit in on a read through of their next national touring show, Treasure Island! I only got to make it to about ten minutes of the dancing, but that meant that I could take a few pictures!
