what is VBC: THE MOVING SINGER?

For those of you who have yet to experience the sheer joy and happiness that Mandy exudes, I promise you, your grey post Christmas blues will be washed away if you join us on this course. You’ll feel instantly better, but more than that, you will come away with new found skills that you can put into practice for the rest of your lives and careers.

Learning to ‘move’ as a singer is an essential skill for any professional singer. Learning how to treat our bodies as athletes, giving ourselves the tools to get our bodies ready to sing on any given day, but also learning how to move whilst singing - be that in an operatic role that makes physical demands on us that we need to be able to accommodate, or standing for long periods of time in a concert or recital.

How can we stand for long periods without tension or locking our support?Communicate without putting out bodies out of alignment? Sing that aria whilst lying on the ground? In that costume?! How do I curtsey without falling over?

Mandy can answer all these questions and so much more.

wHO is MANDY?

Mandy Demetriou is in demand all over the world as a movement director and choreographer. Originally from Zimbabwe, she has worked as a dancer, choreographer, teacher and performer in a wide variety of styles and methods. Her passion is dance and movement and she works with dancers, actors, singers and musicians hoping to inspire them with a little bit of the delight she has found from working in this field.

Mandy started to teach after a very serious spinal injury forced her performing career to end. She spent three years gaining knowledge in many diverse areas such as Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais, Sports Therapy Massage, Acupressure and a study of Anatomy and Physiology. These disciplines, along with her dance training, give her a unique understanding of the body and how it works both when it is well and when it is injured.

She was teaching dance, giving courses in Historical Dance and developing her own method of work to release stress and correct alignment when she was given the position of Movement Coach at TheNational Opera Studio then under the directorship of Richard Van Allan CBE. Anna Sweeny, then Head of Movement at the Opera Studio and about to go to New Zealand, was responsible for making sure Mandy was able to continue this wonderful work in this very specialised area. Sheila Barlow was also working at the National Opera Studio and was kind enough to mentor her and enlighten her on the work of Delsartre.

From this beginning in 1987, Mandy has continued to work with singers and has been responsible for continuing and developing her movement work. It includes body awareness, muscular assessment, developing and strengthening the body, characterisation, stagecraft and a knowledge of period movement. Her work tries to instil in singers an ability to express thoughts and feelings in their bodies without having to compromise their vocal technique. This work continued at the National Opera Studio under the directorship of Richard Van Allan, Donald Maxwell and Kathryn Harris.

She went on to work at the Royal Academy of Music coaching movement on their opera course, the Royal Opera House with the JPYA Programme and British Youth Opera, sitting on their Artistic committee.

She has been fortunate enough to have had both Sheila Barlow and Anna Sweeny as mentors, who have encouraged her to take their inspiration and find her own style of work. Richard Van Allan, John Copley, Geraldine Stephenson, Jean Hart and Lisa Ullman have all had a strong influence on her work. This gives her a unique pedigree when it comes to working with young singers and dancers. Her work has also been informed by the techniques of Classical Ballet, Jazz Dance – Matt Mattox style , Laban Technique, Alexander Technique, Pilates, Ballroom Dance, Flamenco, Feldenkrais technique, yoga and many other styles of dance and movement based techniques. Her work in movement for singers is, however, a specialist area in which she has been particularly interested as it requires a deep understanding of the voice, the singer and what they need to enable them to sing, show emotion and thoughts in their movement without compromising their musical intensions.

how THE COURSE works

What are these videos?

These videos were recorded live as part of our 'The Moving Singer' course, and are now available for you to purchase access to indefinitely.

HOW DO I ACCESS THE VIDEOS?

WHAT DOES IT COST?

£50 for the entire course!

our teacher

MANDY DEMETRIOU

Mandy Demetriou began her career as a dancer, and has worked widely as a choreographer, movement director and movement and body specialist and coach since the late 1980s. Her opera movement directing credits away from The Royal Opera include Snegurochka (Wexford Festival Opera), The Marriage of Figaro (ENO), Cavalleria rusticana, Pagliacci, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Fille du régiment, Il trovatore and La bohème (Opera Holland Park), The Cunning Little Vixen, Savitri, Riders to the Sea, The Vanishing Bridegroom, La rondine and Albert Herring (British Youth Opera), Cherevichki and Osud (Garsington Opera), Maria de Buenos Aires (Buxton Festival), Hansel and Gretel (Opera North) and Berlin to Broadway (Copenhagen). In theatre, she has worked as a movement director for productions at Lyric Hammersmith, Nottingham Playhouse, Arcola Theatre and for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s education department among others. Her television credits include House of Eliot, Message for Posterity, Out of the Dolls’ House, Goodnight Sweetheart and Poldark.