Vanessa Haska, from Greece, took the Postgraduate Diploma in Choreography in 2002, having graduated from the one-year Certificate in Contemporary Dance. Since then Vanessa has choreographed for many different groups including EDge (2004), NSCD, Scottish Contemporary Dance School, and the Cypriot Dance Company, Solipsism (for the Biennale Festival in Napoli 2005). In 2006 she received the Peter Darrell Choreographic Award and choreographed Sorry for the Missiles! for Scottish Dance Theatre. She has also presented her choreography in Resolution! and, in 2005, a full evening of her work at the Robin Howard Dance Theatre.
"Being a postgraduate student at The Place is intoxicating. There is just so much going on here; if you really take full advantage of everything that is on offer, in terms of resources (such as audio-visual equipment, studio space or the theatre) as well as personal contacts, you couldn’t ask for a more exciting, in-depth postgraduate experience. The most important thing I took away from my postgraduate training was the ability to operate as a professional choreographer. The course at LCDS doesn’t treat you as a student, it treats you like any other choreographer. You have to find your own dancers, book your own space – it’s very realistic, and means that you feel safe to go out into the world and make your own work.
The teachers on the Choreography course at The Place are fantastic – they are such enthusiastic educationalists, they really encourage you to develop your own practice, and after spending a year on the Postgraduate Diploma, leading to MA, I know I’m good enough to work by myself. The teachers are always there to help but they won’t step in unless you ask them to. There are three set points when your supervisor will offer a critique of how your work is progressing, and if you want more help than that, which I did, you can always ask for it. I had to solve any problems for myself, which meant that I developed a real sense of responsibility for my work. There’s a good balance between practical and written work – the workload is heavy, and new students should be prepared for that, but it’s also enriching, and I now feel able to place my artistic identity within the wider context. It’s also great that the students come from all over the world, as this makes a really strong community. There is lots of contact between the whole postgraduate group, which fosters a sense of collaboration and self direction.
As well as that sense of confidence and independence, the people you meet at LCDS are so well known within the dance world, and such experts in their fields, that these contacts are hugely helpful. I met people during my year as a postgraduate who I’d never have got to know so well otherwise, and who definitely helped me to progress towards the work I'm doing now. And having choreographed for the EDge 04 tour, I was then commissioned by Northern School of Contemporary Dance to create a work for their students in 2005."