English National Ballet has recently announced its latest project – The Dance Within Us – as a new residency at Tate Liverpool. To coincide with performances of its award-winning production Le Corsaire at Liverpool Empire from 18–21 November, English National Ballet announced The Dance Within Us, taking place on 20 November as a programme of ambitious projects, including live performance work.
The company will move beyond the stage in Liverpool, with the company’s residency at Tate Liverpool inspired by the exhibition An Imagined Museum: works from the Centre Pompidou, Tate and MMK collections. It will see a new work from choreographer Morgann Runacre-Temple, performed in the exhibition space by English National Ballet dancers, and the residency will also see Tate Liverpool host The Unstoppable Life of Artworks debate. The panel, chaired by Professor Nigel Weatherill, Vice-Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University, and including Tamara Rojo, Artistic Director of English National Ballet, will question if masterpieces such as Swan Lake can be preserved without losing impact and relevance.
An additional part of the residency will see English National Ballet hold an exclusive live drawing event at the Liverpool Empire that focuses on capturing the body in motion. The class will start with a discussion led by visual artist Heidi Wigmore on the different skills required to capture the moving body. Participants will then draw as company dancers take their daily ballet class, followed by a unique opportunity to draw the dancers’ performance at Tate Liverpool’s An Imagined Museum exhibition.
The Dance Within Us is part of English National Ballet’s Engagement programme, which promotes wider and deeper public engagement with the company and the art form, and enables English National Ballet to have a more sustainable presence around the country.