Rambert’s Evening Of New Choreography comes soon after its opening of its new premises on London’s south bank, to be held at the Lilian Baylis Studio on 17 and 18 December 2013, 7.45pm. The event is one much anticipated in the dancing calendar, enabling Rambert’s dancers to present the latest offering of new work from them. The Evening is an opportunity to see a new generation of emerging choreographic talent and will feature new works created by Malgorzata Dzierzon, Dane Hurst, Estela Merlos, Mbulelo Ndabeni and Patricia Okenwa, accompanied by the Rambert Orchestra.
Rambert has nurtured generations of choreographers who have gone on to enjoy long-standing and influential careers. They include Rambert’s current artistic director Mark Baldwin and such other notable names as Christopher Bruce, Michael Clark and Rafael Bonachela. It is fitting that the 2013 programme is comprised of the first works to have been made in the studios at Rambert’s new home.
Reminisence from Dane Hurst sees his continued collaboration with award-winning jazz composer Tommy Evans. Here he addresses ideas of cherished memory, failed romance, violent passion and solitude.
Hikikomori, the phenomenon of reclusive young adults withdrawn from social life, is the provocation for Malgorzata Dzierzon’s work about the impact of cyberspace on human relationships. Rambert Music Fellow Kate Whitley has composed a string quartet for the piece – her first commission since taking up post.
Mbulelo Ndabeni offers an exploration of the female spirit. Inspired by his South African roots, this work will be performed to a driving percussive score by Rob Millett.
Entre tú y yo is Estella Merlos’s portrayal of obsession and confrontation within the illusory sense of self, accompanied by an electronic and baroque score featuring Fennesz, Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe and Plastikman.
Patricia Okenwa’s collaboration with dancer Antonette Dayritt sends her on a personal quest to uncover a dance near the edge of her ability. Set to music by Geoff and James Holroyde that takes Lockgroove records and experimental jazz as a starting point for a unique score.
The Australian Ballet School has introduced a new fundraising initiative called World Tutu Day, which will utilise an online fundraising platform allowing ballet lovers from all walks of life to create their own fundraising pages. Through integration on social networking sites, fundraisers will be able to gather supporters and spread the World Tutu Day message. The School hopes that in the future the concept will spread to the best ballet schools around the world, giving peers a great way to raise funds. As a result, World Tutu Day will fulfil its ultimate goal of supporting ballet education internationally.
The Place is once again opening it’s annual Resolution! festival up to reviewers who wish to be partnered by a professional critic and pass judgment on some of the UK’s most promising new dance companies. The Place has engaged with audiences and participants, championed the best ideas, and created inspiring conditions for artists and enthusiasts to realise their potential for over forty years, including that of Resolution!. Combining London Contemporary Dance School, Richard Alston Dance Company and the Robin Howard Dance Theatre, together with pioneering learning, teaching, outreach, recreation and professional development projects The Place champions contemporary dance in particular, and all its strands.
Autumn 2013 will see Sadler’s Wells continue its partnership with The Princes Foundation for Children and the Arts in the delivery of Dance Quest. Dance Quest is a project for the organisations in which 150 young people across the north of the capital will be introduced to live dance and performance. Students from five north London secondary schools will take part in workshops in the aim to make dance more prominent as an art form. This follows the introduction of the project last year, seeing great success.
Swindon school pupils have learnt how to use dance to counter the threat of bullies, taking time out from lessons to learn about bullying through the medium of dance. Students at Holy Rood Junior School were given a talk by Pat O’Driscoll, who runs a local Matt Fiddes martial arts school, about bullying and how to counter it before his daughter Megan led a street dance session. Such a great initiative could be effective rolled out to other mainstream schools across the country.
The 2013 Youth Dance Conference, named ‘Dance Insights – working together for the future of dance’, will take place on 20 November at CAST, Doncaster’s new performance venue in Yorkshire. The conference will cover teaching dance, health and wellbeing, and leadership in the context of working with young people on challenging economic times.
The University of Chichester, renowned for its dance course, is holding a day of talks, workshops and performances on 9 November, named Moving and Experiencing: Somatics in theory and practice.
The shortlist of nominees for the UK Theatre Awards were recently announced on 3 October, the annual awards ceremony that is run by UK-wide body the Theatrical Management Association. There are many productions yet to grace the UK’s stages which could contend for the short list and then the awards themselves.
The Chelmsford Ballet Company, an amateur company with professional standards, is holding its annual Let’s Make a Ballet at The Sandon School in Essex on Sunday 20 October 2013. Let’s Make a Ballet is a choreographic workshop resulting in a short ballet production for young dancers wishing to get a taste of what it is like to be choreographed into a ballet production.
The Yorkshire Ballet Summer School gala set to be held at Sadler’s Wells on 29 September has added an extra star to its performing ranks. Sergei Polunin, one of the most talked about male ballet stars of the twenty-first century will be joining the star-studded gala to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Yorkshire Ballet Summer School, hosted by Sir Anthony Dowell and Sir Derek Jacobi, produced by Marguerite Porter and Richard Clifford.