Tag: Sadler’s Wells

Sadler’s Wells Summer University

Sadler's Wells Summer University

From the 9 to the 21 of July 2012, Sadler’s Wells will be hosting its Summer University, with fifteen young choreographers returning for the first programme of its kind in the UK, with the second year of the free course running throughout July.

Directed by one of the most respected choreographers in Europe today, award-winning Jonathan Burrows, previously a dancer of Rambert Dance Company, Sadler’s Wells Summer University has given places to students from a vast range of dance styles, from pretty pointe shoes to New Yorkers, ranging in age from 25 to 37. With the programme aimed specifically at choreographers with up to five years professional experience, the four-year programme features a two-week intensive period every summer.

This fantastic opportunity is a fortnight of intensive talks, lectures, discussions and workshops, with additional input from guest artists and speakers. The course focuses on compositional and choreographic processes, performance and philosophies, encouraging participants to question how dance can be made and what it might communicate to audiences. The programme is a long-term approach to choreographic study, designed for artists after their initial training, be it in a tutu or tap shoes, in the early stages of their careers.

It is ambitious in its range of initiative as part of all that Sadler’s Wells offers to support and develop choreographers, with the Jerwood Charitable Foundation supporting the programme as part of the ongoing Jerwood Studio at Sadler’s Wells which began in 2006, to develop creative opportunities for dancers and choreographers to experiment at the start of a project, before being committed to a production. Over the years approximately 75% of these projects have gone on to be commissioned, produced or programmed by Sadler’s Wells, including Matthew Bourne, Clod Ensemble, Jasmin Vardimon, Pet Shop Boys and Javier de Frutos, puppeteer Sue Buckmaster and Arthur Pita, and Hofesh Shechter emphasising the prestigious nature of the programme.

Image courtesy of David Hawgood at Geograph®.

Big Youth Dance Weekend

Big Dance Youth Weekend

As part of Big Dance 2012, Sadler’s Wells is due to present the Big Youth Dance Weekend at the Scoop, More London, on the 7 and 8 of July. Marking the start of Big Dance week, the Big Youth Dance Weekend will celebrate youth dance across the capital, and will also welcome dance groups from further afield, encouraging even more young people to engage with dance, especially during such an iconic dance event for the UK.

The Scoop is an open air “scooped out” ampitheatre next to The Greater London Authority’s City Hall. In collaboration with the Big Youth Dance Weekend, the performance opportunity which arises is a relaxed, informal event, with groups performing one after the other. Hosted by Hakeem Onibudo for Big Dance, his expertise in hip hop and street dance emphasises the sheer variety of dance styles available in the twenty-first century, with each one becoming popular in its own right. Both the spectacular rhythms of Latin and ballroom shoes and the speedy footwork of jazz shoes and leotards, alongside the urban dance moves of street crews make for a fantastic weekend.

Now in its 7th year, the Big Youth Dance Weekend has transformed itself into an outdoor performance event not to be missed. The performance blocks which form the Big Youth Dance Weekend reflect the Big Dance Hubs which aim to welcome dance groups from every London borough to the unique event in order to celebrate Big Dance thoroughly. Both youth and school dance companies are eligible to apply to take part in the event of both primary and secondary school aged young people, with all dance styles welcome, be it the twirling tutus of ballet or the resounding taps of jazzy tap dance shoes. Each dance company will be allocated to a performance block which matches the group’s borough location, split into North, East, South East, South, West and Outside London.

To apply, download the application information and form from the website and get your dancing shoes on!

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

London Contemporary Dance School’s End of Year Season

Each year, the UK’s contemporary dance house The Place announces its annual End of Year Season, in which graduating students from London Contemporary Dance School perform both a varied and excellent programme. This marks the completion of their training at one of the world’s leading conservatoires and inspires the next generation of dancers to harness their dance talents and hone their training.

London Contemporary Dance School Graduation 2012Image courtesy of Benedict Johnson Photography.

Rather than a focus on pretty pink pointe shoes or the West End tap tones, the Robin Howard Dance Theatre is overrun each year with bare footed talent, sporting a range or dance clothing, which is generally thought to set the standard of contemporary dance throughout the rest of the country. The season includes In Performance: Postgraduate Alumni, which will feature the work created by MA Choreography Alumni, celebrating the work produced by the course over a period of 11 years, performed by London Contemporary Dance School’s alumni.

Additionally, EDge, the postgraduate performance company of LCDS, will be presenting a repertoire that has been toured around Europe by the company’s 12 dancers since March 2012, including upcoming choreographer James Wilton’s Through Shards, and Avant Garde Dance’s Founder and Artistic Director Tony Adigun’s Unleashed, inspired by Richard Alston’s iconic Wildlife.

The Graduation Performances will feature over 40 graduating students performing specially commissioned works by professional choreographers, including The Place’s Artistic Director Richard Alston. Alston has restaged his latest piece A Ceremony Of Carols, originally commissioned by The Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury and Sadler’s Wells. A selection of the students’ own choreography, chosen from the body of work created over the last year will also be featured to complete the programme. This represents the culmination of the graduates’ experiences at LCDS, completing their BA in Contemporary Dance and Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Dance Studies. The diverse range of works demonstrates the breadth of their studies and the excellence of the performance demonstrates the sheer quality of their training.

Big Dance and Sadler’s Wells’ Sampled

Sampled - Presented by Sadler's Wells and Big DanceThis year’s Sampled is due to run at Sadler’s Wells’ West End venue, the Peacock Theatre on Friday 29 and Saturday 30 June 2012, in order to give audiences a taste of what the UK’s leading dance house has to offer to both leotard-clad and non-dancing fans. Presented by Sadler’s Wells and Big Dance 2012, Sampled is now well established as a highlight of London’s vibrant dance calendar. It is filled with delights such as jazz dance sneakers to the more eclectic fusions of ballet skirts and urban dancewear, as anticipated in 2012.

Despite being in its sixth year, 2012 marks Sampled’s first appearance at the Peacock, containing two incredible and inspiring days of dance, music and workshops. Audiences are privy to a wealth of dance spectacle, displaying world-class hip hop and the pink pointe shoes of ballet, to bare-footed contemporary dance and flamenco in one sitting. This unique mix of Sampled demonstrates the complete diversity of the UK dance scene in the twenty-first century, and the increasing number of collaborations which are taking place throughout the industry in order to create new works of art, and even masterpieces.

The 2012 line up includes Paco Peña Flamenco Dance Company, English National Ballet, Jonzi D, Da Bratz (the youth group of Olivier Award-winning hip hop dance company Boy Blue Entertainment), Cathy Waller – who won the Blueprint Bursary Award earlier this year for her fusion of contemporary and hip hop dance theatre – and the winner of the New Adventures Choreographer Award,  James Cousins. Trussed up in their tutus, English National Ballet will perform a pas de deux from their magnificent production Swan Lake, which was choreographed by Derek Deane. In addition, Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist and hip hop legend Jonzi D will perform Aeroplane Man, his witty solo and a true story, and Da Bratz will perform Generation: Next 2012, which was well received at its premiere at Breakin’ Convention earlier this year.

Find out more and purchase tickets online at the Sadler’s Wells website.

Balletboyz

Balletboyz

Dancing on the whole without ballet shoes, or diamond encrusted tutus, male ballet dancers are mostly utilised on stage to display the female ballerina in the best possible light to the audience and critics alike. While this has been a tradition of classical ballet for many centuries, the twenty-first century has marked a series of changes in the male-female relationship on stage, with increasing numbers of female dancers required to lift and support their male partners in dance genres.

Balletboyz, an all-male company has also turned the male classical ballet dancer tradition on its head, and sometimes quite literally. Made up of 8 young men, the Boyz are more likely to sport jazz shoes than the white tights and unitards of their male dancer predecessors. Whilst this history is an integral part of dance today, it seems important that the dance sector should not become stagnant – it should continue to evolve and adjust to the shifts in the industry, and the social and cultural contexts of everyday life.

As the creation of Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, Balletboyz was founded in 2001 as contemporary and classically driven company. Both founders were members of The Royal Ballet, both dancing principal roles including Romeo, Prince Siegfried and King of the Sweets. They have additionally created roles for choreographers such as Kenneth MacMillan, Twyla Tharp, William Forsythe and Christopher Wheeldon. Through the formation of Balletboyz, Nunn and Trevitt have fused the classical and contemporary, moving away from the soft shoes they were once used to, and creating a passion-fuelled company full of inspiring young men.

In 2005 Balletboyz became Associate Artists at Sadler’s Wells, London’s leading dance house, and 2010 saw the first edition of Balletboyz’ groundbreaking project, the TALENT. Nunn and Trevitt selected nine male dancers from a variety of backgrounds, working with them closely to create a company of performers. The show toured nationally and internationally receiving fantastic reviews, confirming that Balletboyz do indeed wear the dance crown, and will continue to push themselves physically and creatively.

Pina Bausch at the Barbican and Sadler’s Wells

Pina Bausch

A month-long season of 10 works by the late German choreographer Pina Bausch is being presented by the Barbican and Sadler’s Wells until July 9 2012, each work aiming to explore a different world city.

Tanztheater Wuppertal began with controversy, with Bausch appointed as director of dance for the Wuppertal theatres in 1973. She developed a specific dance form as part of her role as a mixture of dance and theatre, which was at first, wholly unfamiliar. With her dancers speaking and singing, in addition to performing dance, Bausch’s work succeeded in establishing itself as a unique venture.

Unlike the many twirling tutus and pristine pointe shoes seen on stages today, Bausch’s work in the early years sowed the seeds for a dance revolution which eventually redefined modern dance throughout the world. This certain strand of dance theatre became its own genre, separating itself from the stomping tap shoes and jazz shoes of chorus lines  dominating many Western stages. Choreographers of both theatrical and classical backgrounds were inspired to create, which spelled global success for Bausch’s work, always surrounding a “universal need”: love, intimacy and emotional security.

Accordingly, Bausch developed an artistic form which was able to incorporate highly diverse cultural influences, investigating what brings humans closer to fulfilling these universal needs, and the factors which distance them. Her research continues to generate experiences and memories in her audiences, with “moving images of inner landscapes, exploring the precise state of human feelings while never giving up hope that the longing for love can one day be met”. A close engagement with reality is an additional key aspect of Bausch’s work, having resided within each creation over the 36 years of her career until her death in 2009, shaping the work of the Tanztheater Wuppertal considerably.

Image courtesy of Duisburger Philharmoniker at Flickr.

Big Dance 2012 – Sadler’s Wells and Wayne McGregor

Sadler's WellsAs part of the Big Dance 2012 Schools Pledge, Sadler’s Wells will join schools and venues across the world in an attempt to set a new Guinness World Record for ‘Largest Dance Routine – Multi Venue’, on 18th May at 1:00pm, to coincide with the arrival of the Olympic torch relay in the UK. Big Dance is one of the world’s biggest and most influential dance festivals, featuring dance in unusual spaces and showcasing the diversity of dance styles in the capital and across the UK.

The Record Breaker event will see thousands of school children dancing a specially created 5 minute work by Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist, CBE Wayne McGregor. In light of the upcoming Olympic events, sport and dance have never been combined so closely, seemingly working to encourage children and young people to don their dancewear, pop on their jazz sneakers and get involved. Over 60 local residents and children from local schools are expected to gather in Sadler’s Wells’ main foyer. The current record is held by the Netherlands with 264,188 people in 1,472 locations and it is estimated around 600,000 school children across 20,000 schools in the UK will be taking part in the attempt, with schools in 55 other countries around the world also taking part.

The choreography has been devised to depict different Olympic sports, including fencing, rowing, running and basketball, emphasising the accessibility of dance aside from the stereotypical leotard and ballet shoes. Big Dance is one of the principle projects of the Cultural Olympiad’s London 2012 Festival, and the record attempt will mark the official countdown period to the Big Dance Festival (7th – 15th July). This will be concluded with another mass Wayne McGregor performance on 14th July, when one thousand school children will perform a specially commissioned McGregor work in Trafalgar Square. Such a fantastic and fun opportunity cannot be passed by, especially by those who have never had the opportunity before to engage with dance. A unique moment will be shared by all those involved, conveying the utmost passion and unison with regards to the art form that has prevailed throughout history.

Matthew Bourne’s 3D Swan Lake

Matthew BourneCurzon Cinemas are due to bring Matthew Bourne’s triumphant re-interpretation of Swan Lake (certificate PG) on May 14th, at the Soho showing theatre. The production is a pre-recorded version from a 2011 performance at Sadler’s Wells, and will continue to showcase the bare-footed swans to audiences nationwide and beyond.

When Swan Lake premiered in 1995, it turned the traditional production on its head and took the dance world by storm, with Bourne captivating audiences with his theatrical and contemporary-classical choreography. Bourne’s version of the well-known classic is arguably an equally well-known production, replacing the female cast and pointe shoes of dancers with an iconic yet menacing male ensemble, donning white feathers and bare torsos. Swan Lake was first filmed in 2D in 1996, becoming a world phenomenon and winning more than 30 top accolades in the major theatrical awards of Broadway, Los Angeles and the UK. The 3D film is expected to create an illusion of space around the dancers, drawing the audience in and bringing the dramatic realism of the story to life.

The cast includes Richard Windsor as the lead Swan/Stranger, Dominic North as The Prince, Nina Goldman as The Queen and Madelaine Brennan as The Girlfriend, emulating the drama and intensity of Bourne’s dark idealisations. Following the screening, both director and choreographer Bourne and executive producer Fiona Morris will deliver a post-screening discussion, bringing the dazzling displays of characters and their show tights even further to life.

The modern reinvention of Swan Lake does away with the pristine tutus of Odette/Odile and the Cygnets, replacing them with leather and character shoe clad characters who bask in the theatricality of Bourne’s work. The 3D version of the piece brings audiences the immediate experience of dance, many of whom may never see it on stage. Whilst some may argue that this notion may do away with the intrinsic aesthetic of dance, yet it is encouraging to note that the magic of dance is available for countless numbers, spreading its message and aiming to secure further recognition of the industry’s future.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Ballet Preljocaj’s Snow White

Ballet Preljocaj's "Snow White" at Sadler's Wells

From May 10th until May 12th 2012, Angelin Preljocaj’s darkly adult take on the Brothers Grimm fairytale Snow White will be showing at Sadler’s Wells, showcasing spectacular costumes by fashion icon Jean Paul Gaultier and featuring the symphonic musical score by Gustav Mahler. As one of France’s most successful choreographers, Preljocaj is returning with his award-winning 2008 adaptation, performed as a contemporary ballet by the company of 25 dancers, miles away from the tutu-clad stereotype. Preljocaj’s physical choreography and Thierry Leproust’s dramatic sets transports the audience to a fairytale world of magic, drama and romance, remaining with the classic story but lacking the ballet shoes of a strictly classical company, sporting black unitards and extravagant head pieces.

Since the inception of Ballet Preljocaj in 1985, Preljocaj has created 45 choreographic works, ranging from solos to larger constructions. The company performs internationally and at home in France, where it is recognised as one of the country’s leading dance companies. Snow White has previously been a prize winner at the Globes de Cristal 2009, and in 1996 was welcomed at the Cité du Livre in Aix-en-Provence. Preljocaj’s creations have been restaged by numerous other repertory companies, from which he also receives requests to create new pieces, such as for La Scala in Milan and the New York City Ballet. The collaborations between Preljocaj and numerous other artists have also been notable, extending his influence far beyond his own company.

Beyond the repertory performances, Ballet Preljocaj has been multiplying its local actions in Aix-en-Provence and neighbouring communities in order to share its passion for dance with the broader public. Available are lectures on dance interpretation through video, public rehearsals, contemporary-dance classes and workshops, and dance interventions in urban public space in order to offer the chance to view and understand dance from different perspectives, expanding the company’s reach into the dance sector and beyond.

Image courtesy of Sadler’s Wells.