Where dance is going next

SPRING LOADED

Where dance is going next

25 Apr - 14 Jun 2014

The Place

Sadly, I am not going to make some madcap prediction about the future of dance (although I have one. It involves dancers not moving at all, and plenty of shouting by the audience). Instead, I am sharing the press release from The Place, the cool place by Euston station in London (where my mother's Ballet Society hold their meetings, I believe).

Press release begins...

Spring Loaded is a season of work specially curated by The Place which is jam-packed with ideas about contemporary dance and movement based performance that challenge boundaries and preconceptions about what dance is. 

With 3 premieres, 17 nights and 24 choreographers the programme showcases a diverse mix of UK and international dance makers. Each choreographer has been chosen because they are established in their practice, they are at the point in their career where they are making vital, exciting and valuable work. They are making work that demands to be seen.

Some of the shows are funny, some use words, there is loud music and film incorporated in others. Some of the shows have lots of dancing and some have a lot less, the ideas explored range from the everyday to the esoteric. From dealing with everyday superstitions, mass group behaviour, or the desire to survive despite the fragility of life, to how we interact with technology and express our cultural inheritance these shows all have one thing in common, and that is; they are where dance is going next.

“We watch a lot of performance and we are convinced that these people and these projects are the most exciting, new things out there. They might be people you’ve not have heard of yet. This is about the future of dance, to help both the artists and audiences make that journey away from things they are familiar with. Spring Loaded is the arena where brilliant artists of the next decade can showcase their work.” Eddie Nixon, Theatre and Artist Development Director, The Place 

April The season opens with a world premiere of Easy Rider by Work Place artist Eva Recacha (Fri 25 Apr). This brand new piece looks at the human compulsion to engage with superstitious beliefs and practices in the pursuit of happiness. Recacha draws on first-hand observations of ritualistic behaviour in her native Spain such as reading horoscopes and self-help manuals, to old wives tales and religion. Much like her Place Prize Finals 2013 piece, Easy Rider is stripped down of all superfluous elements to unravel the pure essence of our need to belong. It reflects our own beliefs in a raw, haunting and nonjudgmental way.  

Southpaw Dance Company (Tue 29 Apr) present a double-bill of work. Based in the North East of England choreographer and dance artist Robby Graham combines Bboying, contemporary technique and contact practices in a brand new movement style. Riots is inspired by protests against rising social unrest around the world and is a short and high energy piece. Men on a Mission is an insight to the cliques and artificial glamour associated with recreational drugs. Graham’s choreography touches on the false confidence, frenzied highs and paranoiac tendencies. He describes the piece as “Trainspotting… if Quentin Tarantino directed it.'

MayThe season continues with a subtle and entrancing new piece by Vera Tussing (Wed 7 May) who is also a Work Place artist. In T-Dance four dancers, connected by wooden poles held in place only by physical tension, form a ‘moving sculpture’. The ever present threat of collapse should one person lose focus, has the effect of drawing in the audience and invites empathy with the experience on stage. T-Dance explores our need to touch, be touched and the cause and effect of physical connections.

British choreographer and rising star James Wilton (Sat 10 May), who created a piece for the Rugby League World Cup 2013, presents his brand new Last Man Standing. The piece focuses on human behaviour when facing danger; how we cope with life’s fragility and the desire to survive. Wilton explores the emotions of fear, anger and determination as ways to respond to these universal elements of the human existence.  Driven by unparalleled energy and athleticism, Wilton’s blends martial arts, break dancing and capoeira to create raw and ground-breaking choreography for his cast of six world class dancers.

Joe Moran | Dance Art Foundation (Tue 13 May) present Assembly, a triple bill of distinct and contrasting works by choreographed by Moran. Decommission, a compelling new solo performed by Moran, is a lively experiment in intimacy and risk. Commissioned for The Place Prize for dance sponsored by Bloomberg 2012, Obverse pursues formalism in choreography. For Moran’s third work, masculinity comes under inspection to complete the Assembly line up. Each work tackles full bodied dancing and critical thinking. Together they make an arresting evening of dance and discourse driven by movement and flickering with ideas.

Sometimes intense, sometimes delightfully funny, Work Place artists Igor and Moreno (Thu 15 & Fri 16 May) present their new work Idiot-Syncrasy. Igor and Moreno call on their folk Sardinian and Basque tradition to create a contemporary take on what most of ancient dances share: jumping for empowerment and happiness. On stage the two performers use repetitive movement to highlight a sense of unity but also to reveal subtle differences. Idiot-Syncrasy is a quirky piece exploring the importance of commitment to a cause and perseverance in trying to change the world despite sometimes feeling like idiots for attempting it.

In a triple-bill which includes premiere, Mamoru Iriguchi (Wed 28 May) introduces his visually quirky and surrealistically humorous work that playfully references choreography, imagery of the body and our interaction with technology. Projector/Conjector is a Swan-Lake-inspired love duet between performers with a TV and a projector attached to their heads. One Man Show (a Place Prize commission), features a solo performer and his digital doppelgängers. GRAFT is a brand new piece that has been specially commissioned by The Place for Spring Loaded 2014 and is shown for the first time tonight. GRAFT explores the shifting landscape of body and space through displacement of body parts Mamoru Iriguchi is an Artsadmin Associate Artist 2012-14 and winner of Best Design, Evening standard Theatre Awards.

Nestled within Spring Loaded is the Trailblazers Showcase – Exposure (Sat 31 May). This mixed bill presents a range of performances incorporating film, installation, abstract choreography, dancehall, reggae and Guinean dance theatre with live music by ADAD’s 2013-14 Trailblazing artists Idrissa Camara, Cindy Claes, Cleo Lake, Kenzi Ireland and Denise Rowe.  Co-curated by Trailblazer Champions Denise Rowe and Vicki Igbokwe the evening offers a tour through the far reaches of African diaspora dance as it is being explored and expressed today. ADAD is a national organisation that supports the practice and appreciation of dance of the African Diaspora.

June The final month of Spring Loaded gets off to a flying start with a night by Mickael ‘Marso’ Riviere (Wed 4 Jun). Born in France and now based in the Midlands in the UK, choreographer and bboy Marso joins forces with two exceptional talents; acclaimed choreographer, actor and dancer Guy Nader, and extraordinary performer and choreographer Salah El Brogy (who has been at The Place as part of Protein’s Border Tales). Together they have co-created two brand new duets; In Match Guy Nader and Marso construct a visually breathtaking place where destruction and renewal, devastation and beauty are never far apart.  Salah El Brogy and Marso present Halfway to The Other Side; part spiritual journey, part absurd reflection on our human tendency to repeat, replicate, endlessly circle through life and turn time on its head.

Six extraordinary dancers from the Hofesh Shechter Company become choreographers in this third incarnation of In Good Company (Fri 6 Jun). Brimming with maverick spirit and irrepressible talent they have created five new and very different dance pieces and one extraordinary film, especially for this Spring Loaded project. The dancers, hailing from the UK, France, Holland, Egypt and Germany are currently touring in Shechter’s work worldwide, and have been given carte blanche to find their own unique choreographic voices. This year In Good Company choreographers are: Maëva Berthelot, Sam Coren, Frédéric Despierre, Bruno Guillore,Kim Kohlman, Sita Ostheimer

French born choreographer Philippe Blanchard (Tue 10 Jun) together with Italian filmmaker twins Luca and Gabriele Stifani have created a thought provoking installation piece This is that. Together they question discrepancies between what we see and how we interpret images and appearances.  This is a stripped-down, highly entertaining and witty performance that is as much spoken dance as danced dance.

HIDE delves under the skin of its creators and audiences. Deborah Light (Fri 13 Jun) layers movement, image, sound and text to put the multiplicity of human nature into question. It does this by blurring the boundaries between autobiography and fiction, between the performance on stage and reality. A cast of three outstanding female dancers Jo Fong (Rosas, DV8), Eddie Ladd (Volcano, Brith Gof) and Rosalind Hâf Brooks (Earthfall)are brought together in a stark environment to create a visceral performance that is bold and intimate.

The final show of the season is a dramatic three-screen cinematic dance event called Witness which has been created by Jo Fong (Sat 14Jun). The piece crosses art forms and explores the themes of portraiture and the representation of women in art, dance, and the line between performance and reality. Witness’ driving force is movement, as the audience follow the three dancers in the making of their personal choreographic portraits.

Listings
All performances start at 8pm.

April

Fri 25   Eva Recacha (premiere)

Sat 26             Eva Recacha

Tue 29 Southpaw Dance Company

May

Wed 7 Vera Tussing

Thu 8   Vera Tussing

Sat 10 James Wilton Dance

Tue 13 Joe Moran

Thu 15 Igor and Moreno

Fri 16    Igor and Moreno

Wed 28 Mamoru Iriguchi (includes a premiere)

Sat 31   Association of Dance of the African Diaspora

June

Wed 4 Mickael Marso Riviere

Fri 6     Hofesh Shechter Company presents In Good Company (premiere)

Sat 7    Hofesh Shechter Company presents In Good Company

Tue 10             Philippe Blanchard

Fri 13    Deborah Light

Sat 14 Jo Fong

How to book

The Place

17 Duke’s Road, London WC1H 9PY

Booking: www.theplace.org.uk/ 020 7121 1100

(Mon-Sat, 10.30am-7pm, 10.30am-6pm on evenings with no performances)

Prices: £15 (conc. £12), except Jo Fong £9 (conc. £6)

Ticket offer:  By booking for two shows in the Spring Loaded season you get one of your

tickets half-price.

UNDER THE MULBERRY TREE @EFT

Quick bit o' churnalism to end the weekend, but a press release well worth a shout. I haven't been to the Studio at the EFT yet, but it is exciting to think that they have made a space in the big-shot theatre for the sort of works I enjoy (small scale, intimate, even experimental).

Okay: this is a script. But it is still a chance to see the close-up version of performance.

Press Release begins...

UNDER THE MULBERRY TREE A new play by Timothy Jones
Directed by Hannah Eidinow

The Studio at the Festival Theatre Edinburgh
Thursday 3 – Saturday 12 April 2014
Press night: Friday 4 April 7.30pm

“Secrets shouldn’t be hidden but when revealed they’re even more dangerous...”

Desire, adultery and forbidden love resonate in this powerful new play about the darker side of human relationships and the secrets people hide from each other.

Cast: Joanna Bending, Annabel Capper, Roger Ringrose, Adam Slynn and Jeremy Todd


Five actors bring to life writer Timothy Jones’ compelling and often disturbing account of a middle aged couple’s relationship as they holiday in the South of France. The secrets of their past lives emerge as the characters find themselves going round and round the symbolic Mulberry tree, forever seeking the truth and desiring fulfilment.

With 5 Fringe First Awards to her name, Hannah Eidinow is one of Britain’s most exciting young directors. Her previous credits include:

"Hannah Eidinow’s production is the most daring and psychologically complex I have seen.”
John Peter, Sunday Times **** The Lady from The Sea

“Hannah Eidinow’s fine production…makes for another tremendous Ibsen evening.”
Michael Billington, The Guardian **** The Lady From The Sea



“This is beautifully designed, beautifully performed, powerfully directed.”
Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman **** What I Heard About Iraq

Thurs 3 to Sat 12 April 2014 | Tickets from £12.50* Evenings 7.30pm | Matinees Sat 2.30pm
Recommended Age 16+ |

Free pre-show talks Friday 4 April
6.15pm (with writer and director) and Wed 9 April 6.15pm
Box Office: 0131 529 6000 

Manipulate! 2014!

Being a former classicist, I am a traditionalist at heart. I may not have turkey at Christmas, and I saw the New Year with a copy of Simon Murray's book on Jacque Lecoq, but some things are sacred. So, when manipulate  starts gearing up, I feel it is time for the annual 'Puppets are not just for children' article.

There isn't much left for kids these days. Comic books, which taught me to read and have an idiosyncratic view of good and evil, have been occupied by adults. Not that they have had to be aimed at children - William Burroughs noted that the visual image, combined with words, was far more likely to engage and inform than any other mix of media (which is why they were used for propaganda in World War II. But sitting behind me in the office, half of big-hearted Black Hearted Press are prepping for their workshops at the CCA, and there's a 16 plus age warning on the session with writer John Farnam (author of Daily Mail favourite Royal Descent).

Manipulate has been making the point that puppetry is capable of addressing adult themes without slipping into XXX predictability. Last year, Neville Tranter took on Hitler and provided a meditation on the Fuhrer's last days that was terrifying in its portrayal of the monster as a human being. This year, Planet Luvos explores the idea of humanity's eventual demise, Grit thinks about the impact of war on children and Stephen Mottram's Seas of Organillo may be beautiful, but owe more to Freud and scientific theories than The Water Babies. It only remains for Vile to state the obvious, that manipulate has become one of the most important festivals in Scotland, providing international, exciting, experimental performance.

In the next episode, Vile asks 'what is visual theatre?' 

Ankur presents The Knight and the Crescent Hare

I don't usually talk about work for young people: it is difficult reviewing it as a single man, thanks to the discomfort I feel sitting at the end of a row, alone, surrounded by young enthusiasts and their carers. It's the sheer joy of the audience, and their uncynical appreciation of language that gets me all misty-eyed.

However, Ankur have reminded me that this can lead to me missing some of the more practical applications of experimental theatre practice. They are touring a new show by JC Marshall (most recently she had her dark tale of death staged at the Tron, starring one of the old Doctor Whos), The Knight and the Crescent Hare. An everyday story of two security guards get excited by a magic Astrolabe. They end up in the 12th Century during the 3rd Crusade, and are sent on a mission to stop the fighting in the Holy Land.

So far, so classic - the duo's task to unite "a Muslim inventor and a Scottish Knight Crusader" might be a little obvious on the multicultural moral, but anything that discourages divisiveness between people is a good start. And there's no lack of ambition in the themes: "this work brings to life the Crusades, which according to circumstance are either a byword for conflict between Christians and Muslims or shorthand for what people believe to be a good and worthy cause. It draws on the rich heritage created through the Islamic Renaissance and its parallels in today’s world, illuminating the age of invention and innovation against a backdrop of religions-in-conflict; a past that does not look that different from the present."

But here's the experimental bit: the tour is site responsive. It's going to museums: The Burrell Collection, Glasgow; McManus Galleries, Dundee; Aberdeenshire Museums HQ, Mintlaw and Dunbar Town House, Dunbar.

I once called Ankur's Playback the future of theatre, referring both to its multi-cultural dynamic and combination of professional and community performers. They went on to present a main show stage at the Tron, Bwana and The Olympics of the Everyday, a participatory event, undermining half of my assertion.

This production is merely the latest turn in a busy history: they do a great deal of work in the community, and have a mission to "enable Black and Minority Ethnic artists and audiences to produce and/or participate in world class contemporary performance." A great deal of their work is underground and doesn't hit the critical radar, although their collaboration with Cora Bissett, Roadkill, didn't hurt their profile.

he Knight and the Crescent Hare is another new direction, engaging with the objects in the museums and using the play as a basis for discussion. It's all about linking Scottish heritage to other cultures. That's perhaps not the future of drama, but it is very now: Scottish arts and the government are very excited by their own national identity.


7th March at 2pm & 7pm and 9th March at 11am & 2pm, The Burrell Collection, Glasgow;
14th – 15th March at 7pm and 16th March at 3pm & 7pm, McManus Galleries, Dundee;
21st – 23rd March at 2pm & 7pm, Aberdeenshire Museums HQ, Mintlaw;
28th March at 7pm and 29th – 30th March at 2pm & 7pm, Dunbar Town House, Dunbar.