EDge A new generation of dance artists

To be honest, I am just slapping this release straight up: there are a bunch of cool choreographers involved, and a chance to see emerging dancers all around the country - and the world. The dates in Dundee and Exeter are the most interesting to me...

The Place presents

International Tour
Mon 24 Mar - Sun 13 Jul 2014

EDge, The Place’s postgraduate company, takes to the road with an energetic, playful and dramatic

programme of dance. The 12 talented dancers will perform a selection of work by commissioned choreographers Ben Wright, Joe Moran, Idan Cohen, Maya Levy, and work by Trisha Brown and Yael Flexer that has been specially restaged for EDge. The company’s international tour opens on Monday 24 March in Plymouth and takes in venues from Dundee, London and Naples and Tel Aviv.

The company will tour a varied repertoire that showcases the artistic and technical excellence of the dancers. With moments of dramatic suspense, tenderness and frantic energy, EDge’s dancers perform a collection of work that’s both light hearted and intense. Accompanied by electronic and operatic sound scores; sweeping lifts, precise gestures and complex floor patterns combine in this evening of narrative and abstract dance by a selection of internationally acclaimed choreographers.

Each year there is a new cohort. The dancers are selected through a rigorous audition process and the most exciting and talented dancers are chosen to join the company. This year EDge has an equal balance of male and female dancers.

Led by Artistic Director Jeanne Yasko, EDge, the postgraduate performance company of London Contemporary Dance School is now in its 14th year. The company will tour across the UK and internationally, including for the first time, dates in Israel which have been made possible with the support of the British Israeli Arts Training Scheme (BIARTS).

EDge has built a reputation for embracing a range of different styles of contemporary dance, performed by outstanding young dance artists at a key stage of their professional development. The period spent with EDge forms the main part of their Postgraduate Diploma in Performance at London Contemporary Dance School, and gives each individual an invaluable insight into creating, rehearsing and touring work as a professional company.

The company will lead workshops for schools, colleges and youth groups at several tour venues, and take part in post-show Insight sessions in conversation with the audience about their work about their work. The tour once again returns to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on Thu 22 May for a site-specific performance as part of Dance Art Foundation’s Breathing Space Dances.

EDge 2014 repertoireA selection or all of the following works will be presented at each tour venue:

Idan Cohen Because (2014)

Using the Beatles song as inspiration this piece explores the subtle differences between people and cultures.

Maya Levy Spring on Mars (2014)

This piece is about human touch and relationships. The need for attention, for warmth, and for approval.

Joe Moran Subject to Change (2014)Taking presence and choreography as its subjects, Subject to Change navigates a series of choreographic principles through the complex deployment of rhythmic walking and running.

Ben Wright A Power to Bring Light into a Darkened Room (2014)

Dressed in white and compressed into a square space, the dancers spill over and through the boundaries with a luminescent energy.

Yael Flexer The Living Room [an extract] (2010-11)

In this excerpt, fast-paced, driving physicality is balanced with reflective moments. Six performers inhabiting an imaginary domestic space explore how living and dancing both move into ‘pastness’.

Trisha Brown Canto Pianto (1998)
Canto Pianto is an abstracted retelling of the Orpheus myth where the hero attempts to rescue his dead wife from the Underworld. A moving and beautiful piece. This is the first time this piece has been performed in the UK by a company other than Trisha Brown.

The EDge dancers come from around the globe:

Desiree Attard (Malta)

Sara Barney (USA)

Hannah Barron (England)

Lizzie Croucher (England)

Luke Ganz (Wales)

Ellyn Hebron (England)

James Kay (England)

Michael Kriempardis (Greece)

Ryan Lange (USA)

Julian Lewis (England)

George Pelagias (Cyprus)

Elena Tsikitikou (Greece)

Quotes about the project

“For me as a choreographer it’s so exciting to start on that first day with no idea of how it’s going to be. It has been a very challenging creation process, I have asked a lot from the dancers in EDge and they have more than met the challenge.” Joe Moran, Choreographer

“For me it’s the first time I have done such a short process. Having only 10 days is a very challenging, condensed, intense way of working. It’s risky to do a creation in such a short period of time, but the risk is worth it.”  Maya Levy, Choreographer

“Collaboration and exchange of ideas is a key part of creating dance. We’re delighted to be working with the Choreographer's Association with BIARTS on this tour to enable two visiting choreographers to create work with EDge that will be performed in both the UK and in Israel. The cross-fertilisation of ideas is exciting and hopefully plants seeds for future projects.” Jeanne Yasko, Artistic Director of EDge

“Just like in the UK, contemporary dance in Israel is incredibly vibrant and buzzing with creativity. Working with the Choreographer's Association and with BIARTS support, The Place is connecting these two scenes and offering our EDge dancers and the visiting professional choreographers from Israel the chance to exchange their ideas and share what they make together with audiences in both countries.”  Eddie Nixon, Director Theatre & Artist Development, The Place

“Communicating beyond language, dance has the power to create its own conversation. Uniting the two thriving contemporary dance scenes, the partnership between the Israeli Choreographer’s Association and The Place, will create a conversation not just on stage but off it too, as EDge dancers and Israeli professional choreographers exchange ideas and collaborate, creating something fresh and new. Fusing talent and engaging audiences in Israel and in the UK, this project is mutually beneficial to both countries and something the BIARTS are delighted to support.” Iris Ambor, Counsellor for Cultural-Affairs, Embassy of Israel.

Tour dates 2014

Mon 24 Mar, 7.30pm

Peninsula Arts

PLYMOUTH UNIVERSITY

www.peninsula-arts.co.uk / 01752 585 050

Fri 11 Apr, 8pm

Queen’s Hall Arts Centre (post-show talk)

HEXHAM

www.queenshall.co.uk / 01434 652 477

Mon 28 Apr, 7.30pm (post-show talk)

Northern School of Contemporary Dance

LEEDS

www.nscd.ac.uk  / 0113 219 3018

Fri 2 May, 8pm (post-show talk)

Artrix

BROMSGROVE

www.artrix.co.uk  / 01527 577 330

Thu 15 May, 8pm

The Space

DUNDEE

www.dundeebox.co.uk / 01382 434940

Thu 22 May, 1pm

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital

LONDON

www.danceartfoundation.com

Sat 24 May, 8pm (Double-bill with SEAD)**

The Place

LONDON

www.theplace.org.uk / 020 7121 1100

Thu 27 May, 8pm

Exeter Phoenix
EXETER

www.exeterphoenix.org.uk  / 01392 667080

Thu 29 May

Teatro Mediterraneo-Mostra D’Oltremare
NAPLESwww.artgarage.it / 00 39 8130 31395

Sat 7 Jun

Salzberg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD)
SALZBERG

www.sead.at/ / 00 43 662 624 635

Thu 12 Jun, 7.30pm (post-show talk)

The Maltings Theatre, Berwick-upon-Tweed

www.maltingsberwick.co.uk  / 01289 330 999

Thu 17 June, 8pm

Gulbenkian University of Kent, Canterbury

www.kent.ac.uk/gulbenkian / 01227 769075

Thu 19 Jun, 7.30pm

Taliesin Arts Centre
SWANSEA
www.taliesinartscentre.co.uk / 01792 602 060

Thu 26, Fri 27 & Sat 28 Jun, 8pm
The Place
LONDON
www.theplace.org.uk/performances / 020 7121 1100

Mon 30 Jun, 8pm
Rhino Hall, Canada House
JERUSALEM
www.machol-shalem.org   / 00 972 53 335 8210

Wed 2 & Thu 3 Jul, 8pm
Warehouse 2 at Jaffa Port
TEL AVIV

www.choreographers.org.il  / 0 972 3902 1563

Fri 11 & Sat 12, 9.30pm & Sun 13 Jul, 6.30pm

Casa Das Artes
ARCOS DE VALDEVEZwww.casadasartes.org / 00 35 1252 371 555

**This is a double bill featuring performances by EDge alongside students from Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD).

Brown versus 85A

When a cheerful commentary on The Simpsons and Philosophy contains asides about the rise of nihilism, and post-modernisms are being reinvented through a Marxist lens, the function of art appears to be up for grabs. Having been brought up in an era when post-modernism was still at the edge of academic discourse - that is, it didn't get mentioned in my lectures on Virgil but turned up in style magazines - I am still hopeful that it might be rehabilitated: but in a world where it has been used to explain the rise of celebrity culture, I imagine I'll remain a lone voice. Again.



Trisha Brown is clearly associated with "post-modern dance." She was hanging about the Judson Memorial Church alongside Yvonne Rainer and Steve Paxton: this loose affiliation of choreographers would ask a series of critical questions about movement that became known as post-modern dance. Rainer became a film-maker - although she made a triumphant return to choreography - and Paxton pioneered contact improvisation. Brown is arguably, however, the most consistent in her career as a choreographer, as she has her own company and her work now sits in the repertoire of ballet companies across the world.

85A - through the use of overworked metaphor - could be identified as the natural descendants of the Judson Memorial gang. They don't use dance - Chernozem, their entry into the GI Fringe, was an expanded film experience - but they are associated with a specific venue (The Glue Factory) and enjoy busting boundaries. And where Rainer, Brown et al were affiliated, the 85A Collective has a similar feel, with individual members holding their own yet becoming part of something more impressive.

Brown's company arrived at Tramway with an eclectic mix: three "classics" and a new piece. Leah Morrison opened the account with If You Could See Me from 1994. Notable as a solo where the dancer faces away from the audience, it has the particular style that identifies Brown: rejecting flashy displays of technique, the movement is precise, closer to martial art than ballet. While it is a strong statement of Brown's interest in challenging the predictable relationship between audience and performer - Morrison never peeks at the crowd - Tramway's unique space adds a tension - the solo almost becomes a trio, with the two pillars at the side of the stage lit up like immobile partners in dance.

The contrast with the opening of Chernozem could not be more powerful: 85A are all about "hot" media, dragging the audience into character and forcing them to watch the opening scenes of the film on tiny screens. Throughout Brown's performance, the audience is invited to observe - Chernozem insists. Pushed around on carts, chased by dominatrix prison guards, pushed between the hulking scenery, they immerse and cajole. Brown's choreography is "cool", so self-contained, it barely acknowledges the audience. For MG: The Movie happens as if behind a screen, and the pas de deux of Les Yeux et L'Ame are all about the connection between performers.

Nipping back - realising that I started off going on about post-modernism, and probably need to justify my pretentious introduction - it strikes me that the post-modern instinct is vital to both choreographer and collective. They reject easy definitions of their genre - Brown might use technically skilled dancers, 85A might make a film - but they go far beyond the expected. Yet in their different attitudes to the audience, they make a strikingly similar point about how art is created by the observer. For 85A, the observer is togged out in prison gear: for Brown, the audience has to work hard to enter into the dance's  world. My easy and lazy definition of post-modernism - that it takes away the possibility of a central, defining characteristic to just about anything - is satisfied by both works.