News Archive
Nederlands Dans Theater open their season at Sadler’s Wells (April 2-5) with the UK premiere of Jirí Kylián’s Tar and Feathers, inspired by Samuel Beckett’s poem What is the Word and danced to fragments of Mozart. Artistic director Anders Hellström has selected a collection of works by Kylián, and the subsequent UK tour also includes pieces by resident choreographers Paul Lightfoot and Sol León.
A number of new exhibitions of interest to dance lovers have opened across the UK in recent months. Vanity Fair Portraits, photographs 1913-2008 is at the National Portrait Gallery, London until May 26 and showcases 150 portraits including classic images from Vanity Fair’s early period, shown for the first time alongside photographs featured in the magazine since its re-launch in 1983. The exhibition displays a number of dancers, including Adele and Fred Astaire, Vaslav Nijinsky, Léonide Massine, Anna Pavlova, Agnes De Mille, Josephine Baker, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Martha Graham and Bronislava Nijinska. Tickets £10, concessions £8-9. Go to npg.org.uk for further details.
Running at The Lowry Galleries, Salford until July 6 is Laura Knight at the Theatre, Paintings and drawings of the ballet and the stage. This major new exhibition of works by the leading British Impressionist Dame Laura Knight includes approximately 80 works drawn from public and private UK collections, and displays a large number of backstage scenes depicting Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, many of which have not been seen publicly until now. Admission is free. Go to thelowry.com for more information. The exhibition can also be seen at Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery from July 19-September 28, admission free.
Finally, Snapshots in time, 150 Years of Excellence at the Royal Opera House, an exhibition mounted by Royal Opera House Collection in collaboration with the Royal School of Needlework celebrates the art of the embroiderer, and draws on costumes from past productions including one worn by Dame Margot Fonteyn in Frederick Ashton’s Birthday Offering. Admission is free during the public opening hours of the Royal Opera House, and runs until August 4. See roh.org.uk for details.
A number of dance films will be shown at the National Film Theatre of the British Film Institute as part of the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival from March 27-April 10. Highlights include Dancing on a Knife Edge: Lloyd Newson and DV8 in NFT2 on March 28, OutBallroom in NFT3 on March 30, and Water Flowing Trilogy, a documentary about New York City Ballet principal Jock Soto in NFT2 on April 3. Go to bfi.org.uk/llgf for further details.
Breakin’ Convention will be back at Sadler’s Wells over the May bank holiday weekend, May 3-5. A one day ticket costs £20, two day ticket £32, three day ticket £49 from 0844 412 4300 with concessions, also for under 18s. This, the fifth annual international festival of hip hop dance theatre, needs no recommendation to those who have visited the earlier editions but is a must for those who had their first taste of hip hop theatre at
MOVE IT.
Kim Brandstrup’s new work for The Royal Ballet opens on April 23 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as the centrepiece of a triple bill that also includes Serenade and Homage to the Queen. Using a previously unperformed film score by Sergei Prokofiev to explore dark Dostoyevskyan themes, the new ballet has a working title of Rushes – Nine fragments of a lost story. The music was originally written for a film version of The Queen of Spades, and will receive its first public performance at the ballet’s premiere. Brandstrup was first alerted to the existence of the music in a Moscow archive in a footnote to an article by Prokofiev scholar Simon Morrison, and sensing that the fragmentary score might have potential for a new ballet, he tracked down a photocopy of the music in the Prokofiev Archive at Goldsmith’s College in South London. Prokofiev’s music has been orchestrated by British composer Michael Berkeley for the performances by The Royal Ballet. The ballet has a cast of 15 dancers, and will be led by Carlos Acosta, Zenaida Yanowsky and Alina Cojocaru on the opening night. Cast changes include Leanne Benjamin and Tamara Rojo. Designs are by Richard Hudson and the lighting will be by Jean Kalman. Tickets can be booked at roh.org.uk or by telephoning the box office on 020 7304 4000.
Wayne McGregor | Random Dance Company will premiere a new work, ENTITY, at Sadler’s Wells on April 10. McGregor’s passion for the human body remains at the centre of this latest piece, a diptych set to music by the Navarra Quartet and Jon Hopkins. With designs by Linbury Prize winner Patrick Burnier and lighting by Lucy Carter, ENTITY marks 16 years of creation under Wayne McGregor’s direction. To book tickets go to sadlerswells.com or telephone the box office on 0844 412 4300.
CandoCo Dance Company is looking for highly motivated contemporary dancers who wish to work in integrated practice to create and perform new work for national and international touring in 2008-9. Choreographers for the season are Nigel Charnock and Hofesh Shechter. Requirements are at least two years’ professional dance experience and/or an extraordinary natural performance style and strong technique, communications skills and a commitment fully to participate in the company’s extensive programme of educational work worldwide. To apply send CV and covering letter with clearly marked video or DVD footage if available to Pedro Machado and Stine Nilsen at CandoCo Dance Company, 2T Leroy House, 436 Essex Road, London N1 3QP. Ring 020 7704 6845 with any queries. Application deadline is March 7, so hurry.
Dance Theatre of Ireland is looking for a male dancer for contract(s) in 2008. Excellent technique and partnering skills and strong performing experience are required. Audition by CV only and short video or DVD to Colin Baird, Dance Theatre of Ireland, Bloomfields, Lwr Georges Street, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin or email info@dancetheatreireland.com or telephone Colin Baird on +353 1 280 3455
Akademi presents the best new talent in contemporary Indian dance in Daredevas 2008 at the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London on March 4-5. The programme promises to unite “pioneering young British and international talent whose innovative take on traditional Indian dance forms promise to invigorate the stage”. For 2008, Akademi has selected a programme of seven short works comprising six solos and one duet, ranging from “the fusion of Bharatanatyam with body-popping to intricate extensions of Kathak forms”. All tickets cost £13 and can be obtained from the box office at southbankcentre.co.uk or by telephoning 0871 663 2500.
Retina Dance Company will present a new work by Filip Van Huffel, This Is Not A Body, at The Place on February 26-27. The production will be performed at six other venues across the UK during March and April, culminating with a performance at Stratford Circus on April 25. The piece draws inspiration from Réne Magritte’s painting “The Treachery of Images” (Ceci n’est pas une pipe) and also from the works of Escher, Giacometti and Klein. Go to retinadance.com for further information and tour dates.
Scottish Dance Theatre has just embarked on a new spring tour under the heading Defined. The programme, which also travels to England and Ireland, includes a work by Hofesh Shechter entitled Dog created specially for the company, and a revival of Liv Lorent’s tenderhook. The tour began at Dundee Rep Theatre on February 21, and now moves on to the following venues: Glasgow Theatre Royal, February 28-29; The Place, London, March 6-8; Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, March 12-13; Edinburgh Festival Theatre, March 19; Corn Exchange, Newbury, March 27; Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Skye, April 15; Àrainn Shuaineirt, Strontian, April 18; macrobert, Stirling, April 25; Dunamaise Arts Centre, May 3; Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, May 7; Hawk’s Well Theatre, Sligo, May 10; Town Hall Theatre, Galway, May 13; Roscommon Arts Centre, May 16; Grand Theatre, Blackpool, May 21. Go to scottishdancetheatre.com for more details.
The London Ballet Circle has announced some enticing forthcoming events for the first part of 2008, including celebrity interviews and visits to performances. On March 4, Ronald Hynd and Annette Page will be in conversation at Vestry House, St George’s Church, Bloomsbury Way, London, WC1. Other speakers are scheduled to include Matthew Hart on March 10 and Thomas Whitehead on April 14. Go to londonballetcircle.co.uk for a full listing of other talks, interviews and theatre visits.
The Critics’Circle National Dance Awards 2007 were held in the Paul Hamlyn Floral Hall of the Royal Opera House on January 22 before an audience of dancers, choreographers, directors and other members of the UK dance community. This annual event was compered once again by the ubiquitous Angela Rippon, and the awards were presented by a host of stars from the worlds of ballet and contemporary dance. The winners were as follows: The De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance: Celeste Dandeker; The Dancing Times Award for Best Male Dancer: Jonathan Goddard (for performances with Richard Alston Dance Company); The Richard Sherrington Award for Best Female Dancer: Natalia Osipova (for performances with the Bolshoi Ballet); Patron’s Award: Darcey Bussell; The National Dance Awards Special Award: Desmond Kelly and Marion Tait of Birmingham Royal Ballet for their work on the Ballet Hoo! Ballet Changed My Life project and television series; Best Choreography (Classical): Wayne McGregor (for The Royal Ballet in Chroma); Best Choreography (Modern): Michael Keegan-Dolan (for Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre’s The Bull); Best Foreign Dance Company: The Bolshoi Ballet; Spotlight Award for Female Modern Dancer: Kialea-Nadine Williams (formerly with Phoenix Dance Theatre); Spotlight Award for Male Modern Dancer: Dane Hurst of Rambert Dance Company; Spotlight Award for Female Classical Dancer: Carol-Anne Millar of Birmingham Royal Ballet; Spotlight Award for Male Classical Dancer: Ivan Vasiliev of the Bolshoi Ballet; Dance UK Industry Award: Celeste Dandeker; Company Prize for Outstanding Repertoire (Classical): Scottish Ballet; Company Prize for Outstanding Repertoire (Modern): Henri Oguike Dance Company; Working Title Billy Elliot Award: Brandon Lawrence of the Royal Ballet School. A full report and photographs will appear in the March issue of Dancing Times.
Diversions, Dance Company of Wales, marks its 25th anniversary in 2008. To celebrate, the company will be touring the UK and abroad with a new mixed bill of works under the title Silver. The programme will consist of two sections from Stephen Petronio’s Strange Attractors set to music by Placebo and James Lavelle, and Stephen Shropshire’s Sugarwater, which he created on the company last summer. The tour begins at the Jersey Arts Centre on February 6 and will then be seen at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank, London on February 12. The tour also includes dates at Forum 28, Barrow-in Furness; Cork Opera House; Solstice Arts Centre, Co. Meath; Mermaid Arts Centre, Co. Wicklow; Grand Opera House, Belfast; ACS Arts Centre, Athens; Torch Theatre, Milford Haven; and Taliesen Arts Centre, Swansea.
An exclusive Birthday Programme will be performed at the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff on March 11–13.
During 2007, Roy Campbell-Moore stepped down as artistic director. He was replaced by Anne Sholem, who was also awarded the Welsh Woman of the Year (Arts and Media) last November. Diversions will continue to deliver its promise to bring the work of internationally recognised choreographers to Wales. Go to diversionsdance.co.uk for further details about the company and the spring tour.
The Kirov Ballet returns to the UK in May with a repertoire consisting of Balanchine’s Jewels, Petipa’s Don Quixote, and a Gala Evening consisting of Fokine’s Les Sylphides and Le Spectre de la rose, Petipa’s The Kingdom of Shades scene from La Bayadère, and a number of divertissements. Opening at The Lowry, Salford Quays on May 13, the company will play a week there before moving on to the Birmingham Hippodrome from May 20–24. Dancers scheduled to appear include Andrian Fadeyev, Sofia Gumerova, Igor Kolb, Anton Korsakov, Uliana Lopatkina, Leonid Sarafanov, Alina Somova and Viktoria Tereshkina. Ticket prices range from £35–£95 at Salford and £27.50–£80 at Birmingham. For further information contact The Lowry box office at thelowry.com or telephone 0870 787 5793; and for the Hippodrome at birminghamhippodrome.com or telephone 0870 730 1234.
Audition for the Royal Danish Ballet
Professional dancers from international classical ballet companies and students from classical and professional ballet schools are invited to send their CV along with a photographic head shot and dance shot to be considered for audition at the Royal Danish Theatre on 13 January 2008 at 12noon.
Applicants must be dancers on an advanced level and must master classical ballet techniques. For female applicants the audition will include pointe work. Applicants must be between 16 and 24 years of age. Dancers on soloist/principal dancer levels may in special circumstances be granted exemption from the age limit. Your application must have been registered with the theatre no later than 31 December 2007. Send your CV, e-mail address, postal address and photos to: The Royal Danish Ballet, Att. Boriana Nielsen, P.O. Box 2185, DK-1017 Copenhagen K, Denmark, or e-mail to: bnie@kglteater.dk
Are you ready for Move It 2008?
The UK’s biggest dance exhibition returns to Olympia from March 7-9, 2008 with more amazing live performances, dance classes and dance celebrities than ever before. Plus an amazing dance shopping experience with everything you need from dance shoes to dancewear, all under one roof!
Expect the hottest dance stars, celebrity choreographers and even more space to dance as the event expands into another floor of the Olympia venue. Including live performances from English National Ballet presented by Capezio, Anton Du Beke and Erin Boag from Strictly Come Dancing, Nike Dance Clash Finalists, UK Jive Champions, Robert Hylton Urban Classicism, ZooNation Youth, Jay Kumar Dance Asia and the Royal Ballet School Associates.
There will be classes with Ballet Black, American Idol and X Factor Tour choreographer Gary Lloyd and Strictly Come Dancing stars Camilla Dallerup, Ian Waite and Karen Hardy. Plus a special West Coast Swing Class with Diane Moody, presented by our sister magazine Dance Today.
Check out the full programme and pre-book your classes at: www.dance-london.co.uk and don't miss Dancing Times' exclusive preview features in the February and March issues!
Bonachela Dance Company, led by choreographer Rafael Bonachela, has been appointed a new associate company of DanceEast. Barcelona-born Bonachela, after a successful career as a dancer with Rambert Dance Company, is celebrated “for his blurring of boundaries between popular culture and high art” as the choreographer of choice of pop princess Kylie Minogue. The appointment comes at an exciting moment for DanceEast, as building begins on the new DanceHouse in Ipswich, see above.
Creative Programmers for the regions outside of London have been appointed by Culture Minister Margaret Hodge to take forward plans for an inspiring Cultural Olympiad in the run up to the 2012 games. They are Liz Hughes (East); Paul Brookes (East Midlands); Lorna Fulton (North East); Debbi Lander (North West); Catherine Loriggio (South East); Richard Crowe (South West); Tessa Gordziejko (Yorkshire); and Paul Kaynes (West Midlands). Welcoming the appointments, London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe said “I know our Culture, Ceremonies and Education team here at London 2012 are looking forward to working with them in the years ahead.”
Visit www.culture.gov.uk for details of the main elements of the scheme.
Jirí Kylián is one of six globally renowned artists announced as mentors for the 2008-2009 Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative which gives opportunities to young emerging artists to learn from a master in their field — Kylián’s field will be dance. He will choose a protégé from a group of finalists identified by the international nominating panel who will spend a year working one-to-one, sharing and refining creative work. Each protégé, in dance, visual arts, music, film, or literature, will receive a grant of $25,000 towards travel and other major expenses. The Rolex Arts Initiative can be contacted by email HYPERLINK "mailto:rmp@rolex.com" rmp@rolex.com or at PO Box 1311, 1211 Geneva 26, Switzerland.
The Kirov Ballet can be seen in Manchester, at The Lowry, May 13-17, and Birmingham, at the Hippodrome, May 20-24, in a repertoire consisting of Jewels, Don Quixote, and a gala programme, presented by Victor Hochhauser. The London summer presentation by the Hochhausers at Covent Garden this year may be the National Ballet of China, details to be confirmed and announced.
Brighton-based Jasmin Vardimon Company announces a three year collaboration with Brighton Dome as part of its 10th anniversary celebrations. It aims to develop the profile of dance in the South East by building on new links with local communities and developing educational programmes with young people. Furthermore the company announces a new collaboration with Sussex Doowns College to create a new Foundation Degree in Contemporary Dance to be launched in September 2008. Further information from the company’s PR Helen Snell at HYPERLINK "mailto:info@helensnell.com" info@helensnell.com or telephone 020 7240 5537.
Bolshoi Ballet Plans Announced
Alexei Ratmansky announced plans for the Bolshoi Ballet’s 2007-8 Season at an informal press conference held at the London Coliseum on August 14. The season will open at the Bolshoi’s New Stage in Moscow on October 10 with a performance of Le Corsaire, to be followed by revivals of Giselle on October 14 (in which Natalia Osipova will make her role debut as Giselle, partnered by Andrei Merkuriev in November) and Don Quixote on October 22. Performances in November will include Anyuta, La Bayadère, The Bright Stream, Swan Lake, and Cinderella. The company will give no fewer than 250 performances at home and on tour, and during the course of the season will present 20 full-length ballets, including Raymonda, La Fille mal gardée, The Sleeping Beauty, Spartacus, The Bolt, and Pharaoh’s Daughter.
Two major new productions for the company in 2008 will be Bournonville’s La Sylphide, staged for the Bolshoi by Johan Kobborg and scheduled to open on February 20; and Vasily Vainonen’s The Flames of Paris of 1932, which is to open on July 3. As not all of the original choreography has survived, Ratmansky will re-choreograph some of the forgotten sections of Flames of Paris himself, and he is keen to recreate on stage a “spirit of brotherhood – something that is missing in today’s Russia”. The Bolshoi has not danced the ballet since 1964, and Ratmansky would also like to take the opportunity to revive other “lost” ballets of the Soviet era. There seems a possibility that Vakhtang Chaboukiani’s Laurencia may follow at some point in the future, depending on “how Flames of Paris goes” first.
During 2007-8, the Bolshoi will tour internationally to Berlin, Turin, Paris and Amsterdam, and the company intend to visit London in 2009, when the repertoire will “hopefully include Flames of Paris and maybe a programme of Massine ballets”. The Bolshoi are planning to return to their home theatre in 2009, as restoration work is taking longer than had originally been anticipated.
Ratmansky, whose contract with the Bolshoi expires at the end of 2008, will create a new work for New York City Ballet next spring, but he commented that a report in The Observer about him becoming director of New York City Ballet at the end of Peter Martins’ tenure was “pure speculation”.