Connect Festival

Posted on March 12, 2012

Opening tonight, the Connect Festival is two weeks celebrating dance and learning throughout life. Presented by the creative learning department of Sadler’s Wells, the programme goes from youth dance showcases to a performance by the Company of Elders, whose members are all over 60.

Connect, which reaches thousands of people every year, works with individuals, schools, youth clubs and other organisations. This year’s festival includes masterclasses from Hofesh Shechter Company, Jonzi D (the artistic director of Breakin’ Convention), Wayne McGregor | Random Dance and Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures. There is a course on creating successful youth dance events, a workshop on dance reviewing and workshops for people in the early stages of dementia and their carers. In U.Dance London, eight youth dance companies compete for a place at this summer’s U.Dance 2012 final, while Rodin Reflections, a collaboration between London and Paris students, responds to Russell Maliphant’s new work The Rodin Project with performance, installation and film.

The festival ends with Rumble,a showcase for youth and schools dance, and Body of Knowledge which includes performances by the Company of Elders and Transforming Steps, a dance project created with Kolkata Sanved, an Indian-based organisation that aims to raise awareness of human trafficking.

For more information, see http://www.sadlerswells.com/show/Connect-Festival-2012

Photograph: Gigi Giannella

Zoe Anderson

Zoë was born in Edinburgh, and saw her first dance performances at the Festival there. She is the dance critic of The Independent, and has also written for The Independent on Sunday, The Scotsman and Dancing Times. In 2002, she received her doctorate from the University of York for a thesis on “Nationhood and epic romance: Ariosto, Sidney, Spenser”. She is the author of The Royal Ballet: 75 Years and The Ballet Lover’s Companion.