James Cousins Company tour

Posted on September 1, 2014

James Cousins Company will tour the UK for the first time this autumn, dancing the acclaimed There We Have Been and the new work Without Stars (pictured left).

Cousins was the first winner of the New Adventures Choreographer Award, created by Matthew Bourne. There We Have Been (pictured below), a hit at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2013, was inspired by one of the troubled relationships in Haruki Murakami’s bestselling novel Norwegian Wood: after the death of his best friend, the protagonist becomes involved with the friend’s girlfriend. The duet evokes fragility and dependency, with the woman never once touching the floor.

Without Stars is also inspired by Norwegian Wood, telling the other half of the story.

The tour starts on September 19 at the Jerwood Dance House in Ipswich, and visits Newbury, Nottingham, Cardiff and Huddersfield before ending at The Place in London on November 21 to 22.

See www.jamescousinscompany.com for details.

Top: Chihiro Kawasaki, Georges Hann and Gareth Mole in Without Stars. Photograph: David Foulkes

Below: Lisa Welham and Aaron Vickers in There We Have Been. Photograph: Benedict Johnson

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.