June 2010 ~ DanceGround

30 Jun 2010

Scottish Dance Theatre Take Part In Delhi Commonwealth Games Handover Ceremony

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SDT, Scotland’s national contemporary dance company, is delighted to announce that Ruth Janssen, a dancer with the Dundee based company, will perform as part of a 348-strong cast at the Handover Ceremony in Delhi. The Ceremony, which takes place on 14 October 2010 at approximately 7pm local time, will be the first public statement to the world that Glasgow will become the next Host City. The 348 members of the cast are from all over Scotland and from all backgrounds.

Ruth Janssen with Jori Kerremans in A Visitation

The Handover Ceremony will be in two parts; the formal handover of the Commonwealth Flag from Delhi to Glasgow and an eight minute performance to celebrate the honour of hosting the next Commonwealth Games, which is the responsibility of Glasgow 2014.

The performance, which will involve a mass choreographed dance routine, will take place in the spectacular Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and will host a capacity crowd of 60,000. It will be beamed live across the Commonwealth to an estimated 1 billion people. The Creative Concept behind the content of the performance is to show the traditional aspects that the world associate with Scotland, as well as a modern and urban feel to represent Glasgow as the Host City.

Glasgow 2014 aims to use the Delhi 2010 Handover Ceremony as a catalyst for engaging communities across Scotland. A network of people who will be motivated by the life changing experience of being involved in the Delhi 2010 Flag Handover and will become ambassadors for Glasgow and the Games over the next four years.

Glasgow 2014 Chief Executive, John Scott, said:

‘I am delighted that Ruth Janssen from Scottish Dance Theatre is training to be part of the 348-strong cast to perform in Delhi, inviting the rest of the world to the Commonwealth Games in Scotland in 2014.

I look forward to seeing how the rehearsals progress when they officially start in September. This is a significant moment in Scottish history and I am sure everyone involved will do Scotland proud.’

Scottish Dance Theatre’s Unique Dance Agent for Change Post Extended

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Scottish Dance Theatre (SDT), is delighted to announce that, thanks to continued funding from the Scottish Arts Council, Caroline Bowditch will continue as SDT’s Dance Agent for Change until March 2012.

Since beginning her post in 2008, Caroline has been working to break new ground for dance and disability in Scotland and around the UK. So far, Caroline has choreographed two new pieces for SDT, The Long and the Short of It and NQR.

Caroline has also been working with disabled and non disabled people at her weekly classes at Dundee Rep as well as with various community groups and schools throughout Dundee and the surrounding area. Caroline also ran the first Disabled Artists Residency of its kind in Dundee in December 2009.

Further afield, Caroline has worked with people from some of Scotland’s largest theatres providing disability equality training and has led various workshops in Scotland, around the UK and in China while on tour with the company.

The extension of Caroline’s role will allow her to continue her work in challenging perceptions, broadening understanding and awareness of disability and expanding and enhancing facilities and opportunities for dance and disability throughout Scotland.

Caroline says 'I'm delighted to be staying with SDT for another 2 years as I feel like we've just scratched the surface. I'm really excited about the projects that we've got planned for the future that will continue to push the boundaries and thinking around disabled people in dance’

In the coming months Caroline will perform NQR at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as part of SDT’s Autumn tour including dates at Dundee Rep. Caroline will also help SDT celebrate it’s 25^th Anniversary in 2011.

Scottish Dance Theatre Returns To The Fringe

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Scottish Dance Theatre (SDT), Scotland’s national contemporary dance company returns to Zoo Southside for this year’s Fringe, performing three stunning new works over alternate nights; NQR co-directed by Caroline Bowditch, Marc Brew and Janet Smith plus Drift a short duet choreographed by James Wilton, and The Life and Times of Girl A choreographed by Ben Duke. There is no better time to experience the power and skill of this extraordinary company.

Featuring twelve performers, including two wheelchair users and a cellist, NQR is a humorous yet thought provoking look at the ways in which we are all different. Co-directed by SDT Artistic Director Janet Smith, Associate Director Fellow Marc Brew and SDT’s Dance Agent for Change Caroline Bowditch, NQR examines the eccentricities that defy our attempts to fit into the mould in a time where we are all expected to conform.

Accompanying NQR, Drift by James Wilton is a compact yet explosive duet which delights audiences by the highly charged physicality and daring surprises the dancers throw at each other. (Performance dates 8,11,13,15,18,20,22 August, 7pm).

The Life and Times of Girl A, choreographed by Ben Duke of Lost Dog is about a woman desperate to tell the world a story, while dealing with her own emotional turmoil. What she needs is a film crew and a financier, what she's got is a stage and some dancers. The Life and Times of Girl A is an eloquent blend of dance theatre veering between moments of hilarity and exposed vulnerability. (Performance dates: 7,9,12,14,16,19,21 August, 7pm).

SDT is performing at the Fringe as part of Made in Scotland, an initiative to showcase theatre and dance from Scotland supported by the Edinburgh Festivals Expo fund.
SDT’s Artistic Director says “The company is developing its international profile and inclusion in the Made in Scotland showcase last year enabled us to take up invitations to tour to Holland and Italy, where we also gave a three day workshop, sharing our practise with other dance and theatre professionals.

I relish the opportunity to present both our current programmes at The Fringe as they challenge expectations and push boundaries in different and entertaining ways.”

To book tickets call Fringe box office on 0131 226 0000 or Zoo Southside box office on 0131 662 6892 (opens 4 August).

Cloud Dance Festival: Hush

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Cochrane Theatre, 48 Southampton Row, London WC1B 4AP
16 – 18 July 2010

Cloud Dance Festival is pleased to announce its summer festival, Hush, which will be held at Cochrane Theatre in Holborn on 16 – 18 July. This will be our 11th festival so far.

With Hush, Cloud Dance Festival intends to bring contemporary dance to a wider audience, with its usual mixture of new companies and audience favourites. Among the highlights of this festival are a special triple-bill from Cloud Dance Festival regulars Taciturn, 2010 Blueprint Bursary Prize winner James Wilton, Isadora Duncan dance brought to you by Julia Pond Dance and the acclaimed Pair Dance and Slanjayvah Danza, performing an excerpt of their newest work Crazy Joanna.

We will also be presenting contemporary jazz from BBC’s So You Think You Can Dance choreographer Sol Dans and Kinisi Dance Company; The Typewriters’ retelling of the 16th century “dance plague”; The Milo Miles Dance Company’s adaptation of the story of Spartacus and Sillander & Pascual’s exploration of Happiness.

Cloud Dance Festival aims to present a selection of high-quality contemporary dance three times a year, with its lineups consisting of a mixture of special guests, returning festival favourites, and a selection of exciting new up-and-coming artists – offering the audience a variety of pieces which promise to be provocative, humorous, contemplative and insightful. Above all, Hush offers both the established dance audience and people new to dance the opportunity to watch the best in new and emerging contemporary dance.

We are very disappointed we did not secure the necessary funding to make this festival possible, but we are thrilled we are able to proceed nonetheless.

Website: www.cloud-dance-festival.org.uk

Venue: Cochrane Theatre, 48 Southampton Row, London WC1B 4AP
Dates: Friday 16 – Sunday 18 July
Time: 7.30pm
Tickets: £12 (£8 concessions)
Box Office: 020 7269 1600 or www.cochranetheatre.co.uk

Akram Khan Company Announces Major New Production In Autumn 2010

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- The company celebrates 10 years of artistic excellence and international success in October -

Akram Khan Company will unveil a major new company production, Vertical Road, this September. In his first ensemble work since the critically acclaimed bahok which premiered in 2008, Khan has brought together a world-class cast of performers from across Asia, Europe and the Middle East to continue the company’s journey across boundaries of all kinds to create uncompromising artistic narratives. With a specially commissioned score by long-term collaborator Nitin Sawhney, Khan draws inspiration from universal myths of angels that symbolise ‘ascension’ - the road between the earthly and the spiritual, the vertical road.

photo by Rachel Cherry

WORLD PREMIERE: 16 September, Curve, Leicester

LONDON PREMIERE: 5 October, Sadler’s Wells

October will mark the 10th anniversary of Akram Khan Company. Since it was founded by Khan and his producer Farooq Chaudhry in 2000, the company has established a worldwide reputation for work that is ambitious, powerful, fresh, relevant and profoundly moving. Few dance artists are able to reach out to audiences in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Australia and Asia and be able to be understood and enjoyed by them in the way Khan is. A classicist and a modernist, the storytelling in Khan’s work has an uncanny ability to reflect our times and in the past ten years he has reinvigorated perceptions of dance, other art forms and cultures.

Vertical Road sees Akram Khan returning to pure movement in his choreography, eliminating the text and dialogue which has featured in recent works such as In-I and zero degrees. Rooted in his classical kathak training, but informed by his experience and virtuosity in contemporary dance, the new work continues Khan’s interest in exploring the interfaces between different cultures and creative disciplines. Lighting and costume will take on greater importance in this piece than in recent works and Khan is working with Danish lighting designer Jesper Konshaug and Japanese costume designer Kimie Nakano on these aspects of the production.

photo by Rachel Cherry

Akram Khan Company is very grateful to ADACH, the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage whose role as co-producer is fundamental to Vertical Road becoming a reality. The relationship with ADACH began in 2008, when In-I, Khan’s collaboration with French actress Juliette Binoche toured to the country and was greeted with a rapturous reception. This was followed by a residency for Khan in Abu Dhabi in February this year when two Arab musicians were incorporated into his performance of Gnosis. Vertical Road takes this relationship with the Middle East further and will include dancers from the region as well as taking inspiration from myths and stories which have their origin in this part of the world.

Vertical Road is inspired by the idea of vertical ascension - a common motif in several different religions. Other key references to ascension take place in art and literature in terms of an ascetic ladder where one’s virtuous deeds on earth elevate the soul from earthly preoccupations to bring us closer to a spiritual realm. The second is the journey that the soul takes after death, climbing the heavens up to the light of God. Vertical Road will explore these ideas in a ground-breaking work of contemporary dance, choreographed by Akram Khan and performed by eight hand-picked dancers from around the world.

The company has won an array of awards including the Helpmann Award in Australia for ‘Best Choreography in a Dance Work’ in 2007, ‘Excellence in International Dance’ from the International Theatre Institute (2007) and ‘Outstanding Artist (Modern)’, National Dance Award, UK (2005). Khan has also collaborated with some of the world’s best- known performers and artists including Kylie Minogue, Juliette Binoche, Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor, Sylvie Guillem and Nitin Sawhney. As well as developing Vertical Road, he is currently touring internationally with Gnosis and preparing a major new solo project for 2011.

As well as ADACH, Vertical Road has been made possible through the generous sponsorship of COLAS, the international road construction company. Curve, Leicester and DanceEast, Ipswich supported the project through residencies to create Vertical Road and Curve is also a co-producer and host of the new production’s world premiere. Sadler’s Wells, where Khan is Associate Artist, is also a co-producer and will host the London premiere and the 10th anniversary celebrations on 5 October.

UK Tour Dates (2010)

16 September (World Premiere), 17-18 September : Curve Theatre, Leicester
5-9 October : Sadler's Wells, London
28 October : Brighton Dome, Brighton
15-16 November: Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea, Wales
19-20 November: Snape Maltings, Ipswich

Scottish Dance Theatre: 'The Life And Times Of Girl A' & 'N.Q.R' A Real Family Vibe

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In The Life And Times Of A Girl A choreographer Ben Duke makes known dancers as people. Individuals who have a natural inclination to use movement as a substitute for words to express themselves. His choreography is visually appealing and mentally persuasive.

photo by Andrew Ross

"I am interested in people dancing, less so in the dance being so brilliant that I lose sight of the individual. It is not impossible to have both, the dancers of SDT dance brilliantly, it is hard for them not to, but what is interesting to me is the attempt to allow that movement to reveal rather than disguise part of them." Ben Duke

photo by Andrew Ross

N.Q.R is a collaboration between choreographers Marc Brew, Caroline Bowditch and Janet Smith.

NQR stands for Not Quite Right - an acronym formally used in medical records to describe unexplained difference.

SDT's artistic director Janet Smith points out "we are all very different with our own not quite rightness and it's fascinating to discover each other's personal world views."

Scottish Dance Theatre oozes openness, creativity and learning, This company effectively invites the audience to share with them interest and expression through dance.

Current mother to SDT Janet Smith has created a real family vibe around this dance company that is warming, attractive and enticing.