Message In A Bottle program

Meridian Hall

A Sadler’s Wells & Universal Music UK Production

Message In A Bottle

Based on the songs of Sting

Directed and choreographed by Kate Prince With ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company

March 20 - 23, 2024

TO Live would like to acknowledge Tkaronto,

which is

a Mohawk word meaning the place in the water where the trees are standing.

We live and work on the traditional territory of Haudenosaunee-speaking nations, including the Huron-Wendat, Seneca, and Mohawk. Haudenosauneespeaking nations have been here since time immemorial, and were more recently joined by the Mississaugas of the Credit.

This place has many Indigenous ports, including where the Humber and Rouge rivers meet other waterways such as Lake Ontario. Ancient longhouses— typical Haudenosaunee housing structures—have been found along both these rivers and in the north of Toronto near modern-day York University. This territory is covered by the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations) Confederacy and the Anishnaabe (Ojibwe) and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the lands and the relationships around the Great Lakes.

What this means is that by living and working here, we all have a responsibility to the environment and to each other, to treat each other and the environment with peace and respect. This means we have responsibilities to honour, renew, and consistently uphold the values and relationships outlined in the ancient agreements.

Today, Toronto is home to Indigenous peoples and settlers from around the world. Let us all come together in an atmosphere of respect and peace to do good work together with good minds. Let’s start building stronger and healthier relationships with each other and the spaces we inhabit in Tkaronto, Ontari:io, Kanata.

Let’s hold our minds together in kindness.

Nia:wen. Thank you.

© Dawn Maracle

Message In A Bottle, inspired by the iconic hits and poetic lyrics of 17-time Grammy Award-winning

Produced by Sadler’s Wells, London’s premiere dance house, with Universal is a spectacular new dance-theatre show from five-time Olivier Award nominee Kate Prince. Kate is the artistic director of ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company, which she founded in 2002. As both , all her skills and breathtaking originality are on view together. As you are about to experience, Kate, together with her creative team and amazing company of dancers, offer us an important story of resilience and hope triumphing out of human suffering and displacement in a war-torn world. It is, sadly, a story of our times.

At TO Live, in addition to presenting celebrated international touring productions, we are immensely proud to present some of Canada’s most inspiring

Next month we are excited to bring our audiences the world’s first contemporary dance ice-skating collective, which will be performing at Leaside Murmuration is presented in partnership with our friends at Fall for Dance North and the artists from Montreal-based Le Patin Libre. We urge you not to miss this innovative and

In May (10-11), TO Live presents Kaha:wi Dance Theatre’s site-specific , the theatrical premiere of a multimedia work from one of Canada’s most acclaimed artists, Santee Smith. This intercultural, intergenerational, and immersive performance culminates Kaha:wi Dance Theatre’s triptych rematriation series: Re-Quickening, Blood Tides, and

You can find everything you need to know and more at www.tolive.com, but Message In A Bottle.

@tolivetweets

Sadler’s Wells Productions

Sadler’s Wells is a world-leading creative organization based in London that is committed to the making of dance, with over three centuries of theatrical heritage. Since 2005, Sadler’s Wells has created award-winning dance works, co-productions, and touring projects in collaboration with its portfolio of associate artists, as well as international dance companies and partners. These include Russell Maliphant’s multi-award-winning production PUSH with Sylvie Guillem; Crystal Pite’s Polaris with Thomas Ades; Gravity Fatigue, directed by fashion designer Hussein Chalayan; Sutra by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and sculptor Antony Gormley; Michael Keegan-Dolan’s Swan Lake / Loch na hEala; productions by Carlos Acosta’s company Acosta Danza; Natalia Osipova’s Pure Dance; Botis Seva’s BLKDOG; and William Forsythe’s multi-award-winning A Quiet Evening of Dance.

Sadler’s Wells plays a significant role in the development of dance, bringing innovative and inspiring works to worldwide audiences. In the last 15 years, the organization has created 64 productions that have been enjoyed by over two million people.

Sadler’s Wells productions have toured to some of the most prestigious theatres and festivals around the world, such as the Sydney Opera House, the Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival in New York, the National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing, and the Chekhov International Theatre Festival in Moscow.

In 2020, Sadler’s Wells premiered Message In A Bottle, a Sadler’s Wells and Universal Music UK production by Kate Prince, based on the songs of Sting. In 2021, The Rite of Spring and common ground[s] received its world premiere, in partnership with the Pina Bausch Foundation and École des Sables.

“If you could pick up a dance piece, turn it inside out and look at the label, the words ‘Made at Sadler’s Wells’ would be a guarantee of quality. Since 2005, the north London theatre has been a hotbed of dance creativity, commissioning and supporting some of the world’s finest choreographers to make work.” —The Scotsman

Photo credit: Lynn-Theisen

Universal Music UK

Universal Music is the U.K.’s leading music company, home to successful artists from across the musical spectrum. Alongside the labels Polydor, Decca, Island, EMI, Capitol, and 0207 Def Jam, its businesses include Abbey Road, the world’s most famous recording studio, and Mercury Studios, a music-first content studio.

Universal Music UK is passionate about nurturing and inspiring the next generation of talent and is a founding partner of East London Arts & Music (ELAM), the free school for 16 to 19 year olds set up in 2014 by Will Kennard one half of EMI artists Chase & Status with a mission to increase access routes into the creative industries. In 2020, the company also launched its Creative Differences project, led by the publication of the first handbook for embracing neurodiversity in the creative industries.

Universal Music UK is a division of Universal Music Group (UMG), the world leader in music-based entertainment, with a broad array of businesses engaged in recorded music, music publishing, merchandising, and audio-visual content. Featuring the most comprehensive catalogue of recordings and songs across every musical genre, UMG identifies and develops artists and produces and distributes the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful music in the world.

Committed to artistry, innovation, and entrepreneurship, UMG fosters the development of services, platforms, and business models in order to broaden artistic and commercial opportunities for our artists and create new experiences for fans. For more information, visit www.universalmusic.com.

Photo credit: Lynn-Theisen

Synopsis

By Lolita Chakrabarti OBE

We live in a world where one person is forcibly displaced every two seconds as a result of conflict or persecution. In 2022, statistics show that over 100 million people around the globe had been forced from their homes. More than 32 million of those people are refugees, and half of them are under 18 years old.

We are confronted by stories of displacement every day—in newspapers, on television, and on our streets. We regularly hear about migrants fleeing oppressive regimes, but the focus is often on the catastrophic political in-fighting and violence, and we lose sight of the people affected.

Message In A Bottle is an imagined story about one family. In a village in a country far away, the community live well and support each other. But when civil war breaks out, this idyll of existence is devastated as the community is broken and homes destroyed. We follow the fortunes of a father, mother, and their three teenage children—Leto, Mati, and Tana—who face this brutal reality together. They are confronted with impossible choices in order to survive. They must leave their homeland and undertake a perilous journey to safer shores. Along the way they will be separated from each other and have to persevere alone.

Inspired by the passionate, evocative, and iconic music of Sting, Message In A Bottle is a universal story of loss, fear, survival, hope, and love.

Photo credit: Lynn-Theisen

Note from Kate Prince

Everything I create starts on the page, but normally it’s words I have written myself. It was a different experience working with someone else’s poetry. The material existed and was so inspiring. I was spoilt for choice. I had already bought a book about Sting’s lyrics and studied each song on the page, dissecting the poetry and trying to understand these songs that were so familiar to me on a deeper level.

This piece was the first time I had ever thought about creating an entire show around one artist’s work. Sting was a musical idol of mine from a young age. I think the first concert I went to, somewhere in the late 80s, was watching Sting at Wembley. His music and lyrics, particularly his albums with The Police, have in many ways been the soundtrack to my life, including “Walking On The Moon” being a song at my wedding!

After an initial pitch of the bare bones of an idea to Alistair Spalding, the Co-CEO of Sadler’s Wells, I found myself in a meeting with Eliza Lumley (the head of theatre at Universal UK) and Sting himself, talking through my ideas. It was a somewhat surreal moment in my life, and I was really very nervous to be in a room with someone I was a massive fan of.

Sting was lovely and listened to my idea. He was very open and from that meeting, we got his permission to do a workshop to further explore the concept.

Kate Price Director and choreographer

Running order and song list

Act 1: 47 minutes

Intermission: 20 minutes

Act 2: 42 minutes

Act 1

Desert Rose

I dream of love as time runs through my hand.

If I Ever Lose My Faith In You

There’d be nothing left for me to do….

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic

I resolve to call her up, a thousand times a day, and ask her if she’ll marry me, in some old-fashioned way.

Fields Of Gold

Will you stay with me, will you be my love… as we lie in fields of gold.

King Of Pain

There’s a little black spot on the sun today.

Fragile

If blood will flow when flesh and steel are one, drying in the colour of the evening sun, tomorrow’s rain will wash the stains away, but something in our minds will always stay.

Don’t Stand So Close To Me

To hurt they try and try.

Invisible Sun

And they’re only going to change this place, by killing everybody in the human race… But I don’t even wanna die just yet, there has to be an invisible sun, that gives us hope when the whole day’s done.

Inshallah

As the wind blows, growing colder, against the sad boats, as we flee, anxious eyes, search in darkness, with the rising of the sea.

A Thousand Years

A million roads, a million fears, a million suns, 10 million years of uncertainty.

Shadows In The Rain

I woke up in my clothes again this morning, I don’t know exactly where I am.

Every Breath You Take

Since you’ve gone I’ve been lost without a trace, I dream at night I can only see your face.

Message In A Bottle

Rescue me before I fall into despair…I’ll send an S.O.S. to the world.

INTERMISSION: 20 MINUTES

Act 2

Spirits In The Material World

There is no political solution, to our troubled evolution.

If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free

If you want to keep something precious, you’ve got to lock it up and throw away the key.

Brand New Day

I’m thinking in a brand-new way… I’m starting up a brand-new day.

Love Is The Seventh Wave

There is a deeper wave than this rising in the world.

De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da

Don’t think me unkind, words are hard to find, they’re only cheques I’ve left unsigned, from the banks of chaos in my mind.

Walking On The Moon

Giant steps are what you take, walking on the moon…We could walk forever…we could live together…walking on the moon.

Be Still My Beating Heart

Be still my beating heart, or I’ll be taken for a fool.

Englishman In New York

Be yourself, no matter what they say.

Shape Of My Heart

I’m not a man of too many faces, the mask I wear is one.

The Bed’s Too Big Without You

I can’t sleep with your memory, dreaming dreams of what used to be, when she left I was cold inside.

Roxanne

You don’t have to put on the red light, those days are over, you don’t have to sell your body to the night.

So Lonely

And I can only play that part, and sit and nurse my broken heart.

Fields Of Gold

Will you stay with me, will you be my love among the fields of barley? We’ll forget the sun in this jealous sky as we lie in fields of gold.

The Empty Chair

If I should close my eyes, that my soul can see, and there’s a place at the table that you saved for me.

They Dance Alone

One day we’ll dance on their graves, one day we’ll sing our freedom, one day we’ll laugh in our joy, and we’ll dance.

Message In A Bottle

The performance will run one hour and 49 minutes including a 20-minute intermission. If we can help accommodate you during your visit, please speak with our front of house team.

Theatrical haze, strobe lighting, and fog are used during the performance.

This event is recommended for audiences seven years and older, as the show contains some scenes of an adult nature.

For your safety, we ask that you keep the aisles and doorways clear.

We request that you refrain from taking photography, videography, or audio recordings of the production, except when permitted (during the final bows).

Song credits

All songs written by Sting Co-writers: Cheb Mami (“Desert Rose”), Dominic Miller (“Shape Of My Heart”), Kipper (“A Thousand Years”), J. Ralph (“The Empty Chair”).

Steerpike (Overseas) Limited/Magnetic Publishing Ltd. administered by EMI Music Publishing Limited (“Shape Of My Heart”).

Steerpike (Overseas) Limited/M. Khelifati administered by EMI Music Publishing Limited/Delabel Editions (“Desert Rose”).

Steerpike (Overseas) Limited/Mark Eldridge administered by EMI Music Publishing Limited/Diverse Music (“A Thousand Years”).

Steerpike (Overseas) Limited/J. Ralph administered by EMI Music Publishing Limited/Tubby & The Spaniard Music Publishing, LLC.

Photo credit: Helen Maybanks

Credits

Creative team

Direction and choreography

Music and lyrics

Music supervision and arrangements

Music production and arrangements

Music co-production and mixing

Set design

Video design

Costume design

Lighting design

Sound design

Dramaturgy

Associate choreographer and dancer

Music associate and additional arrangements

Assistant choreographer

Assistant choreographer

Remount production team

Resident director/choreographer

Dance captains

Wardrobe supervisor

Hairstylist

Technical team

Company stage manager

Deputy stage manager

Touring production manager

Touring production electrician/relighter

Head of sound

Head of video

Head of wardrobe

Deputy head of wardrobe

Deputy head of lighting

Technical swing

Wardrobe assistant

Touring physiotherapist

Kate Prince

Sting

Alex Lacamoire

Martin Terefe

Oskar Winberg

Ben Stones

Andrzej Goulding

Anna Fleischle

Natasha Chivers

David McEwan

Lolita Chakrabarti OBE

Lukas McFarlane

D.J. Walde

Tommy Franzen

Lizzie Gough

Lizzie Gough

Lindon Barr, Hannah Sandilands

Miwa Mitsuhashi, Sabia Smith

Tevae Humphreys, Bethan Owens

Marius Arnold-Clarke

Kayleigh Atkinson

Adam Smith

Joe Pilling

Simon Lambert

Marc Lavallee

Joanna Hunnisett

Heather Cohen

Alfie Sissons

Mim Evison

Firdest Karaca

Adam Lawrenson

Production Lighting Equipment supplied by White Light Ltd.

Original creation production team

Music assistant to Alex Lacamoire and additional arrangements Isaac Hayward

New arrangements recorded at Kensaltown Studios & Eastcote Studios, London Sting’s vocals produced by Martin Kierszenbaum, Martin Terefe

The use of musical compositions is by arrangement with Steerpike (Overseas) Ltd. administered by EMI Music Publishing.

All lead vocals sung by Sting, apart from “Fields of Gold,” “Invisible Sun,” and “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free,” which are sung by Beverley Knight MBE, and “Bed’s Too Big Without You,” which is sung by Lynval Golding.

All songs written by Sting. Co-writers: Cheb Mami (“Desert Rose”), Dominic Miller (“Shape Of My Heart”), Kipper (“A Thousand Years”) J.Ralph (“The Empty Chair”).

Tour booking (U.K. and international) Kayte Potter, Fiona Buffham, Rebecca Bose for Great Leap Forward: kayte@greatleapforward.co.uk.

Tour booking (North America) Stephen Lindsay for The Road Company: sl@trc.nyc.

For Sadler’s Wells

Artistic director and chief executive Executive producer

Head of producing and touring Producer

Assistant producer

Head of production Marketing manager

Marketing and communications coordinator

Head of media and communications Media officer

Producing and touring trainee

For Universal Music UK Executive producer

Alistair Spalding CBE

Suzanne Walker

Bia Oliveira

Hannah Gibbs

Molly Jones

Adam Carrée

Sam McAuley & Jordan Archer

Steven Lou

Freddie Todd Fordham

Laura Neil

Izzy Billington

Eliza Lumley

For ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company

Founder and artistic director

Associate artistic director

Executive directors

Executive producer

Producer

General manager

Company coordinator

Agency manager

Marketing and communications manager

Cast

Kate Prince

Dannielle ’Rhimes’ Lecointe

Flo Buckeridge & Chantal Spiteri

Sandra Castell Garcia

Annie Taylor-Gooby

Sophie Cammack

Jasmine Cox

Shannelle ’Tali’ Fergus

Frankie Stansfield

Oliver Andrews, Lindon Barr, Deavion Brown, David Cottle, Harrison Dowzell, Nestor Garcia Gonzalez, Natasha Gooden, Lizzie Gough, Megan Ingram, Ajani Johnson-Goffe, Daniella May, Dylan Mayoral, Serena McCall, Lukas McFarlane, Nethra Menon, Robbie Ordona, Lara Renaud, Hannah Sandilands, Jessey Stol, Steven Thompson, Gavin Vincent, Malachi Welch

Supporters

Kate Prince

Direction and choreography

Kate Prince is a director, writer, and choreographer. She is also the artistic director of ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company, which she founded in 2002. Kate is an associate artist at both The Old Vic and Sadler’s Wells, where ZooNation is also a resident company.

In 2005 Sadler’s Wells commissioned the company’s first full-length work, Into the Hoods, conceived and directed by Kate. The show’s premiere in 2006 met with widespread critical acclaim and Into the Hoods went on to become the first hip-hop dance show to transfer to the West End in 2008, after two critically successful runs at the Edinburgh Fringe.

For TV, Kate’s credits include work for Strictly Come Dancing, So You Think You Can Dance, Discomania, and PopWorld. Her film work includes choreography for Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, StreetDance 3D, and The Holloway Laundrette, which she wrote and directed for BAFTA/Channel 4.

Kate is now five-time Olivier Award nominee and has a South Bank Sky Arts Award, a WhatsOnStage Award, and two Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards. She has an honorary doctorate from the University of Winchester and an MBE for services to dance. Her proudest achievement is being Leo’s wife and Ella’s mum.

Sting

Music and lyrics

Composer, singer-songwriter, actor, author, and activist Sting was born in Newcastle, England before moving to London in 1977 to form The Police with Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers. The band released five studio albums, earned six Grammy Awards and two Brits, and was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.

As one of the world’s most distinctive solo artists, Sting

has received an additional 11 Grammy Awards, two Brits, a Golden Globe, an Emmy, four Oscar nominations, a TONY nomination, Billboard Magazine’s Century Award, and MusiCares 2004 Person of the Year. In 2003, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for his myriad of contributions to music. Also a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, he has received the Kennedy Center Honors, The American Music Award of Merit, and The Polar Music Prize. Sting has been awarded honorary doctorates of music by the University of Northumbria (1992), Berklee College of Music (1994), University of Newcastle upon Tyne (2006), and Brown University at its 250th commencement ceremony (2018). Throughout his illustrious career, Sting has sold 100 million albums from his combined work with The Police and as a solo artist.

Following his critically acclaimed album, 57th & 9th, his first rock/pop collection in over a decade, Sting and reggae icon Shaggy, both managed by the Cherrytree Music Company, released a collaborative, island-influenced album entitled 44/876, drawing from the many surprising connections at the heart of their music. With its title referencing their home country codes, 44/876 first and foremost honours the duo’s mutual love for Jamaica: Shaggy’s homeland, and the place where Sting penned such classics as The Police’s “Every Breath You Take.” Their chart-topping release debuted at number one in Germany and top 10 in the U.K. It spent over 20 weeks atop Billboard’s reggae album chart in the U.S., earned gold certifications in Poland and France, and received the Grammy Award for best reggae album.

Last year, Sting was honoured at the BMI Pop Awards for his enduring hit single “Every Breath You Take,” which has become the most performed song, with 15 million radio plays, from BMI’s catalogue of over 14 million musical works.

Sting’s support for human rights organizations such as the Rainforest Fund, Amnesty International, and Live Aid mirrors his art in its universal outreach. Along with wife Trudie Styler, Sting founded the Rainforest Fund in 1989 to protect both the world’s rainforests and the Indigenous people living there. Together they have held 19 benefit concerts to raise funds and awareness for our planet’s endangered resources. Since its inception, the Rainforest Fund has expanded to a network of interconnected organizations working in more than 20 countries over three continents.

Alex

Alex Lacamoire is a four-time Grammy, three-time Tony, three-time Olivier, and Emmy award winner for his work on Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, In The Heights, and FX’s mini-series Fosse/Verdon. Alex was also the recipient of a first-of-its-kind Kennedy Center Honors for his contribution to Hamilton. Other credits as music director, arranger, and/or orchestrator include Sweeny Todd (2023 Broadway revival), Bring It On, Wicked, Bat Boy, and Godspell. He served as the executive music producer for the films The Greatest Showman, In The Heights, VIVO, Dear Evan Hansen, and Tick, Tick...Boom!

Martin Terefe Music producer and arranger

Martin has been making music for over 30 years as an artist, songwriter, musician, and producer. He owns Eastcote and Kensaltown studios in West London and founded multidisciplinary art collective Apparatjik with Magne F (A-Ha), Guy Berryman (Coldplay), and Jonas Bjerre (MEW). Martin has made multiple Grammy, Brit, and Juno Award-winning albums and

was named one of the top 10 most successful music producers of hit songs on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart.

His writing and production credits include “I’m Yours” (Jason Mraz), “Hey Soul Sister” (Train), “I Took A Pill In Ibiza” (Mike Posner), “Other Side Of The World” (KT Tunstall), and “RX” (Theory of A Deadman), as well as work with Luis Fonsi, Christina Aguilera, Mika, James Blunt, Jamie Cullum, Coldplay, James Morrison, Mary J. Blige, Craig David, Cat Stevens, Ron Sexsmith, Backstreet Boys, and many more. Martin has been part of the early development of many artists including James Morrison, Rita Ora, Shawn Mendes, and most recently YUNGBLUD. As partner and head of recorded music at Locomotion, Martin continues his work with new artists, building on his rich and extensive catalogue.

Lacamoire Music supervisor and new arrangements

Oskar is a Grammy Award-winning engineer, producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Stockholm, Sweden. Now living in London, his work has resulted in multiple gold- and platinum-selling records with artists such as Shawn Mendes, Jason Mraz, Mike Posner, Robbie Williams, James Blunt, Paloma Faith, and Christina Aguilera. He is also involved in the development of new young artists such as BarlowLN and recent breakout YUNGBLUD.

Ben trained at Central Saint Martin’s and received a Linbury Prize commission to design Paradise Lost for Rupert Goold. Designs include Standing at the Sky’s Edge, Frost/ Nixon, Julius Caesar (The Crucible); The Watsons (Minerva Theatre); The Producers (Royal Exchange); SYLVIA ( The Old Vic); The Bear/The Proposal (Young Vic); The Suicide (National Theatre); and HIR, The Kitchen Sink (Bush Theatre).

Andrzej is a set and video designer for live performance. Video designs include Life of Pi (Sheffield Crucible/ West End); &Juliet (West End); People, Places and Things (National Theatre); Groundhog Day (Broadway, The Old Vic); The Remains Of The Day (UK tour); and 8 Hotels (Minerva Theatre). He won a UK Theatre Award for best design for Life Of Pi and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for outstanding projection design and a Knight Of Illumination Award for projection design for People, Places and Things. He won the 2017 Theatre and Technology Award for creative innovation in video design for Room.

Oskar Winberg Music co-producer and mixer

Ben Stones Set designer

Andrzej Goulding Video designer

Anna is an Olivier award-winning, Tony-nominated scenic and costume designer. Her recent work includes The Pillowman (West End), The Collaboration (Broadway), Death of a Salesman (Broadway, West End), 2:22 A Ghost Story (West End, Ahmanson L.A., Melbourne), Much Ado about Nothing (National), Hangmen (Broadway, West End [Tony Award nominee, winner of the Olivier Award for best set design, Critic’s Circle Award for best designer, Evening Standard Award for best design]), Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (West End/U.K. tour/L.A.), Home I’m Darling (National/West End [Olivier Award nominee for set design and best costume design]).

Natasha is a London-based lighting designer with over 20 years of experience. Her recent work in theatre includes Hills of California (West End); Peaky Blinders (Rambert); Prima Facie, 1984 (West End/Broadway); Enemy of People (The Armoury, New York); Judas (Internationaal Theater, Amsterdam); Blood Wedding (Young Vic); The Doctor (Almeida); Sylvia (The Old Vic), The Antipodes, Sunset at the Villa Thalia, and Statement of Regret (National Theatre). Recent awards include the Drama Desk Award and nominations for Tony and Olivier awards (Prima Facie).

Anna Fleischle Costume designer

Natasha Chivers Lighting designer

David is a Music Producers Guild Award winner, multimedia sound engineer, composer, and music producer. A London-based Australian, his career spans 30 years with accomplishments across television, cinema, theatre, dance, and music production. Message In A Bottle is David’s fourth collaboration with Sadler’s Wells and his first production with ZooNation. Previous collaborations include Plan B, Natasha Bedingfield, Nitin Sawhney, Cirque du Soleil, Jeff Beck, Garou, Yeast Culture, The London Symphony Orchestra, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Metropole Orchestra, Warner Music, Sony Music, and Universal Music.

Lolita is an actress and playwright. Her play Red Velvet opened at the Tricycle Theatre, London, transferred to St. Ann’s Warehouse, New York and London’s West End, earning her most promising playwright awards from the Critics Circle and Evening Standard. Lolita adapted Booker Prize-winning novel Life of Pi for the stage, which won five Oliviers in the West End including best new play, three Tonys on Broadway, and four U.K. Theatre awards. Her adaptation of Hamnet opened at the RSC and transferred to London’s West End in 2023. Other writing credits include Hymn and Invisible Cities.

David McEwan Sound designer

Lolita Chakrabarti OBE Dramaturg

Lukas is a creative/choreographer from Canada who became a U.K. household name when he won television competition show Got to Dance at 19 years old. He has since curated a illustrious career working with artists such as Taylor Swift, Celine Dion, and Pink; with brands like Gap and Uniqlo; and on shows including The X Factor, The Voice, and Netflix’s Dance Monsters. Recent works include the upcoming film Apartment 7A where he worked closely with actress Julia Garner, as well as the queen’s platinum jubilee celebrations and the Eurovision Song Contest, where he was show choreographer for both.

D.J. Walde

Music associate and additional arrangements

Danilo is a composer, musician, consultant, DJ, and performer from West London. Work for ZooNation includes SYLVIA (The Old Vic), The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party (Royal Opera House/ the Roundhouse), Some Like It Hip Hop (The Peacock), Into the Hoods, and Into the Hoods: Remixed. Other credits include “Fall Into You” for The Holloway Laundrette (BAFTA/Big Dance); Nora/She Persisted (English National Ballet); The Suicide (National Theatre); You & I Know (Arlene Phillips/Candoco); Blaze (Anthony Van Laast); Against Time (Flawless/English National Ballet); Pericles (RSC); The Little Mermaid (Bristol Old Vic); Smile (Tommy Franzen/Sadler’s Wells); The Happiness Project (the Roundhouse); Downhill: Hitchcock 9, Moscow (British Council); Vocal Orchestra 2013 Canada (Just For Laughs festival). In 2012, he DJ’ed in front of a worldwide audience for the London 2012 Paralympic Games opening ceremony.

Lukas McFarlane Associate choreographer and dancer

Tommy trained in Sweden and at Urdang Academy in London. He won a Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for his roles in ZooNation’s Some Like It Hip Hop and Russell Maliphant’s The Rodin Project. Tommy’s nominations include a South Bank Sky Arts Breakthrough Award and an Olivier Award for outstanding achievement in dance. Tommy was runner up on the BBC’s So You Think You Can Dance and appeared in films Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Mamma Mia!, Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again, Aladdin, Cats, and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, for which he also assisted Kate Prince. Tommy’s choreography credits include Strictly Come Dancing, Blaze, and Cher Lloyd’s music video for “Swagger Jagger.” Tommy’s theatre credits include Boy Blue Entertainment’s The Five & The Prophecy of Prana, Goldberg (Royal Opera House), and Blaze (The Peacock). Work for ZooNation includes Some Like It Hip Hop and The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party (choreography and performance).

Lizzie was a finalist on BBC’s So You Think You Can Dance U.K. in 2010. She is a choreographer and mentor on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing ; completed four seasons of Dance Dance Dance ITV, STV, RTL; and is currently movement director for BBC’s Gladiators. Lizzie has also choreographed commercials for brands such as Just Eat, Virgin Mobile, Samsung, and Vodaphone, to name a few. As a performer her TV work includes The Voice, Eurovision , Brits Awards, and The X Factor, as well as European stadium/live tours with Take That and Zara Larsson, and theatre shows such as Some like it Hip Hop, Mad Hatters Tea Party, Swanlake Reloaded, and Blaze.

Tommy Franzen Assistant choreographer

Lizzie Gough Assistant choreographer, resident director/choreographer, dancer

Shining a spotlight on TO Live explorations artist: Candace Kumar

Candace Kumar is a cultural dance artist, choreographer, and educator. She specializes in Filipino folk dance and practices diverse styles from across the Philippines. She believes cultural dance can guide us through the future as we navigate life on land that is not our ancestral home.

Last year, Candace was one of seven artists selected by jury to receive explorations funding. TO

Live’s explorations initiative supports Toronto-based artists from all disciplines who want to push the boundaries of their practice, awarding each with $7,000 to test new ideas or research new techniques.

Candace’s explorations research is called “Oceanic Echoes,” and investigates the historical connections of Pangalay, the fingernail dance originating from Indigenous communities in the Sulu Archipelago, across Asian cultures. Through interdisciplinary exploration, Candace seeks to uncover the cultural and historical influences of Pangalay and its neighbouring dance forms, fostering cross-cultural understanding and collaboration among Asian-Canadian dance artists.

Learn more about Candace in our interview with her below.

What’s the importance of the performing arts in your life?

The performing arts are part of my cultural identity. As a mixed Asian-Canadian unable to speak my cultural languages, I found a language through dance. Dance is how I express love for my homelands while living in Canada as a child of immigrant parents. Through the performing arts, I can advocate for Filipino culture in Canada but also shed light on issues in the Philippines. I can engage in community building and understand my complex identity. It’s a multifaceted way of storytelling that reaches people on a deep level.

What inspired you to participate in TO Live’s explorations initiative?

My research idea has been floating in my head for the past year, but there has been no opportunity to bring it to life. I was drawn to this opportunity because of the research/exploration element to it, with no expectation to create a final product. This opportunity felt like a relief because I am still in the early stages of my research and open to all the possibilities it could take me, which I felt was possible with this grant.

What research idea or technique are you exploring with this initiative?

My project has a few main components, including in-depth research on Pangalay dance and interviews with Pangalay practitioners in the diaspora and Philippines, and then applying them to solo movement explorations sessions. I am also working with Thai classical, Indonesian classical, and Indian classical dance artists. During the past few months, I have conducted interviews with the artists, understanding their journey as cultural dance artists. My final step is to draw conclusions to better understand some key questions: What do the histories tell us? Do the artist interviews reveal gaps in our Can-Asian dance community?

How important is it for artists to have creative space and time, free from the pressure of predetermined outcomes, to research and explore?

It is extremely important for artists to have the freedom of space and time to research and explore their creative ideas. Many grant opportunities must result in a completed work. I feel this standard to always be creating, producing, performing, choreographing, etc. is quite exhausting on the artist. Time for exploration, play, wonder, questions, is just as important as the final outcome, and I believe should be nourished more in the Toronto arts landscape.

What does TO Live’s support mean to you as an artist?

TO Live’s explorations has enabled me to pursue some very meaningful paths towards my own evolution as an artist. It has allowed me to put more of a focus on my own development and the effects are being felt immediately. I am truly grateful for this opportunity. This work does not end with explorations, it is merely a starting point for a greater project that will engage audiences, which all started with the support of TO Live.

TO Live’s explorations initiative is made possible by supporters of the TO Live Foundation. explorations is generously supported by Power Corporation of Canada.

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We gratefully acknowledge the generosity of our Friends of TO Live community through donations to TO Live and the TO Live Foundation.

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Donor recognition list as of April 11, 2023.

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#ArtsStartHere, and it begins with you.

The TO Live Foundation is committed to creating a future where art engages and inspires all Torontonians. A future where all the creative voices of our diverse communities are heard and celebrated. A future where artists have the support they need to experiment and grow. Visit tolivefoundation.com to learn more about how our Foundation is committed to building a better city through the arts.