Dance in Leeds 2009

DanceLeeds Spring / Summer 2009

the best of what’s on in

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Yorkshire Dance is proud to present the Dance in Leeds 2009 brochure, and to play a pivotal role in nurturing, producing and importing the very best in professional dance.

Samuel Beckett

Dance first. Think later. It’s the natural order.

And we’re proud to offer a wealth of opportunity for anyone and everyone to take part in dance.

For everyone

For dance professionals

Classes and Courses4 everything from ballet to breakdance, ballroom to Bollywood - for all abilities.

Residencies4free or subsidised studio space over an extended period of time, enabling artists to research, develop and create work.

Open Workshops4a wide variety of one-off workshops for people of all levels of ability and experience.

Community & Learning4 a range of outreach projects, including free classes for adults with learning disabilities, older people and parents with young children.

Youth Dance4we are working with Youth Dance England to deliver a national dance network to support and develop high quality dance for children and young people across our region. www.yde.org.uk

Professional Development4 technique classes with a range of teachers, a diverse programme of workshops and masterclasses with leading professionals, a monthly improvisation event and a variety of intensive choreographic workshops.

Dance Network4we welcome all dance professionals to a bimonthly network meeting - find support and inspiration.

Free e-mail list4information on auditions, workshops and funding, on performance, teaching and study opportunities, and lots more.

For details of any area of our work visit www.yorkshiredance.com or call admin 0113 243 9867 or Box Office 0113 243 8765 admin@yorkshiredance.com 3 St Peter’s Buildings, St Peter’s Square, Leeds LS9 8AH Yorkshire Dance is a Registered Charity No. 701624 VAT Registration No. 418019370 Company Registration No. 2319572

www.yorkshiredance.com

DanceLeeds Spring / Summer 2009

the best of what’s on in

Mad Dogs Dance Theatre & Riccardo Meneghini Made in Yorkshire (Double Bill)

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Verve 09 Verve 09 Première Performance

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Northern Ballet Theatre Swan Lake / Mixed Programme

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Gary Stevens Ape

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balletLORENT Designer Body

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Tavaziva Dance Heart of Darkness

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Kompany Malakhi Boxin

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Srishti My Stamping Ground

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Dance United presents Destino on the road

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Rambert Dance Company Eternal Light Tour 2009

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Yorkshire Dance & West Yorkshire Playhouse present Dansopolis

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MAD DOGS DANCE THEATRE & RICCARDO MENEGHINI Made in Yorkshire ____________________________________ The Riley Theatre at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance Sat 31 Jan

An extraordinary double-bill premièring new work by some of the fastest-rising stars of British contemporary dance.

featuring Mad Dogs Dance Theatre’s

Beast

An intense look at the dark side of human nature and what triggers us... and makes us, at times, worse than animals.

Dance theatre at its most physical and extreme, commissioned by Yorkshire Dance and choreographed by Leeds’ own Douglas Thorpe.

photo © Kevin Hickson

CONTEMPORARY Yorkshire Dance presents

Made in Yorkshire

The Riley Theatre, Northern School of Contemporary Dance Sat 31 Jan, 7.30pm Box Office 0113 219 3018 Tickets £9.00, concessions £6.00

and Riccardo Meneghini’s

Spun

A beautifully playful solo dance, leaping backwards and forwards through a lifetime. Spun examines how the memories of a life can shift themselves around, and how moving on can sometimes mean skipping forward to the beginning.

photo © Georges Bocoust. Thanks to NSCD for its support in kind for this production.

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VERVE 09 Première Performance ____________________________________ The Riley Theatre at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance Fri 20 & Sat 21 Feb

photo © Johnny Carr; Niners by Glenn Wilkinson, Dancers Christina Robinson and Leigh Pearce

CONTEMPORARY The postgraduate performance company of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance Verve 09 Première Performance The Riley Theatre, Northern School of Contemporary Dance Fri 20 & Sat 21 Feb, 7.30pm Box Office 0113 219 3018 Tickets £6.50, concessions £4.50 Verve, the award winning postgraduate performance company of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance returns in 2009 with a mixed bill of new dance works specially commissioned from international choreographers Filip Van Huffel (Belgium), Glenn Wilkinson (UK) and Milan Kozánek (Slovakia).

The programme includes ‘shorts’ created for the company by artists emerging from the north of England, including Jennifer-Lynn Crawford, Katie Baldwin and Leanne Pike.

This exciting evening brings together the best in European and British contemporary dance and is performed with ‘verve’ by the equally international line-up of dancers who comprise the company. The dancers, originating from the UK, South Korea, Belgium and Sweden, are selected graduates from leading conservatoires and universities.

www.nscd.ac.uk/verve

Interchange, hosted by NSCD, is an exciting season of dance events allowing Leeds audiences to be amongst the first to catch emerging dance artists performing with some of Europe’s leading conservatoire and university contemporary dance companies.

Sat 21 Mar, Mapdance Postgraduate company of the University of Chichester.

Sat 2 May, Royal Conservatoire of Artesis University College of Antwerp, Belgium.

Sat 13 Jun, EDge Postgraduate company of London Contemporary Dance School.

Sat 20 Jun, Space Cadets Graduate performance company of The Scottish School of Contemporary Dance.

The Riley Theatre Box Office 0113 219 3018 Tickets £6.50 concessions £4.50 more information at www.nscd.ac.uk/performances

* These performances are not included in the ‘Dance in Leeds’ discount offer 7

NORTHERN BALLET THEATRE Mixed Programme / Swan Lake ____________________________________ Leeds Grand Theatre Thu 26 Feb - Sat 7 Mar

photo Š Hanson

BALLET Northern Ballet Theatre Leeds Grand Theatre Box Office 0844 848 2715 Book securely online www.leedsgrandtheatre.com Tickets £8.50 - £32.00 Celebrate Northern Ballet Theatre’s 40th anniversary with two programmes of stunning dance, highlighting the dramatic, classical and contemporary abilities of this award-winning company. Book for both Swan Lake and the Mixed Programme and save 20%

Mixed Programme

A Simple Man, photo © Richard Farley

Thu 26 - Sat 28 Feb, 7.30pm (with Thu & Sat 2.30pm matinées) La Bayadère (The Kingdom of the Shades), Angels in the Architecture, A Simple Man Classical ballet at its purest in the haunting La Bayadère, contemporary dance at its most dynamic and original in the mesmerising Angels in the Architecture and NBT’s signature narrative piece, Gillian Lynne’s A Simple Man, returning by popular demand. This Mixed Programme lets you experience three very different sides of one of the UK’s leading ballet companies.

Swan Lake Wed 4 - Sat 7 Mar, 7.30pm (with Thu & Sat 2.30pm matinées) NBT’s romantic adaptation of Swan Lake is a moving story of betrayal and all-encompassing love. Set in New England in the early twentieth century a young man finds himself struggling to cope as his relationships with his closest friends begin to change. Tchaikovsky’s breathtaking music played live by the Northern Ballet Theatre Orchestra completes this innovative take on a traditional work.

www.northernballettheatre.co.uk 9

GARY STEVENS Ape ____________________________________ Leeds Met Studio Theatre Wed 4 & Thu 5 Mar

photos Š Georgina Carless

PHYSICAL THEATRE Gary Stevens Ape Leeds Met Studio Theatre Wed 4 & Thu 5 Mar, 7.30pm Box Office 0113 812 5998 Tickets £10.00, concessions £7.00 Groups of 10 or more £5.00 each Three performers inextricably linked by one rule, to copy and ape each other’s behaviour.

Starting with simple actions and movements and rapidly descending into a chaotic world of gestures, language and not quite enough props, each performer struggles to assert their own character and to take control. Playfully testing the limits of the rule through skilful and sophisticated performances, Ape creates a tangled mass of associations, moving from instantly recognisable social situations to moments of slapstick comedy. Actions and words soon spin out of control as the performers continue to copy the copy...

Written and directed by Gary Stevens, commissioned by Artsadmin and developed with Stevens’ co-performers Julian Maynard Smith (Station House Opera) and Wendy Houstoun. www.artsadmin.co.uk/projects/ for information about Gary Stevens and to see a short clip of Ape.

www.leedsmet.ac.uk/arts 11

balletLORENT Designer Body ____________________________________ Leeds City Museum Wed 11 Mar

photo Š Andy Taylor

CONTEMPORARY balletLORENT Designer Body Leeds City Museum Wed 11 Mar, 7.30pm Box Office 0113 243 8765 (Yorkshire Dance) Tickets £12.00, concessions £8.00 Designer Body celebrates the body transformed. Seven dancers, each revolving on a plinth, are dressed in full length garments that accentuate and distort the stature and elegance of their bodies.

Throughout their kaleidoscopic journey the dancers undergo a transformation. Layers of clothing slip away. The couture-designed body that was presented at the beginning of the work ends as a nude – a completely different kind of designer body.

Designer Body is a richly textured piece of dance theatre supported by the exquisite lighting of designer Malcolm Rippeth. Couturier and longterm balletLORENT collaborator Paul Shriek creates the costume designs. A specially commissioned soundtrack by :zoviet*france: accompanies Designer Body – a powerfully atmospheric score containing elements of bird song, music box mechanisms, run-off grooves and penetrating bass.

www.balletlorent.com 13

TAVAZIVA DANCE Heart of Darkness ____________________________________ The Carriageworks Tue 17 Mar

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photo © Carl Fox

AFRICAN / CONTEMPORARY Yorkshire Dance presents

Tavaziva Dance Heart of Darkness

The Carriageworks Tue 17 Mar, 7.30pm Box Office 0113 224 3801 Tickets £10.00, concessions £8.00 An emotional, spiritual, scary and raw dance voyage into modern Africa through the eyes of Zimbabwean-born Bawren Tavaziva and his company of five contemporary dancers.

Heart of Darkness features four short works in different moods, from guest choreographer Harriet Macauley’s austerely beautiful Silent Steps to the gently uplifting Kenyan Athlete, and two startling new works by Bawren.

Sinful Intimacies is a sensual duet exploring African unease with same-sex relationships, while a major new work My Friend Robert asks how an inspirational African leader, adored by his people, can descend into horror. Where does the flag-waving and optimism darken into corruption, violence, disease and economic meltdown?

The show features the unique, inspiring and haunting music of Bawren Tavaziva.

“A great company... their seamless blend of contemporary and traditional African movement, strikingly costumed and lit.”

The Independent

www.tavazivadance.com 15

KOMPANY MALAKHI Boxin ____________________________________ The Carriageworks Wed 18 Mar

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photo © Mark Simmons

PHYSICAL THEATRE / DANCE Yorkshire Dance presents

Kompany Malakhi Boxin

The Carriageworks Wed 18 Mar, 7.45pm Box Office 0113 224 3801 Tickets £10.00, concessions £8.00 Kompany Malakhi returns to fire up the stage with Boxin, an edgy tale of mindsets and misinformation.

Kwesi Johnson’s pioneering company crackles with energy as it pushes physical theatre to the limit with a trademark synthesis of contemporary dance and street styles.

Steve Denton’s architectural set of platforms, slopes and corners sees the performers blur the line between dance theatre and parkour, all to a soundtrack every bit as unexpected as the story that unfolds.

Recommended for ages 12+

www.kompanymalakhi.com 17

SRISHTI My Stamping Ground ____________________________________ The Carriageworks Mon 30 Mar

photograpy © Chris Nash (Male Dancers), Eric Richmond (Female dancer), Design © Alex Innes

SOUTH ASIAN DANCE Srishti - Nina Rajarani Dance Creations My Stamping Ground The Carriageworks Mon 30 Mar, 7.30pm Box Office 0113 224 3801 Tickets £10.00, concessions £8.00 My Stamping Ground is a fresh take on a classic story. Be it Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Broadway’s West Side Story or Bollywood’s Josh, the tension of forbidden love has always caused thrill and heartbreak throughout the ages.

My Stamping Ground is the story of a torrid love affair amidst feuding gangs. This South Asian dance show with live music explores fighting forces that seem impossible to conquer. Get ready for a dance battle between the classical and the contemporary.

This show features choreography created by our dancers in collaboration with Nina Rajarani, whilst live music is created by composer and vocalist Y Yadavan who provides a magnetic score in collaboration with rap lyricist SujeethG. Using a male-dominated cast, this show tackles the issue of gangs in the UK whilst celebrating the friendship and solidarity that groups of lads share, often misconstrued as gangs.

www.srishti.co.uk 19

DANCE UNITED presents Destino on the road ____________________________________ Stage@Leeds Fri 3 & Sat 4 Apr

photo Š Andreas Knapp

CONTEMPORARY Russell Maliphant

Stage@Leeds Fri 3 & Sat 4 Apr, 7.30pm Box Office 0113 343 8730 Tickets £9.00, concessions £6.00

Junaid Jemal Sendi

Destino on the road

Hofesh Shechter

with Hofesh Shechter, Russell Maliphant, Adam Benjamin & Junaid Jemal Sendi present

Adam Benjamin

Dance United

A ground-breaking collaboration between the worlds of professional and non-professional dance. Destino builds on Dance United’s acclaimed large-scale productions with Sir Simon Rattle’s Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and its award winning work with young people, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Destino is an exhilarating programme of dance that features new choreography from an international team that includes leading UK choreographers Russell Maliphant with Adam Benjamin and Hofesh Shechter, and also introduces new work from Ethiopian choreographer and dancer Junaid Jamal Sendi.

Junaid and his colleague Addisu Demissie who both perform throughout the Destino programme are two young Ethiopian dance artists whose lives have been transformed by dance, a journey that has taken them from the streets of Addis Ababa to performances at Sadler’s Wells and now on a UK tour.

Completing the performance is an inspirational new work, choreographed by Tara-Jane Herbert and Susannah Broughton, for an ensemble of young people drawn from the communities of Leeds and Bradford.

www.dance-united.com 21

RAMBERT DANCE COMPANY Eternal Light Tour 2009 ____________________________________ Leeds Grand Theatre Thu 4 - Sat 6 Jun

photo © Carl Fox

CONTEMPORARY Rambert Dance Company Eternal Light Tour 2009 with its Associate Orchestra London Musici Leeds Grand Theatre Thu 4 – Sat 6 Jun, 7.30pm (with Sat 2.30pm matinée) Box Office 0844 848 2715 Book securely online www.leedsgrandtheatre.com Tickets £10.50 - £21.50 Concessions £3 off top three prices (excludes Sat eve) School and group rates available Post performance talk: Thu 4 Jun Sign Language-interpreted performance: Thu 4 Jun After a triumphant autumn season Rambert Dance Company returns to Leeds with a brand new programme. Emotional, touching and adored by audiences across the UK, Eternal Light is a major collaboration between Artistic Director Mark Baldwin and composer Howard Goodall. The sensational and elegiac score is played and sung live by London Musici and a choir at every performance.

Sumptuous designs from production designer Michael Howells feature sparkling crystals donated by Swarovski and striking headdresses from fashion milliner Stephen Jones.

The performance also includes a revival of Christopher Bruce’s light-hearted celebration of life, Hush, and the athletic and spiritual Infinity by Australian choreographer Garry Stewart.

“Pure quality floods from the stage as soon as the curtain rises on Eternal Light.”

Sunday Express Eternal Light commissioned by Sadler’s Wells, score commissioned by Mark Stephenson on behalf of London Musici.

www.rambert.org.uk 23

YORKSHIRE DANCE & WEST YORKSHIRE PLAYHOUSE present

Dansopolis ____________________________________ West Yorkshire Playhouse Fri 3 & Sat 4 Jul

photo © Chris Sands

COMMUNITY Yorkshire Dance & West Yorkshire Playhouse present Dansopolis West Yorkshire Playhouse Fri 3 & Sat 4 Jul, 7.30pm Box Office 0113 213 7700 Book securely online www.wyp.org.uk Tickets £8.00, concessions £6.00 Groups of five+ £6.00 each Two nights of the best youth and community dance from across Yorkshire, created and performed by adults and young people. Don’t miss Yorkshire Dance’s new intergenerational commission, this year by renowned physical theatre director and choreographer Wendy Houston. A uniquely feel-good experience of people from all generations (from 2 to 92!) dancing together.

Fri 3 Jul, Community Dance Showcase & Intergenerational Commission (World Premiere) A dazzling variety of groups and styles, proving that community dance crosses all boundaries and leaps over all barriers. Can you resist the contagious joy and excitement of performance on display here that matches that of any professional company?

Sat 4 Jul,Youth Dance Showcase & Intergenerational Commission (2nd performance) Join the celebrations as the youth of Yorkshire rock the house. A vibrant and exciting mix of sights, sounds and styles – from edgy street and urban to cool contemporary dance, and everything in between. ...and there’s more! The foyers and the hidden spaces of the Playhouse will be alive with dance on both evenings. Keep your eyes open.You never know what you might find!

Dansopolis is an initiative of Yorkshire Dance and is part of U.Dance (for more information go to www.u-dance.org)

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DanceYorkshire in

Spring / Summer 2009

Mon 2 & Tue 3 Feb

The Russian Classical Ballet Theatre - Coppélia Grand Opera House York, Box Office 0844 847 2322 www.grandoperahouseyork.org.uk

Wed 11 - Sat 14 Mar

The Russian State Ballet of Siberia - The Nutcracker & Coppélia Hull New Theatre, Box Office 01482 226655 Birmingham Royal Ballet www.hullcc.gov.uk

Wed 29 Apr - Sat 2 May Northern Ballet Theatre - Wuthering Heights Hull New Theatre, Box Office 01482 226655 www.hullcc.gov.uk Tue 19 & Wed 20 May

Birmingham Royal Ballet - mixed programme York Theatre Royal, Box Office 01904 623568 www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk

For up to date listings of dance in Yorkshire visit www.digyorkshire.com

LAWRENCE BATLEY THEATRE

Yesterday photo © Alastair Muir

HUDDERSFIELD Tue 27 Jan, 7.30pm Jasmin Vardimon Company - Yesterday Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells and awardwinning dance theatre choreographer returns to celebrate her company’s 10th anniversary.

A retrospective new piece featuring some of the most breath-taking duets, striking solos and iconic moments selected from the company’s repertoire interwoven with new material, live multi-media and animation.

This bold new work resounds with the passion, precision and trademark physicality of this celebrated company.

Dear Body photo © Johan Persson

Tue 3 Mar, 7.30pm Protein Dance - Dear Body High energy physical theatre, comedy and satire collide in the latest slice of thoughtprovoking dance theatre from Luca Silvestrini’s award-winning company. A witty satire on our fixation with body care and image, Dear Body analyses the most private relationship of all: the one we have with ourselves.

Box Office 01484 430528 www.lawrencebatleytheatre.co.uk

These performances are not included in the ‘Dance in Leeds’ discount offer

BRADFORD THEATRES

Alhambra Theatre: St Petersburg Ballet Theatre, Wed 4 – Sun 8 Feb. Back with two of the most sublime classical ballets. La Bayadère (The Temple Dancer) is the story of an eternal love triangle, featuring Prima Ballerina Irina Kolesnikova dancing the role of Nikiya. These are exclusive previews of this rarely performed ballet before its run at the London Coliseum in May 2009. Plus Swan Lake, set to Tchaikovky’s luscious score.

As part of the 16th Spring dance programme in Sheffield and South Yorkshire, Danceworks UK will present and promote up to 13 regional, national and international companies.

Some of the highlights this season include the return of Increpación Danza (Spain) with a fiery new work Breviario [pictured] and the Yorkshire premiere of Gary Clarke’s COAL. The season also boasts an up close and personal strand to see some of the best UK / international artists in more intimate spaces including Bare Bones 6 in the sumptuous surroundings of Sheffield City Hall’s Ballroom, VDT with Double Vision, Gary Clarke’s Horsemeat and Wendy Houstoun’s

St George’s Hall: Breakin’ Convention – An International Festival of Hip Hop Dance Theatre, Fri 15 May. Featuring Ken Swift & VII Gems, Rock Dance Division, Salah & Myosung.

With five years’ sell-out success in London, it’s now on tour - your chance to see some of the greatest hip hop dancers on the planet.

Alhambra Theatre: Dorian Gray, Thu 2 – Sat 4 Jul. Direct from sell-out success in London and Edinburgh, Oscar Wilde’s gothic fable becomes a darkly seductive dance theatre event from master storyteller Matthew Bourne.

Set in the image-obsessed world of contemporary art and politics, this ‘black fairy tale’ tells the story of an exceptionally alluring young man who makes a pact with the devil.

01274 432000 booking fees apply bradford-theatres.co.uk

cult classic Happy Hour all showing in a relaxed cabaret setting at Sheffield’s Foundry & Fusion.

To find out more visit www.danceworks.org.uk or call 0114 221 0311 for a Spring 2009 brochure.

In 2007/08 Danceworks UK co-produced 10 new works independently and as a core member of the Dance Touring Partnership and Dance Consortium promoted 22 regional, photograph © Jordi Vidal national and international companies touring in South Yorkshire watched by 22,667 people across 10 venues.

These performances are not included in the ‘Dance in Leeds’ discount offer

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Riley Theatre Northern School of Contemporary Dance 98 Chapeltown Road, Leeds LS7 4BH Box Office 0113 219 3018

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Stage@Leeds University of Leeds Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9JT Box Office (Yorkshire Dance) 0113 243 8765

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Leeds Met Gallery & Studio Theatre Leeds Metropolitan University Civic Quarter, Leeds LS1 3HE Box Office 0113 812 5998

Cover photography Š Chris Sands, Dancer Lisa Welham Map: Andy Edwards Design 0113 242 8350

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The Carriageworks Millennium Square, Leeds LS2 3AD Box Office 0113 224 3801

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Leeds Grand Theatre & Opera House 46 New Briggate, Leeds LS1 6NZ Box Office 0844 848 2715

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Leeds City Museum Millennium Square, Leeds LS2 8BH Box Office (Yorkshire Dance) 0113 243 8765

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West Yorkshire Playhouse Playhouse Square, Quarry Hill, Leeds LS2 7UP Box Office 0113 213 7700