Author: twoluck web support

Somewhere

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The Company is creating a full-length dance work that absorbs the iconic masterpiece in all its aspects (editing, camera angles, music, etc.) without re-enacting any of its dramatic narrative. For Somewhere, Varone dissected Thomas Stanford’s radical editing choices, as well as Jerome Robbin’s camera movements and angles—translating them into dances that are dynamically skewed and off-kilter in form and vocabulary. Somewhere is performed to Leonard Bernstein’s masterful orchestral score for West Side Story. Its symphonic complexity and arresting melodies have been mined purely for their choreographic energy. 

Somewhere’s dancesexplore a strikingly unique physical and visual environment. Key collaborators include award-winning lighting designer Ben Stanton, whose intricate lighting designs change the stage picture in swift increments, much like fast paced film editing. Wendall Harrington’s moving projections envelop the stage, working seamlessly with the choreography and giving the score new visual context.

Somewhere will be available for touring in the 2019-20 season and be part of a mixed repertory evening. The Company works closely with presenters to create a balanced evening that works best for their venue and constituents. 

Somewhere

8 dancers | 30 minutes in length

Choreographyby Doug Varone 

Music by Leonard Bernstein

Lighting Design by Ben Stanton 

Visual Design by Wendall Harrington 

Costume Design by Reid and Harriet

 “The first time I ever heard the Westside Story score, I think I must have been 5 yrs old and I remember it as being one of the first records that my folks ever bought and it was the Mantovani and his orchestra recording, so it was only an orchestral version of these.  I had no idea what they were, didn’t know they were from Westside Story, but I would build dances to them.”

Doug Varone

Award-winning choreographer and director, Doug Varone works in dance, theater, opera, film, and fashion. He is a passionate educator and articulate advocate for dance. By any measure, his work is extraordinary for its emotional range, kinetic breadth and the many arenas in which he works. His New York City-based Doug Varone and Dancers has been commissioned and presented to critical acclaim by leading international venues for close to three decades.

Doug talks about Somewhere: https://vimeo.com/290204094  password: dovadova

Full length video:

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AsJY9JZoWG_0ie4ixEwQTFKdFWYlUw?e=peyrF3

Photos: Dancers by © Erin Baiano | Fire Escape by Jason Leung | Collage by Elizabeth Fort

TOURING IN 2019-20

Inspired by Varone’s life-long obsession with the 1961 movie version of West Side Story, the Company will create a purely abstract dance work by absorbing the iconic masterpiece in all its aspects (music, camera angles, editing, etc.) without re-enacting any of its dramatic narrative.

Leonard Bernstein’s musical score, with its symphonic complexity and arresting melodies, is a timeless masterwork. Varone will strip the Bernstein orchestral score of its narrative connotations and reimagine the score purely on the choreographic energy generated by its sounds and musical structure.

Varone has spent endless hours viewing the film and examining Thomas Stanford’s visceral film editing. For Somewherehe will dissect those, as well as Jerome Robbin’s camera movements and angles, using them as inspiration to craft new dances, askew and off-kilter in form and vocabulary. Against the Bernstein score, a strikingly unique physical and visual environment will be explored. 

Key collaborators will include award-winning lighting designer Ben Stanton, creating complex lighting designs that will “change the stage picture” in swift increments, much like fast paced film editing; and Wendall Harrington who will provide moving projections that will envelop the stage, working seamlessly with the choreography and giving the score new visual context. 

Somewherewill be available for touring in the 2019-20 season and be part of a mixed repertory evening. The Company works closely with presenters to create an balanced evening that works best for their venue and constituents. 

8 dancers | 30 minutes in length

Artistic Team & Credit

ChoreographybyDoug Varone 

Music by Leonard Bernstein

Lighting Design byBen Stanton 

Visual Design byWendall Harrington 

Costume Design byReid and Harriet

Support

Doug Varone and Dancers’ programs are supported in part by the Alphawood Foundation, Barbara Bell Cumming Charitable Trust, Bulova Gala Foundation, Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards, Dubose and Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund, Exploring the Metropolis Foundation, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Gladys Kreible Delmas Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Howard Gilman Foundation, Jerome Robbins Foundation, O’Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation, and Shubert Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and New York State Legislature, and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. We also gratefully acknowledge our many individual supporters.

“Doug Varone and Dancers command attention as soon as the curtain goes up. Rarely do you find a choreographer so dedicated to the full and generous complexity of the human spirit. Many choreographers can create interesting movement; few can make it mean so much.” - CHICAGO TRIBUNE

For more than 30 years, Doug Varone and Dancers has devoted itself to the humanity and virtuosity of dance, reaching out to our audiences well beyond the proscenium arch. We believe this philosophy has allowed us to endure, earning the reputation as one of the most respected dance companies working today. Over time, we’ve created an expansive legacy encompassing dance, theatre, opera and film – establishing an impressive body of work.

The recipient of 11 Bessie Awards, the Company has toured to more than 100 cities in 45 states across the U.S. and in Europe, Asia, Canada, and South America. Stages include The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York City Center, San Francisco Performances, London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, Toronto's Harbourfront, Moscow's Stanislavsky Theatre, Buenos Aires’ Teatro San Martin, the Venice Biennale, and the Tokyo, Bates, Jacob's Pillow and American Dance Festivals. In opera and theatre, the Company regularly collaborates on the many Varone-directed or choreographed productions that have been produced around the country.

Doug Varone and Dancers continues to be among the most sought-after ambassadors and educators in the field. The Company's multidisciplinary residency programs take audiences deeper into the work, with a hands-on approach that moves beyond of the studio to speak directly to people of all ages and backgrounds, both dancers and non-dancers alike. Our annual intensive workshops at leading universities have attracted students and professionals from around the country, and through our innovative DEVICES choreographic mentorship program, we are training the next generation of artists and dance-makers.

Whether on the concert stage, in opera or theatre or on the screen, choreographer Doug Varone creates kinetically thrilling dances with rich musicality and emotional depth. From the smallest gesture to full-throttle bursts of movement, Varone's work can take your breath away with both its athleticism and its passion.

DOUG VARONE, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Award-winning choreographer and director, Doug Varone works in dance, theater, opera, film, and fashion. He is a passionate educator and articulate advocate for dance. By any measure, his work is extraordinary for its emotional range, kinetic breadth and the many arenas in which he works. His New York City-based Doug Varone and Dancers has been commissioned and presented to critical acclaim by leading international venues for close to three decades.

In the concert dance world, Varone has created a body of works globally. Commissions include the Paul Taylor American Modern Dance Company, Limón Company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Rambert Dance Company (London), Martha Graham Dance Company, Dancemakers (Canada), Batsheva Dance Company (Israel), Bern Ballet (Switzerland) and An Creative (Japan), among others. In addition, his dances have been staged on more than 75 college and university programs around the country.

In opera, Doug Varone is in demand as both a director and choreographer. Among his four productions at The Metropolitan Opera are Salomewith its Dance of the Seven Veils, the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s An American Tragedy, Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps, designed by David Hockney, and Hector Berloiz’s Les Troyens. He has staged multiple premieres and new productions for Minnesota Opera, Opera Colorado, Washington Opera, New York City Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera, among others. His numerous theater credits include choreography for Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theaters across the country. His choreography for the musical Murder Balladat Manhattan Theater Club earned him a Lortel Award nomination. Film credits include choreography for the Patrick Swayze film, One Last Dance. In 2008, Varone’s The Bottomland, set in the Mammoth Caves of Kentucky, was the subject of the PBS Dance in America: Wolf Trap’s Face of America. Last season he directed and choreographed MASTERVOICES production ofDido and Aeneasat NY’s City Center, starring Tony Award winners Kelli O’Hara and Victoria Clark, alongside the Company. Most recently, he staged Julia Wolfe’s Pulitzer Prize winning oratorio, Anthracite Fieldsfeaturing the Bang on a Can All-Stars and the Westminster Choir.

Varone received his BFA from Purchase College where he was awarded the President’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2007. Numerous honors and awards include a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, an OBIE Award (Lincoln Center’s Orpheus and Euridice), the Jerome Robbins Fellowship at the Bogliasco Institute in Italy, and two individual Bessie Awards. In 2015, he was awarded both a Doris Duke Artist Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Dance Guild. Varone teaches workshops and master classes around the world for dancers, musicians and actors. He is currently on the faculty at Purchase College, teaching composition.

in the shelter of the fold

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Doug Varone and Dancers - in the shelter of the fold /epilogue

in the shelter of the fold /epilogue comprise an evening of inquiry into both public and personal acts of faith. Drawing on his own curiosity about traditional and secularly spontaneous uses of prayer, Varone questions what constitutes faith. To whom are we speaking – and what are we asking for? Is this a mystical or spiritual experience, or simply a dialogue we’re having with ourselves? in the shelter of the fold /epilogue questions our ways of coping, realization, choice; exploring a multitude of expectations inherent in faith and belief. 

Created for an ensemble of 8 dancers and 12 guest artists, in the shelter of the fold /epilogue is an episodic work comprised of 6 dances that unfold like a woven tapestry, each revealing a new narrative. mass, the section for the guest dancers, incorporates university dance students and regional dance companies into the performance.  “Having the opportunity to perform mass, to live inside the work with the company, physically and energetically, allowed them to rise up as young artists.”  Heather Cooper, Associate Director, School of Music and Dance, San Jose State University.

Of its New York premiere at the BAM Fisher Center, Broadway World said, “in the shelter of the fold /epilogue is transcendent and transfixing.”

The dance is composed of the following sections:

horizon | Sextet shelter | Trio hope | Solo

folded | Duet mass | 12 dancers epilogue | 8 dancers

95 minutes in length (including one 15-minute intermission)

Choreography by Doug Varone

Music by Lesley Flanigan, Julia Wolfe, David Lang, Raz Mesinai, Kevin Keller

Lighting Design by David Grill and David Ferri

Costume Design by Liz Prince

horizon:  Music by Lesley Flanigan, Sleepy

folded:  Music by Julia Wolfe, Believing

shelter:  Music by David Lang, Child

mass:  Music by Raz Mesinai, La Cidadelle

hope:  Music by David Keller, Hope 

epilogue:  Music by Lesley Flanigan, Hedera

TOURING IN 2019-20

in the shelter of the fold / epilogue

in the shelter of the fold /epiloguecomprise an evening of inquiry into both public and personal acts of faith. Drawing on his own curiosity about traditional and secularly spontaneous uses of prayer, Varone questions what constitutes faith. To whom are we speaking – and what are we asking for? Is this a mystical or spiritual experience, or simply a dialogue we’re having with ourselves? in the shelter of the fold /epiloguequestions our ways of coping, realization, choice; exploring a multitude of expectations inherent in faith and belief. 

Created for an ensemble of 8 company dancers and up to 12 guest artists, in the shelter of the fold/epilogueis an episodic work comprised of six dances that unfold like a woven tapestry, each section revealing a new narrative. 

Each dance can be shown as stand-alone works or as an interrelated episodic event, scored by five of the most innovative 21st century composers working today. mass, a dance for 12 within in the shelter of the fold, was created so that it could incorporate university dance programs or regional dance companies into the performance. This has proven to be an excellent community component to an engagement with the company, creating a unique residency with the Company.

in the shelter of the fold/epiloguewill have its New York premiere at BAM Brooklyn Academy of Music in the spring of 2019. epiloguewill have its premiere at Vassar College on October 6, 2018.

horizon| Sextet 

folded| Duet

shelter| Trio 

mass| 12 dancers 

hope| Solo 

epilogue| 8 dancers 

8 dancers plus 12 guest artists | 95 minutes in length (including one 15-minute intermission)

foldedleft: Alex Springer & Hollis Bartlett | foldedright: Hsiao-Jou Tang & Xan Burley | photo © Robert Altman


Artistic Team & Credit

Doug Varone and Dancers

Choreography by Doug Varone

Music by Lesley Flanigan, Julia Wolfe, David Lang, Raz Mesinai, Kevin Keller

Lighting Design by David Grill and David Ferri

Costume Design by Liz Prince

horizon:Music by Lesley Flanigan, Sleepy

folded: Music by Julia Wolfe, Believing

shelter: Music by David Lang, Child

mass: Music by Raz Mesinai, La Cidadelle

hope: Music by David Keller, Hope

epilogue: Music by Lesley Flanigan, Hedera

epilogue:
Hollis Bartlett, Whitney Dufrene, Hsiao-Jou Tang, Courtney Barth | 
Photo: © Erin Baiano

Support

In the shelter of the foldwas commissioned by the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College and premiered on November 5th, 2016. Additional support for foldedwas provided by the Brooklyn Academy of Music and had its New York City premiere at BAM on March 29, 2017.

Doug Varone and Dancers’ programs are supported in part by the Alphawood Foundation, Barbara Bell Cumming Charitable Trust, Bulova Gala Foundation, Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards, Dubose and Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund, Exploring the Metropolis Foundation, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Gladys Kreible Delmas Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Howard Gilman Foundation, Jerome Robbins Foundation, O’Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation, and Shubert Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and New York State Legislature, and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. We also gratefully acknowledge our many individual supporters.

Yang Liping’s Rite of Spring

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YANG LIPING’S RITE OF SPRING

A major international co-production with partners Sadler’s Wells London, Shanghai International Arts Festival, Stanford University and The Edinburgh International Festival 

NORTH AMERICAN TOURING: January 2022

 


Yang Liping’s Rite of Spring is the second full-length contemporary dance piece by Yang Liping, China’s most iconic choreographer and dancer. 

This exhilarating reinterpretation draws on Tibetan concepts of the cycles of life and rebirth and the indivisible unity of humankind and the natural world. Taking inspiration from Chinese and Tibetan symbols of nature, Yang Liping creates a preface and a coda, framing Stravinsky’s totemic work as the second of three tableaux — Incantation, Sacrifice and Renewal. Oscar-winning designer Tim Yip has created a visually ravishing work with startling colour and images of striking beauty for Yang Liping’s company of 15 dancers.

The Chosen takes the form of a Peacock, the sacred bird that is a metaphor for beauty, purity and life. It has also been a personal physical embodiment as a dancer for Yang throughout her career.  In Yang Liping’s Rite of Spring the Peacock volunteers herself as the chosen one — sacrificing herself for the common good, in the knowledge that she will be reincarnated. The Sage is represented by another important symbol of Tibetan culture — the White Lion. His purpose is to accept the Peacock’s sacrifice, and with the human community prepare the ritual that will lead to her death and a “sky burial.”  

“…a striking, visceral production that presents a complex consideration of fertility, sexuality and violence.” The Globe and Mail, Toronto

“A unique experience—the supple dancers are astonishing…” British Theatre Guide

TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyB-XAnXHyQ

Yang Liping is a Bai ethnic person from Dali, Yunnan Province. She is a National First-class dancer and the vice chairman of China Dancers Association.

A lover of dance from her early childhood, Yang never underwent formal dance training, but with her astonishing natural talent she became quite a unique and distinguished dancer in China. She won nationwide fame for her performance of her original dance piece Spirit of the Peacock in 1986, which is elegant and dreamlike.

As a household known name in China, Yang and her performance had won a large numbers awards: the gold award for 20th Century Chinese Classics of Dance; the highest honours at the Osaka International Exchange Centre, best dance poetry, best female lead, best choreography, best costume design and outstanding performance awards at the 4th China “Lotus Awards”. In 2011, Yang appeared in the Chinese Beauty in the China Image advertisement broadcast in Times Square, New York City. As a versatile talent, she also wrote, directed and performed in the film Sunbird, which won the Grand Jury’s award at the Montreal International Film Festival.

 Main works: (As choreographer / performer) Spirit of the Peacock, Moonlight, Two Trees, Love of the Peacock; (As director, choreographer and lead dancer) Dynamic Yunnan, Tibetan Mystery, Echoes of Shangri-La, The Peacock, The Winter Peacock; (As director) Under Siege

650650

#JeSuis (I am)

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Aakash Odedra Company

#JeSuis

(I am)

NORTH AMERICAN TOURING Feb/March 2020

Performed by seven dancers from Turkey, #JeSuis won the AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AWARD at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2017 (performed at Zoo Venues) while still in its creation period. Following the world premiere at NYU Abu Dhabi in February 2018, #JeSuis made its European debut at the Birmingham Hippodrome. 

“the feral quality of the choreography and the mastery of the dancing match the intensity of its subject.” Writing about Dance

Notions of oppression are not specific to any time, country or religion. Sometimes the oppressor is a political figure, sometimes a culture or sometimes a friend; and sometimes, of course, it is inside us: our fear, cowardice, expectation and doubt.

#JeSuis began as a conversation with these extraordinary dancers about what it is like to be living in Turkey right now, but quickly began to occupy a much more universal landscape.

The piece explores oppression in all its guises, layers, and contexts. It acknowledges that some acts of oppression are more loudly heard and deeply felt than others. While #JeSuisCharlie brought solidarity, comfort and solace to a world grieving the horrific attacks in Paris 2015, other equally appalling attacks took place in Kabul and Istanbul; but failed to capture the attention of (social) media in quite the same way.

#JeSuis is dedicated to all the people whose stories and plights have not yet been “hashtagged”, left untold. Erased from the past, unowned in the present and vulnerable in the future. Whether they are in prison, in a refugee camp, or a house with closed curtains, and whether it’s their freedom of movement, speech, religion or liberty that is at stake, or their right to marry, love, study and protest – we make this show in honour and support of them. It comes from the belief that the strength of the collective, and our ability to speak out and together will see us through to brighter times. 

In English #JeSuis translates to I Am, but the show also says I Exist, I Matter.

Upcoming performances: 

7th/8th November – Lilia Baylis, Sadler’s Wells, London

12th November – Salle Mercure Pierre, Montreal, off-CINARS

17th November – The Arts Depot, Finchley, London

20th November – Lakeside Arts, Nottingham

24th November – Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Wales

26th November – The Lowry, Salford Quays, Greater Manchester

Concept, Direction, Choreography: Aakash Odedra

Composer: Nicki Wells

Dramaturg: Lou Cope

Lighting Designer: Alessandro Barbieri

Production Manager: Salvatore Scollo

Set and Costumes: Ryan Dawson Laight

Movement & Rehearsal Director: Konstandina Efthymiadou

Created and Performed by:

MELISSA UGOLINI

SU GUZEY

BERIL SENOZ

GIZEM AKSU

YASIN ANAR

EVRIM AKYAY

TANER GUNGOR

Producer: Anand Bhatt

Coordination: Michelle Osorio

Production Images: Sean Goldthorpe

A special thanks to Bill Bragin, Alana Barraj, Chris Pye, Fiona Allan, Chris Sudworth, Anu Giri, Gregory Nash, David Hill, Pelin Basaran, Matt Fenton, Chris Stafford, Suba Das, Nikolai Foster, Theresa Beattie, Eva Martinez, Eckhard Thiemann, Debra Levine, David Massingham, Lucie Mirkova, Kami Manns, Toby Norman Wright and Laura Evans 

Generously supported through Lottery Funding by Arts Council England

Co-commissioning partners: 

The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi; WORLD PREMIERE, 7th-9th February 2018

Paradise is Here, Switzerland; 

Journeys Festival International (ArtReach), UK; 

Commissioned by The Movement -a partnership between Birmingham Hippodrome, Sadler’s Wells and The Lowry;

Curve Theatre (Leicester) UK;

Contact Theatre (Manchester) UK;

Research and Development Supported by the British Council in Turkey and DanceXchange (UK)

Kafkas Track: “Deeper” written and performed by The Soft Moon permission courtesy of Captured Tracks and Low Profile NYC

Voice: Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator © Roy Export SAS

Voice: Mohannad Al Bakri

Additional voice: Dance artists

Additional Vocals: Zain Awad

Oud recording: Fady Fareed

PRESS – Martha Oakes

Martha Oakes PR

martha@marthaoakespr.co.uk

+44 20 8854 5460

Anand Bhatt – Producer                                                             

Aakash Odedra Company

anand@aakashodedra.com                 

+44 7957148150

TRAILER: https://youtu.be/oj7_QKGPs4I

Flier: Click for PDF

Technical Rider: Click for PDF

Rosie Kay’s “5 Soldiers”

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NORTH AMERICAN TOURING MARCH/APRIL 2019

 

In 2008, choreographer Rosie Kay joined the 4th Battalion The Rifles, to watch and participate in full battle exercises, and visited the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre for our Armed Forces. What came of these observations is this award-winning, five-star work.

Deeply realistic, stark and thrilling, 5 SOLDIERS offers no moral stance on war, but instead questions what it is that we ask of our soldiers and explores how the human body remains essential to war, even in the 21st century, with Kay’s trademark intense physical and athletic dance theatre.

 

“Lust, shock and awe… 5 SOLDIERS is a disturbing, illuminating and necessary glimpse into a world we mostly prefer to ignore” Judith Mackrell in The Guardian, Top 10 Dance of 2015

 

A moving, dramatic and unique work, based on military field research, exploring how the human body remains essential to war, even in the 21st century.

 

★★★★★ The Scotsman

“not only keeps us riveted,

but helps close the gap of

understanding between the

armed forces and the

general public.”

 

 

★★★★★ The Herald

“Rosie Kay’s five soldiers

are dancers, but in-depth

background researches

have grounded her moves

and their delivery in the

physicality, camaraderie

and mental challenges of

army life.

★★★★★ The Observer

"War from a female

perspective packs a

punch…taut, visceral,

compassionate”

 

Choreographer of the hit film Sunshine on Leith, Kay’s trademark style of intense physical and

athletic dance theatre has earned five star reviews, a nomination for Best Modern Choreography

in the National Dance Awards and topped the Best Dance of 2015 charts in The Observer, The

Guardian and The Independent.

 

“A very moving experience. I wasn’t expecting it to have that sort of effect on me. A clever and

evocative representation of combat presented in a medium that I never thought it could be

before.” General Sir Nick Parker, former Commander of the British Land Forces

  The Observer 18 for ’18: the talent and trends tipped for the top in 2018 - Observer writers on what to look forward to in the coming year “Harriet Ellis - Dance’s daring new talent: Cool of gaze, economical of movement, and as sharp and fast as a sparrowhawk, Ellis is a dancer for all seasons.  In 5 Soldiers she was punchy and taut-wired, her femininity and vulnerability locked tight inside herself.” https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/dec/31/18-for-18-the-talent-and-trends-tipped-for-the-top-in-2018    The Stage 2017: Best Opera and Dance of the year “And when I finally caught up with Rosie Kay’s Five Soldiers, which has been touring around the UK, it was as good as I had heard – a serious attempt to explore the effect of military training and combat on four men and a girl.” https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/2017/2017-best-opera-and-dance-of-the-year/    The Observer Best dance of 2017 “In these post-truth days, conspiracy theories abound. Choreographer Rosie Kay and film-maker Adam Curtis spotlit some of these in their hallucinatory MK Ultra, a danced decryption of the fantastical threads running through popular culture.” https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/dec/10/best-dance-2017-luke-jennings-review    Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards 2017 nominations: Best Independent Company Outstanding Female Performance (modern): Shelley Eva Haden in MK ULTRA http://dancetabs.com/2017/11/2017-national-dance-awards-announcement-of-nominations/  

Performances will be followed by a post-show discussion with local military representation where possible.

 

Performances can be preceded by a short dance work made by local community members in response to 5 SOLDIERS.

 

Age Guidance 12+ Parental guidance advised, contains some scenes of violence.

 

Duration: 60 mins (no interval)

 

CAST & CREATIVE TEAM

Choreographer & Director Rosie Kay

Producer James Preston

Dancers Duncan Anderson, Luke Bradshaw, Reece Causton, Harriet Ellis & Oliver Russell.

Set, Costume and Video Designer Louis Price

Composer Annie Mahtani

Dramaturg Ben Payne

Lighting Designer Mike Gunning

5 SOLDIERS 2017 trailer from Rosie Kay on Vimeo.

5 SOLDIERS Technical Rider

Xenos

Posted on by twoluck web support

XENOS

Creation

World Première Onassis Cultural Centre - Athens, 21 February 2018

Akram Khan is working on his much anticipated new opus, a solo inspired by Greek mythology that will mark his last performance as a dancer in a full-length production. Creative Team Akram has brought together a stellar creative team, and along with dramaturg Ruth Little, is developing ideas around the theme, which will focus on the First World War through the lens of the myth of Prometheus. German designer Mirella Weingarten will create the set, which will be lit by the award-winning lighting designer Michael Hulls. The costumes will be designed and made by costumier Kimie Nakano, and the score will be composed by Vincenzo Lamagna. Akram will be joined onstage by ve international musicians: percussionist B C Manjunath, vocalist Aditya Prakash, bass player Nina Harries, violinist Andrew Maddick, and saxophonist Tamar Osborn.

What makes us human?

Title & theme The title XENOS means ‘stranger’ or ‘foreigner’. Akram and his world-class team of collaborators will focus on the Prometheus story, that of the Titan who stole re and gave it to mankind, and through their interpretation of the myth will seek to express tales of loss, hope and redemption. Akram will also build upon his experience and research around the creation of the award-winning Dust for English National Ballet and will draw on speci c events from the First World War, exploring our connection with our past to our future, using the rich language of movement, light, and sound. Akram’s interest lies in both the mythological body and the technological body. As Akram himself writes: “I will investigate speci c questions that confront me more and more every day, like a shadow constantly following me, haunting me, whispering to me. How does ‘myth’ (like the Prometheus story) play a part in today’s society? What is its relevance to humankind? Does Prometheus or Zeus have a place in our global political arena today? Do we need to tell other people’s stories just in case they vanish? Who are the ‘other’ people? Are stories of human journeys told, retold, and told again, so we can eventually learn from our mistakes? Who are ‘we’, a collective or many individuals? What makes us human? Are we still human?”

‘But just as there is no re without fuel

they needed new strangers to burn

So they began making strangers of themselves’

Xenos by Jordan Tannahill

For his rebellion against Zeus, Prometheus was punished by being chained to a rock in the Caucasus, an eagle tearing daily at his liver. The theft of re from the gods marked the beginning of human domination of the planet by means of technology – a victory which bore such terrible fruit during the First World War. XENOS explores the central question at the heart of the myth – was Prometheus’ gift the blessing or the curse of mankind? By revisiting the classical Greek myth in the context of the most violent century in human history, XENOS reveals the beauty and horror of the human condition. At its centre is a colonial soldier, one of over 4 million men mobilised on behalf of the British empire. 1.5 million of these recruits were Indian, mostly peasant-warriors from North and North-Western India, and they fought and died in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. ‘This is not war’, wrote one wounded Indian sepoy. ‘It is the ending of the world. This is just such a war as was related in the Mahabharata’. Many sepoys were buried abroad, while for those who returned home, often mutilated and traumatised, another form of erasure followed, as their stories were interred in archives following the rise of Indian nationalism and the rejection of colonial rule. Estranged from their own histories, homelands, and countrymen, they became xenoi. The text for XENOS, by acclaimed Canadian playwright Jordan Tannahill, gives voice to the shell-shocked dream of a colonial soldier trapped in a trench, his body torn by shrapnel. To be human is to be made of mud, and to return to it. In a pool of re between life and death, the soldier rises from the earth as Prometheus, to shape mankind from clay and witness his triumph and destruction, and to challenge the will of his tormentor, Zeus. In Tannahill’s retelling, Prometheus is cursed by Zeus to return again and again to live among men as man, woman and child, to witness the cycle of suffering as well as the joy his gifts of re and knowledge have brought. His only possession is a wooden box – Pandora’s bitter legacy - from which all evil has own out into the world. Akram Khan’s movement language shifts between classical kathak and contemporary dance on Mirella Weingarten’s precipitous and symbolic set. His Prometheus is a warrior-trickster, victim-perpetrator, defying categories of duty, loyalty and gender. XENOS takes place on the border between East and West, past and present, mythology and technology, where humanity stands in wonder and disarray. XENOS is a portrait of Homo Deus brought back to his origins to be broken and remade, to meet himself as both stranger and friend. Prometheus means forethought. Among Prometheus’ gifts to humanity, whom he loved, according to Aeschylus, was the gift of art. Is art, and its capacity to hold a mirror to mankind and our possible futures, the small box in which hope and love remain? – Ruth Little, dramaturg
Artistic team & credits
Director/Choreographer/Performer Akram Khan Set Designer Mirella Weingarten Lighting Designer Michael Hulls Costume Designer Kimie Nakano Original Music Score composed by Vincenzo Lamagna Dramaturg Ruth Little Writer Jordan Tannahill Rehearsal Director Mavin Khoo Dancer Akram Khan Musicians Nina Harries, Andrew Maddick, B C Manjunath, Tamar Osborn, Aditya Prakash Producer Farooq Chaudhry Associate Producer Lindsey Dear Technical Director Richard Fagan Production Manager John Valente Stage Manager Marek Pomocki Lighting Engineer Stéphane Déjours Sound Engineer Julien Deloison Project/Tour Manager Mashitah Omar Props made by Louise Edge from LFX props & special fx
Commissioned by 14-18 NOW, the UK’s arts programme for the First World War centenary Confirmed co-producers to date New Vision Arts Festival Hong Kong, Sadler’s Wells London, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Théâtre de la Ville Paris, Grec 2018 Festival de Barcelona, Adelaide Festival, Centro Cultural de Belém, Festspielhaus St. Pölten, Edinburgh International Festival, Concertgebouw Brugge, Espace des Arts Chalon-sur-Saône, HELLERAU – European Center for the Arts Dresden, manège scène nationale – reims, Onassis Cultural Centre – Athens, Festival Montpellier Danse 2018, Romaeuropa Festival, National Arts Centre Ottawa, Curve Leicester... Sponsored by COLAS Supported by Arts Council England Akram Khan is an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells London and Curve Leicester. Produced during residency at The Grange Festival, Hampshire and Onassis Cultural Centre – Athens.
Cover image by Nicol Vizioli  
Akram Khan
Artistic Director/Choreographer/Dancer
  Akram Khan is one of the most celebrated and respected dance artists today. In just over 17 years he has created a body of work that has contributed signi cantly to the arts in the UK and abroad. His reputation has been built on the success of imaginative, highly accessible and relevant productions such as Until the Lions, Kaash, iTMOi (in the mind of igor), DESH, Vertical Road, Gnosis and zero degrees. An instinctive and natural collaborator, Khan has been a magnet to world-class artists from other cultures and disciplines. His previous collaborators include the National Ballet of China, actress Juliette Binoche, ballerina Sylvie Guillem, choreographers/dancers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Israel Galván, singer Kylie Minogue, visual artists Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley and Tim Yip, writer Hanif Kureishi and composers Steve Reich, Nitin Sawhney, Jocelyn Pook and Ben Frost. Khan’s work is recognised as being profoundly moving, in which his intelligently crafted storytelling is effortlessly intimate and epic. Described by the Financial Times as an artist “who speaks tremendously of tremendous things”, a highlight of his career was the creation of a section of the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony that was received with unanimous acclaim. As a choreographer, Khan has developed a close collaboration with English National Ballet and its Artistic Director Tamara Rojo. He created the short piece Dust, part of the Lest We Forget programme, which led to an invitation to create his own critically acclaimed version of the iconic romantic ballet Giselle. Khan has been the recipient of numerous awards throughout his career including the Laurence Olivier Award, the Bessie Award (New York Dance and Performance Award), the prestigious ISPA (International Society for the Performing Arts) Distinguished Artist Award, the Fred and Adele Astaire Award, the Herald Archangel Award at the Edinburgh International Festival, the South Bank Sky Arts Award and six Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards. Khan was awarded an MBE for services to dance in 2005. He is also an Honorary Graduate of University of London as well as Roehampton and De Montfort Universities, and an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Laban. Khan is an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells, London and Curve, Leicester.
Mirella Weingarten
Set Designer
  After completing her studies in dramatic arts in London, Mirella Weingarten studied ne arts in Hamburg and Edinburgh, with teachers including Marina Abramovic. In 1998, she received a Masters degree in stage and costume design from the Slade School of Art in London. Since 1996, she has worked as a professional theatre designer and director for opera and dance theatre. After developing productions in the UK she returned to Germany. Then began a continuous extensive collaboration with Berlin Contemporary Opera, designing many of their award-winning productions. Her recent work as director and designer has been seen throughout Europe, including Lucerne Opera in Switzerland, Expo Zaragoza in Spain, Komische Oper Berlin, Salzburg Festival, as well as the Venice Biennale, Royal Opera House London, Theater Basel, Theater St. Gallen, Bolzano Opera and many others. Her works have been presented at the Art Festival Weimar, KKL Lucerne, Zurich, Berliner Festspiele, Holland Festival, the Leipzig Opera House, the Davos Festival and many other festivals. Since 2011, Mirella Weingarten has been the Artistic Director of the arts and music festival Schlossmediale Werdenberg in Switzerland, a festival for contemporary and early music and audiovisual art. Working with kinetic sculpture and moving objects and stages has characterized her work throughout the past years.   Michael Hulls
Lighting Designer
  Over the last 20 years Michael has worked exclusively in dance, particularly with choreographers Russell Maliphant and Akram Khan, and established a reputation as a “choreographer of light”. His collaborations with Russell Maliphant have won international critical acclaim and many awards: Sheer won a Time Out Award for Outstanding Collaboration, Choice won a South Bank Show Dance Award, PUSH, with Sylvie Guillem, won four major awards including the Olivier for Best New Dance Production and AfterLight won two Critics Circle awards. Michael and Russell also collaborated on Broken Fall, commissioned by BalletBoyz, which also featured Sylvie Guillem and won the 2004 Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production. Fallen, their most recent work for BalletBoyz, won the 2014 Critics Circle Award for Best Modern Choreography. In 2007, Michael and Russell’s work was the subject of BalletBoyz’s Channel 4 documentary Light and Dance and The Daily Telegraph hailed their collaboration as “possibly the most important creative partnership in modern British dance”. Eonnagata, Michael’s collaboration with Sylvie Guillem, Robert Lepage and Russell Maliphant, for which Michael won the 2009 Knight of Illumination Award for Dance, opened at Sadler’s Wells and, along with AfterLight, led to Michael being nominated for a second Knight of Illumination Award and for the 2010 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance. Michael has also worked with Akram Khan over many years, including on his full length solo DESH, winner of the 2012 Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production as well as In-i his duet with actress Juliette Binoche and TOROBAKA his collaboration with amenco virtuoso Israel Galvan. Most recently Michael lit Akram’s highly acclaimed Until the Lions. In 2009, Michael became an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells. In 2010, his contribution to dance was recognised with his entry into the Oxford Dictionary of Dance, as only the fourth lighting designer to be given an entry. In 2014 Michael received the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance, and in 2016 Michael created his LightSpace installation on the main stage at Sadler’s Wells, the rst ever show presented there without any performers, and was also awarded a second Knight of Illumination award for Conceal | Reveal, his 20th anniversary programme with Russell. Michael is currently working on light installations for the Lisbon Oceanarium and for Messum’s Gallery Wiltshire.
  Kimie Nakano
Costume Designer
  Kimie Nakano studied Literature at Musashino University in Tokyo, Theatre Costume at École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Techniques du Théâtre in Paris and obtained a Theatre Design MA at Wimbledon College of Art in London. Her designs for Akram Khan Company include: Vertical Road, Dust (English National Ballet’s Lest We Forget), iTMOi, TOROBAKA, Gnosis, Kaash, The Rashomon Effect (National Youth Dance Company), technê (choreographed for Sylvie Guillem, Life in Progress). During the course of her career, she has designed costumes for many international dance companies and choreographers, such as The Royal Ballet of Flanders, Rambert Dance Company, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, José Agudo and Van Huynh Dance Company. Kimie has also designed set and costumes for a number of opera, theatre and lm productions, including Dream Hunter, The Oslo Experiment, Michael Morpurgo’s Kensuke’s Kingdom and Macbeth. Kimie Nakano’s costume designs for iTMOi by Akram Khan Company were chosen by Prague Quadrennial 2015, a world theatre design exhibition held every four years, as well as by the V&A Make/Believe exhibition as part of the section British Design. Kimie strives to create intercultural projects for the stage, workshops and lms, to promote different world cultures.   Vincenzo Lamagna
Composer
  Vincenzo Lamagna is an Italian musician, composer and producer based in London. His music is known for its visceral, emotive and edgy language that utilises an unconventional hybrid of electro-orchestral sounds. As well as his solo work, Lamagna has carved a niche in the alternative contemporary dance world, where he has established himself as a major collaborator with some of the most acclaimed choreographers of this generation, Hofesh Shechter and Akram Khan. His most recent collaborations include Akram Khan’s award winning 21st-century adaptation of Giselle for the English National Ballet and Khan’s Until the Lions, which was premiered at the Roundhouse, London in 2016. His scores are a mercurial combination of acoustic and electronic music, recognised for their ferocious industrial undertones, haunted melodies and cinematic soundscapes.   Ruth Little
Dramaturg
  Ruth Little is a dance and theatre dramaturg, a teacher and writer. Her work has encompassed national arts organisations, remote rural communities, site-speci c production and large and small-scale exhibitions and expeditions. She lectured in English Literature at the University of Sydney, and was Literary Manager at Out of Joint, Soho Theatre, the Young Vic and the Royal Court. Ruth was Associate Director at Cape Farewell from 2010-2016. She is dramaturg with Akram Khan Company (Gnosis, Vertical Road, DESH, iTMOi, Dust, technê, Until the Lions, Giselle) and has worked with Banff Arts Centre, Sadlers Wells, English National Ballet, Northern Ballet, Spital elds
Festival, Barbican, National Theatre Connections, Fuel Theatre, Siobhan Davies Dance, Dance Umbrella, Le Patin Libre and many others. Winner of 2012 Kenneth Tynan Award for dramaturgy. Publications include The Young Vic Book (Methuen, 2004), The Royal Court Theatre Inside Out (Oberon, 2007); The Slow Art of Contemporary Expedition: Islandings (in Expedition, University of the Arts, 2012), Art, Place, Climate: Situated Ethics (In Art and Ethics, Springer, 2014), War in the Body (La Monnaie/de Munt, 2014), The Meteorological Body (In Imaginative Bodies: Dialogues in Performance Practices, Valiz, 2016).   Jordan Tannahill
Writer
  Jordan Tannahill is a Canadian playwright, author, and director based in London. He has been described in the press as ‘the hottest name in Canadian theatre’ (Montreal Gazette) and ‘the posterchild of a new generation for whom ‘interdisciplinary’ is not a buzzword but a way of life’ (The Globe and Mail). He won the Governor General’s Award for Drama in 2014 for Age of Minority and was shortlisted for the prize again in 2016 for Concord Floral. His lms and multimedia performances have been presented at various festivals and galleries such as the Toronto Int. Film Festival, the British Film Institute, and the Tribeca Film Festival. From 2012 - 2016 he and William Ellis ran the in uential artspace Videofag out of their home in Kensington Market. His 2015 book Theatre of the Unimpressed sits on the curriculum of theatre programs across North America and the UK and rst novel, Liminal, is forthcoming from House of Anansi Press. Jordan is currently working on a commission for the National Theatre and the lm adapation of his play Botticelli in the Fire with lmmaker Stephen Dunn. His play Late Company transferred from the Finborough Theatre to the West End in August 2017.   Nina Harries
Musician - double bass
  Nina Harries studied classical double bass at the Royal College of Music under Enno Sent of the London Sinfonietta, graduating in July 2016 and specialising in contemporary classical music. She performs extensively for a host of artists including Symphonica Featuring DJ Switch, The Burning Glass, John Fairhurst Trio as well as the opera company workshOpera and contemporary classical music ensemble Echoshed. She also earned a place in The London Sinfonietta Academy in July 2017. Aside from ensemble work, Nina is a soloist and songwriter, incorporating theatre, cabaret and comedy and captivating audiences with original songs and commissions exploring the relationship between the double bass and voice. Her solo work has earned her performances at Glastonbury Festival 2016, the English Folk Expo 2017 and OMNI Fete 2017 in Luxembourg.   Andrew Maddick
Musician - violin & viola
  Andrew is a freelance musician based in Australia and Europe. He was principal violinist for Kinky Boots (Brisbane, 2017), the Opera Australia productions of The Sound of Music (Brisbane, 2016) and The King & I (Brisbane, 2014) and the Tim Finn musical Ladies in Black (QTC, 2017 & 2015). In London he performed in the National Theatre production of Revenger’s Tragedy (2008) and the Sam Mendes directed Cherry Orchard at the Old Vic (2009). Andrew has performed with Hans Zimmer (2017), The Whitlams (2017), Sting (If On A Winter’s Night DVD & 2009 Europe tour), Paolo Nutini (Sunny Side Up LP & 2010 tour), Missy Higgins (2014), Katie Noonan (2013), Smokey
Robinson, George Benson, Nigel Kennedy and Katherine Jenkins (BBC Radio Cymru live). With the Hofesh Shechter Dance Company he was a principal musician from 2009 until 2015, touring In Your Rooms and Political Mother to international arts festivals including Paris, Melbourne, Berlin, Seoul, Montreal, Los Angeles and Tokyo. He has been the principal violinist for The Bootleg Beatles since 2007 and performed at Glastonbury Festival with them in 2013. As an orchestral violinist he was a member of Orchestra of The Swan, UK (2005 - 2011) and the English Symphony Orchestra (2005 - 2010). In 2016 he toured Australia with the Cologne Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra.   B C Manjunath
Musician – mridanga
  Manjunath revealed an innate musical talent even as a young boy and he imbibed the best in Carnatic Talavadya from his parents. Later he enlarged this musical perspective by training in Mridanga under Karnataka Kalashree K N Krishna Murthy and Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sri T.K.Murthy. Manjunath’s creative impulses have owered in various forms, from solo and ensemble performances, contemporary classical, modern jazz and Indian classical. He has accompanied many greats from India and abroad, including Sangeetha Kalaratna, Sri R R Keshavamurthy, Sangeetha Kalaratna Sri H P Ramachar, Mysore M Nagaraj and Dr. Mysore M Manjunath (aka Mysore Brothers), Dr. Suma Sudhindra and Chitraveena N Ravikiran. He has also shared the stage with international legends like Kani Karaca (Turkish Su singer) and Robin Eubanks (Trombone genius). He has worked with composers Rafael Reina, Riccardo Nova, members of Bhedam, Conservatorium of Amsterdam, The Karnatic Lab Festival, Zagreb Music Biennale, Fabrica Italy, Santander Percussion Festival (Spain), Perth International Festival, Romaeuropa Festival, Milano Musica/John Cage Festival, Ictus Ensemble (Belgium), Quintetto Bibiena (Italy) and Het Nederlands Fluit Orkest. Selected for the prestigious USTAD BISMILLAH KHAN YUVA PURASKAR award for the year 2012, Manjunath also received the highest recognition for youth in the eld of ne arts from CENTRAL SANGEETH NATAK ACADEMI of India. For two years, Manjunath toured with Akram Khan Company’s 2004 production ma, performing in 175 shows. He continued to work on several Company pieces including Gnosis in 2009 and TOROBAKA in 2015.   Tamar Osborn
Musician - saxophone & clarinet
  Saxophonist and multi-wind player, Tamar graduated from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2000. A strong classical background complemented by jazz studies has enabled her to perform in many genres and many different contexts in her professional career. A member of the Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra since 2009, she has also performed and recorded with, amongst others, Kelis, Van Morrison, Billy Ocean, tabla maestro Tanmoy Bose in India, the acclaimed production of Fela! at the National Theatre & Sadler’s Wells (London) and Africa Express (an on-going series of collaborative concerts between African and western musicians including artists such as Tony Allen, Baaba Maal, Rokia Traore, and Fatoumata Diawara). She runs her own creative project Collocutor, for which she is bandleader, composer and performer. Collocutor released their debut album ‘Instead’ in 2014 and second album ‘The Search’ in 2017. Aside from Collocutor and the Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra, she currently performs and records most regularly with Sarathy Korwar, the Hackney Colliery Band, The Fontanelles, Emanative, Jessica Lauren’s Naga Five and The Organic Jam DJ & musician collective.  
Aditya Prakash
Musician - vocalist
  Aditya Prakash is an award-winning Indian classical vocalist and composer, best known for his powerful and emotive voice. Although rmly rooted in South Indian classical (Carnatic) music, which he studied under venerated Gurus in Chennai, his style is heavily inspired by North Indian classical music, Su music, jazz, and hip hop, which he brings out in his collaborative cross-over genre projects. Aditya has had the rare fortune of performing, touring and working with Sitar Maestro, Pandit Ravi Shankar, since the age of 16. Aditya toured with Ravi Shankar and Anoushka Shankar, as the lead vocalist in Ravi Shankar’s “Festival of India III” ensemble, taking him to the most prestigious venues across the USA, Canada and Europe. Aditya has collaborated with leading names such as Karsh Kale, Anoushka Shankar and Salim Merchant to name a few. Aditya is the founder of the acclaimed performing group Aditya Prakash Ensemble, which creates original compositions inspired from the styles of Indian classical, folk, jazz, funk, and hip hop. Aditya has been performing classical Carnatic vocal concerts since the age of 13 and has performed solo concerts at prominent venues throughout the world. While pursuing an Ethnomusicology degree from UCLA (University of California Los Angeles) , Aditya studied composition and performance under award-winning musicians such as Tamir Hendelman, Kenny Burrell and Shujaat Khan. Aditya continues his training with advanced mentorship in Carnatic music under reputable musicians – T. M . Krishna and R. K. Shriramkumar – while receiving rm grounding under legendary Gurus – Sri P.S. Narayanaswami and Sri Palai Ramachandran.
Akram Khan Company “Xenos” (PDF)

Borderline

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© AGATHE POUPENEY

Borderline

“The contemporary dance revolution is taking place. And dancers like Sébastien Ramirez and Honji Wang are on the frontlines.” L’Indépendant

“It isn’t enough for Borderline to just be awesome to watch. It opens itself up like hip-hop knows how to do.” Le Monde

Borderline marks a turning point in Sébastien Ramirez and Honji Wang’s research and choreographic language. The dance expands in a dialogue between technique and the art of rigging, while the reflection on human relationships now includes the reality of living together in our democracies. Social boundaries are evoked by the interplay of physical forces on the stage as well as through testimonies - collected from the dancers’ friends and relatives, or from the media, and broadcasted in voice over. The rigging element, a scenic tool notorious as Deus Ex Machina in the Greek tragedy, allows us to approach weightlessness to create a timeless poetics. In the interaction with the rigger, the body becomes the object of a “weight game”, of balance and freedom. Attached to cables, the five dancers bring to light and transpose the desire of freedom inherent in all forms of dance, especially Hip Hop. With a wealth of experience in levitation, Hip Hop discovers new ways to thwart gravity in its virtuosity of footwork. The gestures and the costumes create images that reflect Greek and Korean traditions in animality, as well as in our desires and angsts. Between the promise of freedom and the violence of keeping our bodies on the ground, is a space allowing the invention of a new gestural approach. With great fluidity, the piece displays accents of acrobatics, visual poetry and the urban universe. It extends to the ground where the gravitational borderlines shift horizontally, in a mobile scenography that continues to evolve throughout the performance. Video link: https://vimeo.com/79555677 Artistic direction & choreography: Wang Ramirez Performers: Louis Becker, Johanna Faye or Christine Joy Alpuerto Ritter, Kai Gaedtke, Mustapha Saïd Lehlouh or Mehdi Baki, Sébastien Ramirez, Honji Wang Rigging development: Jason Oettlé and Kai Gaedtke Composition: Jean-Philippe Barrios with the participation of: Christophe Isselee and the voices of: Chung-Won Wang and Henri Ramirez Mercat de les Flors Barcelone (in the frame of creation residencies at Graner) Act'art – Conseil général de Seine-et-Marne Centre Chorégraphique National de Créteil et du Val-de-Marne / Company Käfig TANZtheater INTERNATIONAL, Hannover Support Conseil régional Languedoc-Roussillon Préfecture de région du Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi- Pyrénées, Direction régionale des affaires culturelles Conseil départemental des Pyrénées Orientales Montpellier Danse, residency at Agora, cité internationale de la danse Thanks to Centre Culturel Jacques Prévert à Villeparisis for the creation residency. HAU – Hebbel am Ufer for the research possibilities in Berlin. With the support of Montpellier Danse, residency at Agora, cité internationale de la danse. The original soundtrack of Borderline is available on lacrymoboy.bandcamp.com and on iTunes (artist: lacrymoboy). Light design and technical direction: Cyril Mulon Dramaturgical collaboration: Catherine Umbdenstock Set design: Paul Bauer Costume realization: Anna Ramirez Executive production: Company Wang Ramirez, Clash66 Co-production Théâtre de l'Archipel, scène nationale de Perpignan (in the frame of a creation residency) Théâtre de la Ville, Paris Parc de La Villette, Paris Initiatives d'Artistes en Danses Urbaines (Fondation de France – Parc de la Villette with the support of Caisse des Dépôts and Acsé) Company Wang Ramirez - Clash66 receives a company support by Ministry of Culture, Regional council of Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée and the County council Pyrénées Orientales. The company receives the support of Foundation BNP Paribas for the development of its projects. Sébastien Ramirez & Honji Wang are associated artists of Théâtre de l’Archipel, scène nationale de Perpignan for the seasons 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17. www.wangramirez.com  www.facebook.com/WangRamirez Borderline HD from 2Luck Concepts on Vimeo. borderline-slider1

Tina Packer’s “Women of Will”

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womenofwill

Featuring Nigel Gore and Tina Packer 

 

“Brilliant! Fearlessly impassioned acting that you’ll remember for as long as you live.” Wall Street Journal

“Riding those words like an expert equestrian in “Women of Will,” directed by Eric Tucker, Ms. Packer becomes the age and shape the character demands she be.” Ben Brantley, New York Times

 “Drawing on her lifetime of acting in and directing Shakespeare’s plays, Packer combines the performance of scenes with the discussion of themes to create a dazzling and illuminating piece of work. For anyone who cares about women, Shakespeare, or especially women in Shakespeare, it’s not to be missed.” Boston Globe

A true tour de force performance, Women of Will: The Complete Journey is the masterful summation of Shakespeare & Company’s Founding Artistic Director Tina Packer’s 40-plus years spent investigating all things Shakespeare, presented in a five-part series.

A combination of riveting scenes and trenchant analysis, Women of Will: The Complete Journey explores themes of love, loss, freedom, control, violence, and power through the heroines of Shakespeare’s text. Using performance and discussion, Packer traces the chronological evolution of Shakespeare’s female characters, and examines Shakespeare’s own journey and growth as a writer.

 

womenofwillTina

Women of Will: The Overview

 

The Overview is a comprehensive presentation of Shakespearean scenes, insights, and discussion taken from the full five-part series. It covers the full breadth of Shakespeare’s works

 

 

Force and Heat: The Early Plays 

 

The Early Plays follows Shakespeare’s journey from his earliest writing, to a man who falls deeply in love, to the women who tell the truth and the consequences of that.

 

Includes Henry VI (Part 1, 2, 3), Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, Antony and Cleopatra, and Twelfth Night.

 

 

Chaos and Redemption: The Later Plays

 

The Later Plays picks up where The Early Plays left off with the story of the women who tell the truth, to the women who lean in, to the tale of redemption where the daughters redeem the sins of the fathers.

 

Includes As You Like It, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Coriolanus, Winter’s Tale, Pericles, and Henry VIII.

 

ARTISTIC TEAM

 

Actor/Playwright Tina Packer

Actor Nigel Gore

Director Eric Tucker

Lighting Designer Les Dickert

Costume & Scenic Designer Valérie Thérèse Bart

Sound Designer Daniel Kluger

Production Stage Manager Katherine Whitney

Publicist Dale Heller

Producer Sarah Hancock

General Manager Adam Fitzgerald

 

 

Training workshops and master classes can be scheduled in conjunction with performances. Contact 2Luck Concepts for pricing and availability.

 

Announcing – Women of Will – The book! Available from Random House.

Monchichi

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GRANT HALVERSON ©ADF

Monchichi

“The language that bridges their differences, though, isn’t some blend of ballet and breaking. It’s an outgrowth of hip-hop.” The New York Times

“It’s quite simply Tanztheater at its best, “living poetry”, with thoughtful images and humorous skits. The debate on immigration and cultural diversity needs exactly this type of contribution to remove the tension” Tanz

“A brilliant duo where humor surprises us in the midst of movement.”

L’Indépendant

The bedrock piece by duo Wang Ramirez creates a portrait of a new, urban, mobile and intercultural generation. Here, they choose their artistic language as freely as their life partner even if he/she speaks a foreign language... or several. Dance is their language, but so are words. Sébastien, French with Spanish origins crosses choreographic paths with Honji, born in Frankfurt to Korean parents. Because in this open-minded world, everyone can be a cultural mix with blended origins. Honji brings suppleness and Asian musicality to her movement, and Sébastien brings his Mediterraneanvivacity. Together,theytackleMonchichiastheyconstructtheirlifetogether–in perfect balance between masculine and feminine. Their dance puts its virtuosity at the service of a quest for truth where nothing is left to conceal doubt or the difficulties in communicating, let alone the joys of togetherness. In the end, Monchichi is a piece full of humor and self-deprecation, a joint self-portrait that testifies daily life with as much humor as poetry. Video link: https://vimeo.com/141038497   Artistic direction, conception, choreography, dance: Wang Ramirez Dramaturgy: Vincent Rafis Light design: Cyril Mulon Set design: Ida Ravn Costumes: Honji Wang Composer: Ilia Koutchoukov aka Everydayz /+∞ Arrangement: Fabien Biron Additional music: Carlos Gardel, Alva Noto, Nick Cave & Warren Ellis Executive production: Company Wang Ramirez, Clash66 Co-production Tanzhaus NRW Düsseldorf Communauté de Communes de la Région Lézignanaise Support Conseil régional Languedoc-Roussillon Préfecture de région du Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi- Pyrénées, Direction régionale des affaires culturelles Hebbel am Ufer – HAU, Berlin Hauptstadtkulturfonds – Senat Berlin Casa Musicale Perpignan Association Départementale de Développement de la Musique et de la Danse de l'Aude Réseau en Scène Languedoc-Roussillon Thanks to Dansens Hus Stockholm Act'art – Conseil général de Seine-et-Marne Le Théâtre*/Scène Nationale de Narbonne Initiatives d'Artistes en Danses Urbaines (Fondation de France – Parc de la Villette with the support of Caisse des Dépôts et l'Acsé) Company Wang Ramirez - Clash66 receives a company support by Ministry of Culture, Regional council of Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée and the County council Pyrénées Orientales. The company receives the support of Foundation BNP Paribas for the development of its projects. Sébastien Ramirez & Honji Wang are associated artists of Théâtre de l’Archipel, scène nationale de Perpignan for the seasons 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17. www.wangramirez.com www.facebook.com/WangRamirez Monchichi from 2Luck Concepts on Vimeo.

Until the Lions

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AKRAM KHAN COMPANY - UNTIL THE LIONS

North American Touring – 13 Nov – 16 Dec 2017

(This production will not feature Akram Khan)


“Lean, thrilling and beautiful” ***** The Guardian


“breathtaking theatricality” **** The Stage


Until the Lions, the latest work from Akram Khan, is a dream-like tale of identity and revenge, piling up hypnotic images” The Independent, London


“As in many myths, the female characters are often the unsung heroes, the figures of strength and imagination and endurance. It is their unsung stories in particular that still haunt me today.”

Akram Khan


In this partial adaptation of poet Karthika Naïr’s book Until the Lions: Echoes from the Mahabharata, an original reworking of the epic Mahabharata, Khan uses kathak and contemporary dance to tell the tale of Amba, a princess abducted on her wedding day and stripped of her honour, who invokes the gods to seek revenge. Bringing together some of the original team from his acclaimed solo DESH, Khan wants to explore the notion and the physical expression of gender.


ARTISTIC TEAM

 

Director/Choreographer/Performer Akram Khan

Narrative Concept, Scenario, Text Karthika Naïr

Visual Design Tim Yip

Lighting Design Michael Hulls

Composer Beautiful Noise (Vincenzo Lamagna)

Dramaturg Ruth Little

Assistant Director Sasha Milavic Davies

Assistant Choreographer Jose Agudo

Voice over Kathryn Hunter

Technical Producer Sander Loonen

Producer Farooq Chaudhry

Dancers Akram Khan

Ching-Ying Chien, Christine Joy Ritter

Musicians Sohini Alam, David Azurza Yaron Engler 

Vincenzo Lamagna


Co-produced by Roundhouse/Sadler’s Wells London, MC2: Grenoble, La Comète Châlons-‐en-‐ Champagne, Théâtre de la Ville Paris, Danse Danse/TOHU Montréal, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, New Vision Arts Festival Hong Kong, Taipei Performing Arts Center, Movimentos Festwochen Wolfsburg, Brighton Festival 2016, Maison de la Culture d'Amiens, Concertgebouw Brugge, Holland Festival Amsterdam, Romaeuropa Festival, Curve Leicester


Sponsored by COLAS, Supported by Arts Council England


UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL TOUR DATES

3 – 5 Nov 2016: Curve Theatre, Leicester, UK

1 Dec 2016: Concertgebouw, Bruges, Belgium

5 – 17 Dec 2016: La Villette, France (presented by Theatre de la Ville)

20-21 Jan 2017: Les Theatres de la Ville, Luxembourg City, Luxemburg


AWARDS

Akram Khan

•Akram Khan – Critics’ Circle National Dance Award 2012 for Best Male Dancer (DESH), UK; ISPA Distinguished Artist Award, New York 2011

•Dust (English National Ballet’s Lest We Forget) – Critics’ Circle National Dance Award 2014 for Best Modern Choreography, UK

•DESH – Olivier Award 2012 for Best New Dance Production, UK; Bessie Award (New York Dance and Performance Award) 2014 for Outstanding Production

•Vertical Road – Critics' Circle National Dance Award 2011 for Best Modern Choreography, UK; Danza & Danza Award 2010 for Best Performance, Bolzano; The Age Critics Award 2010 for Best New Work, Melbourne Arts Festival

•Gnosis – South Bank Sky Arts Award 2011 in Dance, UK; Herald Archangel Award 2014 at the Edinburgh International Festival

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