Monthly Archives: July 2017

Sadler’s Wells staff win Apprenticeship Awards

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Two Sadler’s Wells staff members picked up awards at a ceremony celebrating the role of local young people and employers in delivering the legacy of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

HR Manager Lesley Owusu and our former Community and Engagement intern Jade Leatham were honoured at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Apprenticeship Awards, held at Here East on 5 July.

Lesley won the Making it Happen Partnership of the Year Award for her work in offering high-quality, accessible employment and education opportunities to young people from the communities that surround the park in east London. Jade received the Best Intern Award for her work as Community Engagement Intern at Sadler’s Wells.

Jade was selected for the internship after taking part in the Creative Opportunity Programme and spent six months at Sadler’s Wells helping to engage local schools and communities in dance. You can read more about her experience with us here. She is now permanently employed as International Examinations Administrator at the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.

Many congratulations to both!

 

Image: Sadler’s Wells’ HR Manager Lesley Owusu (L) and former Community Engagement Intern Jade Leatham (R).

Breakin’ Convention Toronto breaks box office records

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Following successful dates across the UK and in Luxembourg, our acclaimed festival of hip hop dance theatre Breakin’ Convention continued its 2017 international tour by touching down in Canada for the first time at the end of June. The festival attracted huge crowds to the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, with UK, international and local acts performing over two days and engaging audiences in taster classes and in-depth workshops.

To help nurture local talent, our Breakin’ Convention team had been to Toronto in 2014 and 2016 to deliver Open Art Surgery, a one-week project offering hip hop dance theatre artists the opportunity to develop and experiment with new ideas, share new work publicly and receive mentorship from established artists. Among the talent that took part were local crews The Surgeons and Tense Image, who performed on the main stage at the festival alongside other acts from across Canada like Tentacle Tribe, RoyaLazyness and LockUnity.

BirdGang Dance Company represented British talent with challenging piece Vice, while Soweto Skeleton Movers introduced audiences to South Africa’s high-energy, quick-stepping dance style Pantsula and South Korea’s Just Dance blended bboy choreography with elements of Korean culture. Many of the acts received standing ovations on both nights.

Park Jam, a free family-friendly dance, live music and graffiti art extravaganza rounded off the weekend with jazz, hip hop and spoken word from local acts and Breakin’ Convention Artistic Director Jonzi D. The Famous Spiegeltent hosted Freestyle Funk Forum, hip hop’s answer to classic improvisational comedy show ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’.

Around 4000 people attended the festival – the largest audience Breakin’ Convention has ever had. The next stop of the festival’s international tour will be a return to the USA in October, visiting Charlotte, Denver, Harlem and Miami.

For more information on Breakin’ Convention and upcoming touring dates, visit the website.

Join The Movement!

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The Lowry, Salford, Birmingham Hippodrome and Sadler’s Wells in London are uniting in a new Arts Council funded initiative called ‘The Movement’ to promote dance across the UK.

These three venues are looking for dance lovers to become their Social Movers – a dedicated team committed to supporting great dance, and keen to share their love of dance with a wider audience online.

Benefits include:

  • Free tickets to selected shows in your region’s Dance Season for the next 12 months.
  • Behind-the-scenes access to some of our most important events of the year.
  • The chance to meet some of the performers and choreographers who work on our productions.

Over the next twelve months, our three venues will be hosting a diverse range of dance productions, including Carlos Acosta‘s new Cuban dance company Acosta Danza, BalletBoyz’s new work 14 Days, Darbar Festival curated by Akram Khan, Matthew Bourne‘s Cinderella, and Birmingham Royal Ballet‘s classic The Nutcracker.

WE NEED YOU!
The Movement is looking for nine special people from the North West, West Midlands and London areas who would be interested in becoming one of our exclusive Social Movers.

As one of our Social Movers you will be invited to come and see live dance events in your region completely free, get to go behind-the-scenes, meet the professionals involved and share your experience by sharing your own videos and social content with others on our The Movement social media channels.

In addition, if you run or are part of a local dance group or class, we want to hear from you too. We will be giving local organisations the chance to have their homegrown talent featured on our social media channels by being directly involved our monthly events, competitions, and even get the opportunity to see some of our productions. We want to hear from everyone from children’s ballet groups to seniors’ movement classes, belly dancers to Zumba class regulars.

If you think you have what it takes, The Movement wants to hear from you!

HOW TO APPLY
We’re looking for passionate, enthusiastic people who love dance and who are social media savvy, so if you fall under one of the categories below we want to hear from you:

The Enthusiast – Are you a seasoned fan of the world of dance who has to see everything and knows almost everything there is to know about dance?

The Student – Are you attending a local training academy or dance school and looking to making dance a career?

The Newcomer – Are you an individual who is entirely new to the world of dance but has a keen interest in learning more, perhaps an amateur dancer in their spare time who enjoys classes during the week?

Regional Dance Organisation – Are you a member of or run a regional dance school, group or class? We are also looking groups who are up for showcasing their collective talents online each month.

Applicants need to submit a one-minute video of yourself telling us who you are, what you do, and why you think you should be a Social Mover.

Here are a few things we are looking for in a successful candidate:

  • Active profiles on social media in particular Facebook, YouTube and Instagram
  • The ability to create fun and engaging social content
  • A tech savvy & creative individual.
  • You’re a proactive and reliable person.
  • Access to your own laptop, camera and smart phone.
  • Able to create at least one piece of content per month and/or attend an event, as well as live in or easily travel to Manchester, Birmingham or London.
  • If you are applying on behalf of a regional dance organisation you must also be based in or near Manchester, Birmingham or London and include a short video of choreography featuring your members and us with any supporting material e.g. website, social media or supporting video links.

We welcome applications from people of all ages, genders, ethnicities, abilities and nationalities. C
Click here to read the Terms and Conditions of the Social Movers programme.

Email your application to themovement@thelowry.com

Successful candidates to be shortlisted after the 15 September 2017 by The Lowry, Salford, Birmingham Hippodrome and the Sadler’s Wells, London.

Works for me: A foot in the door

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Winner of the 2016/17 Apprenticeship Award for the Best Work Placement/Intern Jade Leatham, tells us how participating in LLDC’s Creative and Cultural Opportunity Week, helped her land a role at Sadler’s Wells as Community Engagement Intern.

“I’m from Walthamstow and went to De Montfort University in Leicester to study a degree in arts and festival management.

Dance has always been my driving force. When I left uni I picked up bits of work and I was getting interviews but just couldn’t get a full-time role. Then I came across the Creative and Cultural Opportunity Week and managed to get a place. It started at Sadler’s Wells and then moved to places like Whitechapel Gallery, Stratford Circus and Here East.

There was amazing moral support and really focused on everyone’s individual needs. A lot of us needed that – it was really insightful to have mentors to help you figure out what to do next. It was good to talk to people in similar situations. You create a network just by being there.

The hardest thing about the arts is getting a foot in the door. The workshop week led to my internship at Sadler’s Wells for a six-month community engagement role. My role involved going into local communities and schools and introducing them to dance in different ways. It was impossible not to enjoy it.

After my internship I’ve now secured a role as an international examinations administrator at the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing. The internship gave me the confidence I needed to push myself to the next level. Lots of people are capable of doing the jobs that are out there – you just need to prove you can actually do it.

I’m really passionate about getting people engaged in dance and I want to get my enthusiasm across. In the long-term I want to use all my skills and set up my own thing, although I’m not sure what that will be yet.”

Click here to find out more about the next Creative Opportunity Programme.

Young people create rap-inspired mural for Graffical 2017

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Budding young rappers and aspiring creatives came together over June half term for Graffical 2017, a two-day workshop led by our Breakin’ Convention team.

A group of 13 to 16-year-olds from across London took part in the project, which aimed to engage young people with rap lyricism and spark their creativity through writing and visual art.

Mentored by rappers and educators Poetcurious and Kingpin, participants analysed their favourite rap songs, exploring the social and political issues addressed by the lyrics, as well as the personal meaning the words had to them. Alongside this, they worked on writing their own lyrics with the purpose of inspiring their families and communities.

The group also collaborated on a mural, which is on display at Corker Walk behind the Andover Estate in Islington, north London. Overseen by graffiti artist Mr Dane, the teens brought their words to life by incorporating themes from their lyrics into the sprayed work. Graffical 2017 was a huge success and the mural is a truly vibrant addition to its surroundings.

Thanks to Islington Word Festival for helping to fund the project and Lyrix Organix for collaborating with Breakin’ Convention to deliver it. We are also grateful to Samir from Emirates Stadium and Jacqueline Robinson from Islington Council who supported the project.

Image: the mural realised as part of Graffical 2017 at Corker Walk off the Seven Sisters Rd in Islington.

 

NYDC tours nationwide and announces new Guest Artistic Director

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National Youth Dance Company (NYDC) is touring the UK this summer performing Tarantiseismic, a powerful exploration of melancholia, ritual, control and abandon by choreographer and current Guest Artistic Director Damien Jalet. The tour sees NYDC visiting six different venues, including a performance at Latitude Festival in Suffolk, before returning to Sadler’s Wells for the company members’ graduation from the programme at the end of July.

The production is going to be performed in Plymouth, Newcastle, Leicester, Birmingham and Ipswich, ending its run in Hull on 20th July. Alongside the tour, the company is also running experience workshops to engage hundreds of young people in dance. During the sessions, participants learn repertoire from NYDC productions, meet members of the company and receive advice on dance training. A new group of dancers for the 2017-18 programme will be selected based on these sessions.

NYDC has also announced Sharon Eyal as its new Guest Artistic Director for 2017-18. Jerusalem-born Eyal danced with Batsheva Dance Company between 1990 and 2008 and worked as its associate artistic director (2003-04) and resident choreographer (2005-12). In 2013, she founded L-E-V dance company with collaborator Gai Behar. L-E-V made its Sadler’s Wells’ debut with OCD Love in September 2016. Eyal will be leading the new NYDC cohort in the creation of its next production, which will premiere in spring 2018.

Sharon Eyal said: “I am so excited and thrilled to work with the National Youth Dance Company as Guest Artistic Director. I am looking forward to discovering what the new group of dancers can do, and cannot wait to create work together. I’m also thrilled to work with Sadler’s Wells again, who have supported my work previously with L-E-V. It is great to continue our cooperation.”

Alistair Spalding, Sadler’s Wells’ Artistic Director and Chief Executive, said: “Sharon made a great impression on audiences last year when she debuted in the UK with her dance company L-E-V at Sadler’s Wells. She has a distinct approach to her choreography by working collaboratively with dancers to bring the work to stage, which will be important for collaborating with the National Youth Dance Company and giving members the opportunity to shine. Sharon’s style in her work, such as the use of club music, will tune in to the experiences of the young NYDC dancers, and no doubt produce something very special for audiences to see.”

Image: NYDC in Tarantiseismic, photo by Tony Nandi.

Sadler’s Wells brings dance to Wilderness Festival

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This August Sadler’s Wells will return to the Wilderness Festival for the second consecutive year. Set in the heart of the Cotswolds, Wilderness offers audiences an eclectic programme of live music, theatre and contemporary art.

Joining a diverse line up including comedy, cabaret and immersive theatre, we will present work from Pepa Ubera, one of the dance artists we are supporting through Sadler’s Wells’ Summer University programme, as well as Breakin’ Convention’s Freestyle Funk Forum.

Pepa Ubera’s The Machine of Horizontal Dreams draws on kundalini and tantric yoga practices to examine how we relate to each other, creating a playful and sacred space for audiences and performer to interact and explore the senses. At the same time a dance work and a shared experience, the performance allows different situations to develop and viewers to choose what to engage with.

Breakin’ Convention’s Freestyle Funk Forum is an evening of hip hop-infused theatre inspired by improvisatory comedy classic Whose Line is it Anyway?. Hosted by Sadler’s Wells’ Associate Artist and Breakin’ Convention’s artistic director Jonzi D, the show features a series of skits incorporating hip hop dance, beatboxing, turntablism and rap, informed by audience participations and suggestions.

Wilderness will take place in Oxfordshire’s Cornbury Estate between 3 and 6 August 2017.