audience development

Sadler’s Wells Launches Young People’s Ticket Scheme

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We’re delighted to announce the launch of our new young person’s ticket scheme, as part of a major partnership with Barclays.

Barclays Dance Pass offers £10 tickets to 16 to 30-year-olds registered with the scheme for all productions across our venues. These include Sadler’s Wells Theatre and the Lilian Baylis Studio in Islington, north London, and The Peacock theatre in the West End. The scheme will also apply to performances at our new mid-scale venue, opening in Stratford in 2022. Once registered, Barclays Dance Pass members will be able to purchase two tickets per production at no extra booking fee cost.

Registration to Barclays Dance Pass is free and can be completed via our website here: sadlerswells.com/barclaysdancepass

From today at 10am, Barclays Dance Pass holders will be able to book for shows in our Spring 2020 season, including Sadler’s Wells production Message In A Bottle by our Associate Artist Kate Prince, based on the songs of Sting, which runs at The Peacock from 6 February to 21 March. The season also features Drawn Lines, the latest in our Composer series, focusing on Nico Muhly; double bill The Rite of Spring/ common ground[s], a Sadler’s Wells, Pina Bausch Foundation and École des Sables Production; Lloyd Newson’s Enter Achilles, co-produced by Rambert and Sadler’s Wells; and UK premieres of works by Sadler’s Wells Associate Artists Crystal Pite and Michael Keegan Dolan.

To mark the launch of the scheme, Sadler’s Wells is offering the first 10 sign ups a pair of free tickets for the premiere of Message In A Bottle on 19 February.

The scheme makes available 10,000 tickets each year at £10 each, providing a wide range of new audiences with access to ground-breaking work and world-class artists – furthering our mission to make and share dance that inspires us all.

Barclays will also become Associate Partner of National Youth Dance Company (NYDC) for the next three years. Run by Sadler’s Wells and funded by the Department for Education and Arts Council England, NYDC creates and performs innovative and influential dance, bringing together the brightest talent from across England to work intensively with Sadler’s Wells’ renowned Associate Artists and visiting companies.

Since its creation in 2013, NYDC has worked with 2,800 young dancers, over 80% of whom have gone on to further dance training or professional work. New support from Barclays extends opportunities for talented young dancers from all areas and backgrounds to be part of the company and underlines NYDC’s commitment to artistry and accessibility.

Alistair Spalding, Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Sadler’s Wells, said:

“Young people are the dance artists and audiences of the future and we are committed to offering them access to the best dance from all over the world. I am delighted that our partnership with Barclays will help us grow the number of 16 to 30-year-olds enjoying our shows, while supporting young dancers to develop and perform on our stage and across the country.”

Tom Corbett, Head of Sponsorship at Barclays, said:

“Barclays is proud to partner with Sadler’s Wells to extend opportunities to young people throughout the country. Over three years, Barclays Dance Pass will give 30,000 young people the opportunity to experience world-class dance at Sadler’s Wells, and our support will enable National Youth Dance Company to provide a diverse, talented group of young artists from across the country an unrivalled opportunity to jump-start their careers.”

The Movement: Developing new audiences for dance

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Over the last two years, Sadler’s Wells has been working in partnership with The Lowry in Salford and Birmingham Hippodrome on a project called The Movement. With funding from Arts Council England’s Ambition for Excellence scheme, The Movement was formed to enable large-scale, world-class dance productions to tour to these venues.

Funding was also made available to test some digital and social media initiatives, three of which were undertaken by Sadler’s Wells: a social media influencers programme called Social Movers; an extension of our Get Into Dance scheme, creating Ambassadors for a Dance Writes programme; and a live stream of Ballet British Columbia’s post-show talk to all the tour venues.

We have recently created a video for the arts sector that highlights some of these projects, examining the process we undertook to create the initiatives, and celebrate their successes – as well as share some of the learnings.

For the Social Movers programme we recruited some dance enthusiasts who we invited to see a cross-section of performances, so that they could share their thoughts and feelings in their own words, across social networks, to help spread word of mouth about the shows. Coco, Evelyn and Jessica were the lucky three who took part in our pilot scheme, and they created some engaging and personal responses to all the shows they saw, all of which were posted on The Movement’s Facebook and Instagram profiles.

Get Into Dance is an established scheme at Sadler’s Wells, working with targeted local community groups to encourage them to see dance at their local venue for the first time, with a subsidised ticket price to incentivise them. As part of The Movement, we extended this scheme and invited some of the participants to join ‘Dance Writes’, an initiative that aimed to deepen the participants’ engagement with dance, with activities including skills training in dance journalism, talks from dance specialists and invitations to behind-the-scenes experiences.

When Ballet British Columbia appeared here in 2018, Sadler’s Wells and the show’s promoter Dance Consortium were keen to use their visit to help promote the UK tour dates that followed. We live streamed the post-show Q&A to all the tour venues’ Facebook pages, and asked people to send in their questions so that wherever they were in the world, they could be answered.

Although The Movement was a pilot project, there were learnings from each of the initiatives, and we will be continuing to develop new initiatives to encourage more audiences to engage with dance around the country.

Photo: Artists of Ballet British Columbia in 16 + a room (c) Michael Slobodian.

Local Ambassadors Enjoy New Dance Experience

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Over the last few months, as part of its ‘Get Into Dance’ scheme, Sadler’s Wells has appointed some local people new to dance as Dance Ambassadors, and supported them in their first steps of dance discovery. Two of our Ambassadors – local residents Janice Gittens and Kate Marshall – came to see the new work from Ballet British Columbia at Sadler’s Wells, and a film was created capturing their responses.

The Ambassadors scheme encourages people from local communities who have not yet visited Sadler’s Wells to come and experience dance, with the incentive of a specially subsidised rate. To enhance their experience, a range of activities are provided, including skills training in critical thinking and dance journalism, talks from dance specialists about the work they’re seeing, and invitations to special behind-the-scenes experiences.

Over the last few months, as part of its ‘Get Into Dance’ scheme, Sadler’s Wells has appointed some local people new to dance as Dance Ambassadors, and supported them in their first steps of dance discovery. Two of our Ambassadors – local residents Janice Gittens and Kate Marshall – came to Sadler’s Wells for the first time to see the new work from Ballet British Columbia and a film was created capturing their responses.

The Get Into Dance Ambassadors scheme has been supported by The Movement, a collaboration between The Lowry, Birmingham Hippodrome and Sadler’s Wells, funded by Arts Council England. This two year pilot project has been formed to try new approaches to audience development, with a view to increasing audiences for dance at the three participating venues.

Ballet British Columbia is Canada’s leading contemporary dance company, and is presented by Dance Consortium. They are touring the UK Friday 9 to Saturday 24 March – for full details visit danceconsortium.com.

American Express renews support of Sampled

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We are delighted to announce that the American Express Foundation has renewed their commitment to Sadler’s Wells, with a grant supporting our Sampled festival for the next two years.

American Express are long-term partners of Sadler’s Wells. Their ongoing support of Sampled ensures we can continue to give audiences the chance to experience a wide range of world-class dance at an accessible price. It is also enabling us to deliver two new engagement programmes for school children and members of our local community, as part of this year’s festival.

Robert Glick, Vice President of Corporate Communications & Head of International Government Affairs at American Express said, “At American Express we are thrilled to continue our support of Sadler’s Wells. We believe that access to world class dance should be without barriers and remain proud of our association with an organisation which works continuously to encourage all to experience the joy of live performance.”

Sadler’s Wells relies on contributions from individuals and partner organisations to help us reach new audiences and continue to transform lives through dance, and this renewed support from American Express is a valued part of our family of supporters.

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.

Breakin’ Convention and ZooNation awarded £1m to tour the UK

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Sadler’s Wells’ international festival of hip hop dance theatre Breakin’ Convention and ZooNation Dance Company, one of Sadler’s Wells’ resident companies, have together been awarded over £1 million in funding by the Arts Council.

They are among 13 organisations who will receive a total of over £4.8 million from Arts Council England as part of its Strategic Touring Programme, enabling them to tour throughout the UK over the next two years. The funding shows a substantial investment in developing audiences for hip hop dance.

Alistair Spalding, Sadler’s Wells’ Chief Executive and Artistic Director, said:“There is no underestimating the growth hip hop as a dance style has been experiencing in recent years, exploding from the streets onto the stage, but also on TV and through fashion and advertising. Its enormous success stems from its ‘each one teach one’ approach to knowledge-sharing and its ability to continuously evolve and develop a highly original vocabulary – a language that is dynamic and current, and speaks to ever increasing numbers of young people.

In the last 12 years, Breakin’ Convention has established itself as a world leader in hip hop dance theatre through its annual international festival at Sadler’ Wells. ZooNation has also been championing the development of hip hop through productions characterised by inventive and captivating storytelling, such as Into the Hoods and Some Like It Hip Hop.”

He continued: “It is great news that the Arts Council has chosen to invest in these projects through their Strategic Touring Fund, which will enable Breakin’ Convention and ZooNation to tour their high-quality work to a number of venues across the UK over the next two years, giving audiences outside London the opportunity to experience hip hop dance theatre, as well as to hopefully discover the next generation of hip hop artists.”

Welcoming the grant, Sadler’s Wells’ Associate Artist and Breakin’ Convention’s Artistic Director Jonzi D said: “This is excellent news for the sector. It allows Breakin’ Convention to support the professional development of hip hop dance theatre even further, providing skills, knowledge and platforms for the plethora of emerging dance crews following in the footsteps of ZooNation, Boy Blue, Southpaw and Birdgang. The lyrical dexterity of UK emcees will now have a space to develop theatrical devices within our Moving Rap workshop strand. Arts Council England has shown commitment to the creative phenomenon that is Hip Hop culture, at a time when peace, love, unity, and fun is much needed.”

Breakin’ Convention has been awarded £562,783 for a two-year project that will see the festival tour throughout May 2016 and May 2017, programming over 400 local artists per tour to perform alongside international artists. The touring activity will be complemented by a professional development programme, pairing up artists and future hip hop programmers. There will be a new spoken word professional development strand entitled Moving Rap and a continuation of the film-makers mentorship programme.

Launched by Sadler’s Wells in 2004 and hosted and curated by Jonzi D, Breakin’ Convention features performances from diverse UK and international companies each year. The festival also sees Sadler’s Wells’ foyer transformed into a performance space with live DJs, freestyle dance jams, graffiti exhibitions and workshops from top international artists.

ZooNation Dance Company has been awarded £499,471 to present a large-scale tour of Into the Hoods: Remixed, a newly revamped version of the award-winning production, throughout the UK from Spring 2016. Performances of the work at regional venues will build on the show’s track record of bringing more diverse and younger audiences into theatres, something that it successfully achieved during previous runs at Sadler’s Wells, the Edinburgh Fringe, Southbank Centre and in the West End between 2006 and 2010.

Into the Hoods became both the first ever hip hop dance show in the West End and the longest running dance show in the West End’s history, with a five month run at the Novello Theatre. The cast of Into the Hoods won the 2009 What’s On Stage Theatregoers’ Choice Award for Best Ensemble Performance. Under the direction of Sadler’s Wells’ Associate Artist Kate Prince, the much-loved show has been updated for 2015 with new choreography, a remixed soundtrack and new designs. Its first performances will take place at The Peacock from 23 October to 14 November, before the show embarks on national tour in spring 2016.

Into the Hoods: Remixed will act as the catalyst to deliver an audience development project, ZooResidence, across England, supporting and encouraging venues and their local partners to build audiences for hip hop dance theatre in new ways. It will include a series of projects for reaching thousands of young people, culminating in the creation of a piece to be performed as a pre-show curtain raiser for the production at each of the five partner venues.

In the production, ZooNation’s trademark narrative hip hop theatre style is used to tell the story of two children who get lost in the ‘hood’ and the surprising encounters and discoveries they make along their way, in what is a witty and humorous contemporary fairytale.

Kate Prince, Artistic Director of ZooNation Dance Company, said: “I think it is a really exciting and bold move for the Arts Council to make such a significant investment in developing audiences for hip hop dance theatre through these two major projects. The chance to work with venues more closely will really release the potential of our work to reach more people and connect new audiences to regional theatres”. 

She continued: “This investment of over £1 million pounds between ourselves and Breakin’ Convention also makes a statement about hip hop dance and its cultural importance and artistic currency. We are over the moon that the Arts Council is supporting us to take our work around the UK and to be part of developing hip hop dance nationwide.” 

Joyce Wilson, Area Director, London, Arts Council England, said: “We are delighted to be able to support Breakin’ Convention and ZooNation Dance Company through our Strategic touring programme; it is a clear illustration of the breadth and quality of work that we value and support. These tours will not only showcase some of the best hip hop dance theatre in the world, but also support the professional development of emerging hip hop dance talent and leaders across England.”

 

Image: Wanted Posse performing at Breakin’ Convention in 2014. Photo: Belinda Lawley