2018 marks the 20th anniversary of Sadler’s Wells’ present building. Erected on the same spot where entrepreneur Richard Sadler first established a ‘musick house’ on the site of a mineral spring in 1683, the current theatre, purpose-built for dance, opened in October 1998.
A lot has changed since then, but we are very proud that two things have stayed the same: our determination to work with exceptional artists and our commitment to reaching an ever wider audience through what we do.
Today, Sadler’s Wells is the UK’s national dance house and a large portion of our programme each season is made up of works we have commissioned, produced or co-produced, mainly with our associate artists and companies. What better way to celebrate, then, that commissioning 20 new works for our stages? They include Reckonings, a special triple bill premiering in our anniversary week in October, featuring pieces by three distinct choreographic voices who are creating work for our main stage for the first time: Julie Cunningham, Alesandra Seutin and Botis Seva.
Our 20 commissions also look back at our longstanding relationships with established artists. These include: two new works in William Forsythe’s first full-length programme since his company closed in 2015; the UK premiere of Mark Morris’ acclaimed Layla and Majnun; a new mixed programme created for ballerina Natalia Osipova; and our Associate Artist Akram Khan’s final full-length solo production, XENOS. We also commissioned our newest Associate Artist, Sharon Eyal, to create work for National Youth Dance Company as their Guest Artistic Director for 2018.
Developing dance for and by young people continues to be a priority. We have commissioned two new works for families – balletLORENT’s Rumpelstiltskin and upsidedowninsideout, an immersive, site-specific journey for families. We also launch our inaugural Young Associates programme, designed to nurture young choreographic talent aged 18 to 24, giving them a platform to create new work.
The full list of commissions is:
National Youth Dance Company/ Sharon Eyal
Used to be Blonde
balletLORENT
one step at a time like this
upside down inside out
Breakin’ Convention 2018
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan
Akram Khan Company
Company of Elders
Natalia Osipova
William Forsythe
Young Associates
Julie Cunningham/ Alesandra Seutin/ Botis Seva
Jasmin Vardimon Company
New Work
Mark Morris Dance Group
Layla & Majnun
Nitin Sawhney & Wang Ramirez
Dystopian Dream
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui & Antony Gormley
Icon
Rambert 2
Mixed Bill
Jefta van Dinther
Dark Field Analysis
Eva Recacha
New Work
Mavin Khoo
From Man to Monk – Part 1
Wilkie Branson
TOM
We would like to thank The Monument Trust for their generous support of our new commissions.