Diary
Other events this week in Dance Umbrella
Merce Cunningham - Events
One of the giants of contemporary dance, Merce Cunningham is like no other.
He has been making dancer for more than 50 years and is quite simply a
legend in his own lifetime. He has been dubbed guru, rebel, fraud, genius,
imp and master and he is now universally recognised as a seminal figure in
the dance world. Cunningham's work can be fast, serene, beautiful, dark,
intriguing; his EVENTS give audiences the opportunity to encounter the
whole breadth of his superb choreography in a single evening. Presented
within intermission, EVENTS consist of a collage of dancer, excerpts from
the repertory, new sequences arranged for the specific performance and
place; constantly fluid and never the same twice. Painting by Robert
Rauschenberg.
Performance: Tues 24th - Thursday 26th October at 7.30pm
Venue: Riverside Studios, Hammersmith Tube
Tickets: GBP15 & GBP10
Box Office: 0181 741 2255
The Cunningham Company moves to Sadler's Wells for just three performance
of a scintillating programme of three works, all British premieres.
Beach Birds (1991) is a lyrical, meditative work whose movements evoke
those of birds and humans (and even rocks) on the seashore. The piece, set
to a John Cage score, is rich in images as the dancers shimmer against the
changing backdrop of colour, moving from the blue of dawn to golden noon.
Light and costume design are by Marsha Skinner. Ground Level Overlay
(1995) continues Cunningham's interest in dancers as people dealing with
the complexities of movement. IT is the result of a collaboration with
Composer Stuart Dempster, using music recorded in a giant undertaken by ten
trombone players . The mysterious decor is by young African-America artists
Leonardo Drew.
CRWDSPCR (pronounced Crowdspacer) (1993) is an effervescent work with
stunning design by artist Mark Lancaster and an exhilarating score by John
King.
Performance: Sat. 28th and Sun 29th October at 7.30pm, 29th Oct at 3pm
Venue: Sadlers Wells, Angel Tube
Tickets: GBP17.50, GBP15, GBP12.50, GBP10, GBP7.50, GBP5
Box Office: 0171 713 6000
Siobhan Davies Dance Company
The classical music of Scarlatti, with its imaginative and surprising
harmonies, intertwined with Matteo Fargion's pieces for amplified
clavichord, provides the musical backdrop for Davies' new work. The Art of
Touch.
Scarlatti and Fargion and compatriots across 300 years - both were born in
Italy and have the same birth date. Their shared vitality, virtuosity and
rhythmic invention are the perfect complement to Davies' superb
choreographic artistry.
The ravishing beauty of Wild Translations is set to a powerful score by
Kevin Volans has an evocative stage setting by David Buckland and Peter
Mumford. The brisk staccato phrases of the music are mirrored by the
urgent, rapid movements of the dancers interspersed with sumptuous movement of choreographic serenity.
Meet the artist: Wed 25 October, Pre-performance talk - Thursday 26 October
at 6.45pm
Performance: Wed 25 & Thurs 26 October at 7.30pm
Venue: Sadlers Wells, Angel Tube
Tickets: GBP17.50, GBP15, GBP12.50, GBP10, GBP7.50, GBP5
Box Office:0171 713 6000
DV8 Physical Theatre
*Enter Achilles contains language and scenes which some people may find
offensive. The show is not suitable for children.
What does it mean to be "A Man"? ENTER ACHILLES looks beyond issues of
sexuality to the fundamental question of what constitutes masculinity.
What are the compensating actions that men take when they deny their
feeling? Why do people with rigid concepts of how men should behave fear or
abhor unmanly behaviour/ Men have historically oppressed women, but the
question explored in DV8's new work is : how oppressive have men been to
each other and to themselves? ENTER ACHILLES is massively energetic,
entertaining, funning, sometime threatening, and above all mercilessly
incisive in its observation of human behaviour.
Enter Achilles is co-produced by Wiener Festwochen and the Royal Festival
Hall with Dance Umbrella with a contribution from Bayerisches
Staatsoper/Labor; Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel/Marstall
Performance: Thur 26 - Mon 30th October at 7.45pm
Venue: Queen Elizabeth Hall RFH2, Royal Festival Hall, South Bank, Waterloo Tube
Tickets:GBP14, GBP12, GBP10, Discounts from GBP6
Box Office:0171 960 4242
Matthew Hawkins and the Fresh Dances Group
Once in a while a talent emerges ahead of its time, only to die in its
prime, leaving the rest of us to "linger out our days" - as Dryden put it
in his text for composer John Blow's Ode on the Death of Mr Henry Purcell.
Great Moment of Purcell and Blow honours the memory of Purcell with the aid
of John Blow's ode. In their latest work, Matthew Hawkins and the Fresh
Dances Group grasp the Purcell portfolio by the spine, and shake it about a
bit for his tercentenary. For the Riverside performance a choir, under the
musical director of Nicolas Bloomfield (Gloria theatre company), will take
the stage, moving with the dancers in a dense weave. With his unique blend
of irony, anarchy and genuine emotion, choreographer Hawkins has built a
reputation for dance theatre that is amusing, meaningful and moving.
Meet the artists, Sat 28October
Jointly commissioned by Centre National de Danse contemporaine d''Angers
l'Esquisse and the Hackney Empire.
Performance: Sat 28 & Sun 29 October at 7.30pm
Venue: Riverside Studios, Hammersmith Tube
Tickets: GBP10 & GBP8
Box Office:0181 741 2255
Other Performances now booking in London:
31 - 1 Nov Koko/Badejo at The Place Theatre, 0171 387 0031
31 - 1 Nov Mark Baldwin at Riverside Studios, 0181 741 2255
1 - 4 Nov Richard Alston at Queen Elizabeth Hall, 0171 960 4242
3 - 5 Nov Aletta Collins at Riverside Studios, 0181 741 2255
3 - 2 Nov Ariadona at The Place Theatre, 0171 387 0031
7 - 8 Nov Javier de Frutos at The Purcell Rooms, 0171 387 0031
9 - 11 Nov Second Stride at Riverside Studios, 0181 741 2255
Dance Umbrella on the Road
Streb/Ringside will be embarking on a short regional tour including,
Manchester, Oxford and Nottingham after the performances in Greenwich. For
venues and dates please call Dance Umbrella on 0171 741 5881.
The Video Place at The Place, London is presenting a week of screenings
representing a new collaboration between The Video Place and European
partners in Barcelona and Koln.
Films include a documentary on the work of Anna Teresa de Keersmaeker, The
Dance Films of Elliot Caplan and Merce Cuningham, the launch of the new
Arts Council of England TAPED awards providing support for choreographers
and film makers including Doug Elkins, Miranda Pennel, Union Dance and Ted
Stoffer. The second launch of the week is the Dance for the Camera awards
including work by Nigel Charnock, Man Act, Siobhan Davies and many others.
For full details please contact The Place Box Office on 0171 387 0031
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