the place
Dance this summer
Pioneering Creativity & Innovation The Place has been a driving force for contemporary dance in the UK for over 40 years and is recognised nationally and internationally as a leader in the support and development of dance artists and artistic endeavour. In 2009 The Place’s Pioneering Fund was launched to provide the organisation with the financial resources necessary to continue to take risks and invest in ground-breaking initiatives as and when new opportunities arise. The Pioneering Fund will help us to continue to support those ideas which push contemporary dance into previously unexplored territory. In this challenging economic climate we very much need the support of individuals who recognise The Place’s vital role in nurturing new talent and developing pioneering activity. You can help us ensure the very best future for contemporary dance by making a gift to the Pioneering Fund. For further information about the Fund please contact The Place’s Development Department on 020 7121 1051 or visit www.theplace.org.uk/development. The Place 17 Duke’s Road London WC1H 9PY Box Office 020 7121 1100 www.theplace.org.uk A company limited by guarantee, registered in England 883094 Registered Charities Act 1960 250216
July - September Box Office 020 7121 1100 www.theplace.org.uk
festival diary
studios 1& 2
Robin howard
7pm dance theatre 8.30pm
July Mon 25
Choreodrome
tue 26
Choreodrome
wed 27
Choreodrome
thu 28
Choreodrome
Fri 29
Choreodrome
August Mon 1
Choreodrome Summer Intensives
Tue 2
Choreodrome Summer Intensives
Wed 3 Thu 4 touch wooD 1 Fri 5 touch wooD 2
Choreodrome Summer Intensives
Rui Horta
Choreodrome Summer Intensives
BLOOM!
Choreodrome Summer Intensives
mon 8
Choreodrome Summer Intensives
Tue 9
Choreodrome Summer Intensives
wed 10
Choreodrome Summer Intensives
thu 11 touch wooD 3
RootlessRoot Company Choreodrome Summer Intensives
fri 12 touch wooD 4
RootlessRoot Company Choreodrome Summer Intensives
Mon 15
Choreodrome Summer Intensives
Tue 16
Choreodrome Summer Intensives
Wed 17
Choreodrome Summer Intensives
Thu 18 touch wooD 5
Eleanor Bauer
Choreodrome Summer Intensives
Fri 19 touch wooD 6
Eleanor Bauer
Choreodrome Summer Intensives
mon 22
Choreodrome
tue 23
Choreodrome
wed 24
Choreodrome
thu 25
Choreodrome
fri 26
Choreodrome
mon 29
Choreodrome
tue 30
Choreodrome
wed 31
Choreodrome
SEPTEMBER Thu 1 touch wooD 7
Yossi Berg & Oded GRAF Choreodrome Dance Theatre
Fri 2 touch wooD 8 Yossi Berg & Oded GRAF Choreodrome Dance Theatre mon 5
Choreodrome
tue 6
Choreodrome
wed 7
Choreodrome
Thu 8 touch wooD 9 Itamar Serussi Sahar & Public in Private
Choreodrome
Fri 9 touch wooD 10 Itamar Serussi Sahar & Public in Private
Choreodrome
Thu 15
Winter Guests
Fri 16
Winter Guests
is a new festival of making, learning, sharing and performance at The Place And every corner of the building will be buzzing this summer. Hundreds of dancers of all abilities will hone their skills under the watchful eye of some of the best teachers around during our SUMMER INTENSIVES programme whilst a clutch of Europe’s most exciting choreographers premiere their latest works during our international performance season. At the same time, more than 40 dance artists will use our studios to explore and develop their creative ideas. Then they’ll immediately share these unfinished works in our unique TOUCH WOOD studio performance series and give audiences a chance to watch, feedback and influence their projects. You can take your first ever flamenco dance class. You could also come to laugh or cry at Animal Lost by Oded Graf and Yossi Berg. Maybe you want to throw yourself into a workshop with Akram Khan Company or witness one of the world’s great dancers, Daniel Proietto, perform in Avenida Corrientes by Winter Guests. The thing about The Place is the atmosphere. Whether you like to watch or dance, come and feel it for yourself in SUMMER HOUSE.
uk premieres Thursday 4 August 8.30pm
Portugal hungary
Rui Horta Local Geographic Rui Horta’s latest solo for actor/dancer/performer Anton Skrzypiciel is a reflection on identity and a study of personal geography that uses the body as a tool to discover the world. One of Portugal’s most celebrated choreographers, Rui Horta was founding director of S.O.A.P. Dance Theatre for which he created six acclaimed works, many of which were performed at The Place. Horta made his Dance Umbrella debut just last year with Talk Show. www.oespacodotempo.pt
Friday 5 August 8.30pm
BLOOM! CITY In every major city people are in a constant rush, simply trying to keep up and chasing their own shadow. If someone asks for the time, do you answer? If someone asks for spare change, do you even notice them? It seems as if every encounter could be a potential trap. Straightforward, ironic and bold, CITY is about dictatorship, discrimination, prejudice, power, fear, ignorance, attraction and faith in the bustling urban sprawl. Working out of Budapest and London, BLOOM! dance collective comprises young artists: Viktória Dányi, Csaba Molnár, Tímea Sebestyén, Moreno Solinas (one of the first Work Place artists), Igor Urzelai (also a Work Place artist) and sound composer Alberto Ruiz Soler. BLOOM! was awarded the Rudolf Laban Award in 2010 for best Hungarian dance production (CITY) and received an artistic residency through the Prix Jardin d’Europe 2010.
Tickets £13 or choose a combined ticket: TOUCH WOOD plus an international performance on the same evening for just £15
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Photograph dialeLa | Zsolt Puskel
www.bloomdancecollective.org
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uk premiere Thursday 11 & Friday 12 August 8.30pm
greece
RootlessRoot Company Eyes in the Colours of the Rain Inspired by William Blake’s poem Night and the texts related to St John’s Vision, Eyes in the Colours of the Rain is a blistering trio that lays bare the painful collision between physical material and the soul. It is a performance in which physical structures collapse and are continually rebuilt, revealing life that is locked away. Though highly self-reflective, this piece can also easily be understood as a statement on consensus in a broader sociological or political sense. RootlessRoot Company was formed in 2006 in Athens by Linda Kapetanea and Jozef Frucek. Between 2002 and 2006 the pair performed with Wim Vandekeybus’ Ultima Vez Company. RootlessRoot last appeared at The Place as an Aerowaves company in 2008, displaying a characteristic style of intensely physical dance that is instantly compelling, chaotic and raw.
Tickets £13 or choose a combined ticket: TOUCH WOOD plus an international performance on the same evening for just £15
Photograph Lila Sotiriou
www.rootlessroot.com
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london premiere Thursday 18 & Friday 19 August 8.30pm
Eleanor Bauer Big Girls do Big Things Just how big and crazy can you make a performance? Toying with the surface-oriented world of a performer, Big Girls do Big Things whispers what should be shouted and sings what should only be whispered. In her quest for the accomplishment of ‘big things’, American dancer and choreographer Eleanor Bauer pastiches all sorts of performing artists and digs up images from pop culture, dance history and the underground. She transforms herself into a rapper, a ballerina, a diva and even a polar bear, making use of all the possibilities the stage has to offer. Eleanor Bauer studied at the Tisch School of the Arts in New York and at P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels. She has been creating her own works since 2005 and has danced for Trisha Brown, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Mette Ingvartsen.
Photograph Reinout Hiel
www.goodmove.be/people/eleanor-bauer
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Tickets £13 or choose a combined ticket: TOUCH WOOD plus an international performance on the same evening for just £15
belgium
uk premiere Thursday 1 & Friday 2 September 8.30pm
ISRAEL
Yossi Berg & Oded Graf Dance Theatre Animal Lost How would you define yourselves in just three sentences? Animal Lost started with this question and the result is a look at stereotypes, misperceptions and social clichés. The work raises questions about cultural and social differences and the universality of repression, sexuality, fantasies and the needs of the individual. Animal Lost deals with our ability to redefine ourselves over and over, with the performers shifting between illusions and reality, trying to awaken the base instinct in each of us. Yossi Berg, who has worked with DV8 Physical Theatre, Batsheva Dance Company and Yasmeen Godder, started collaborating with Oded Graf in 2005. Together they have built a reputation for work that is supremely physical, sometimes provocative, and by turns poignant and witty. Their company performs throughout the world and has won a string of international choreography competitions. Post-Show Discussion Thursday 1 September www.yossioded.com Supported by the British Israeli Arts Training Scheme (BI ARTS) a British Council initiative in
Tickets £13 or choose a combined ticket: TOUCH WOOD plus an international performance on the same evening for just £15 9
Photograph Christoffer Askman
partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture and Sport in Israel.
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A double bill of uk Premieres Thursday 8 & Friday 9 September 8.30pm
netherlands germany
Itamar Serussi Sahar FERRUM Ferrum is a playful experiment with the boundaries of the two dancers’ physicalities. Starting out with nothing but good faith that something pure will unfold, choreographer Itamar Serussi Sahar hopes to give a sense of the fun, magic, excitement and curiosity that is often hidden in the rehearsal studio. Musician Richard van Kruysdijk created a five-part composition especially for Ferrum based on earthy, almost minimalist timbres, with regular, simple, pulsing repetitions that give free rein to dancers Genevieve Osborne and Milena Twiehaus. The two women have worked together before and relished the degree to which they were allowed to push boundaries within choreography which they describe as pure, raw, powerful and full of dry wit. Israeli choreographer Itamar Serussi Sahar stretches the physical opportunities of his dancers by using humour, improvisation and experimenting with unusual compository laws. www.stationzuid.com
Public in Private Allege Directing each music and lighting cue whilst balancing a glass of water on the back of his neck, Clément Layes’ remarkable solo strives to make sense of everything that looks arbitrary, forcing meaning into order.
www.publicinprivate.com
Tickets £13 or choose a combined ticket: TOUCH WOOD plus an international performance on the same evening for just £15
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Photograph Dieter Hartwig | Joep Lennarts
Clément Layes studied circus skills, art and philosophy before turning to dance. He has worked with Boris Charmatz, Hubert Godard, Jean Luc Moulène, Vera Montero, Claude Espinassier, Steve Paxton and Joseph Nadj. Clément Layes and Jasna Layes-Vinovrski founded Public in Private in 2008 in Berlin.
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uk premiere Thursday 15 & Friday 16 September 8.30pm
NORWAY
Winter Guests Avenida Corrientes Avenida Corrientes is the story of celebrated German choreographer Dieter Geier and his Argentinian principle dancer and muse Augusto Garcia, who return to Buenos Aires to create a new piece for a gala in honour of their 10-year collaboration. The events and routines of their savage and passionate world are revealed, as the two artists struggle towards the premiere of their new work, and a decision which will change everything, forever. Alan Lucien Øyen continues his collaboration with actor/director Andrew Wale and dancer Daniel Proietto (Russell Maliphant’s soloist in Afterlight) on this theatrical work, set in an apartment on Avenida Corrientes - Buenos Aires’ famous street of theatres. Drawing on inspiration from dance biographies, films and documentaries, this is a passionate love story - a triangular relationship between a dancer, a choreographer and their work. Winter Guests was established in 2006 as a producing and touring company for work created by choreographer and director Alan Lucien Øyen.
Photograph Yaniv Cohen
www.winterguests.com
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4 5 11 12 18 19 AUGUST & 1 2 8 9 SEPTEMBER Studios 1 & 2 7pm
Monday 25 July - friday 9 September
choreodrome
is a biennial summer project where The Place opens its doors and makes its resources available to a selected group of professional dance artists with a thirst to learn, ideas to pursue and work to try out. CHOREODROME is intended as an opportunity for these artists to research ideas and possibilities without the pressure of a formal performance at the end of the process, though many choose to reveal their works in progress at TOUCH WOOD (see page 16). It is also an opportunity for dancemakers to come together as an artistic community, to share dialogues with collaborators and establish new creative partnerships.
touch wood
A season of raw ideas danced on a bare wooden floor 10 different nights, featuring over 30 leading dancemakers. With just a bare wooden floor and a simple lighting set-up, TOUCH WOOD is the place where CHOREODROME and invited artists first expose their summer works in progress to an audience, lifting the lid on creative developments that are usually hidden in The Place’s studios. Each unique night of dance comes together at the last minute with four different artists presenting short extracts of unfinished work. Line-ups will be announced online. To check the evolving programme of artists, register for updates and book tickets, go to www.theplace.org.uk/touchwood. Tickets are £10, or choose a Combined Ticket (TOUCH WOOD plus an international performance in the theatre on the same evening) for just £15.
2011 CHOREODROME ARTISTS Ben Ash
h2dance
Frauke Requardt
Amy Bell and Valentina Golfieri
Heni Hale and Zoi Dimitriou
Luca Silvestrini
Rosemary Butcher
Ilona Jäntti
Subathra Subramaniam
Nigel Charnock
Jason Keenan-Smith
Vera Tussing
Seke Chimutengwende
Deborah Light
Rob Clark
Rachel Lopez de la Nieta
Igor Urzelai and Moreno Solinas
Company Chameleon
Giuliana Majo
James Wilton
James Cousins
Shelley Maxwell
Renaud Wiser
Robin Dingemans
Laura McGill
Kath Duggan and Valentina Formenti
Freddie Opoku-Addaie
Darren Ellis
Darshan Singh Bhuller
Joe Moran Colin Poole and Simon Ellis
Katie Green
Efrosini Protopapa
Antonia Grove
Eva Recacha Photograph HUGO GLENDINNING
Antonio de la Fe Guedes
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monday 1 - friday 19 August
summer intensives
offers three weeks of exhilarating dance courses for adults (16+) of all abilities, based in The Place’s studios. Create your own programme from contemporary and ballet courses, workshops with resident companies, creative sessions, body conditioning techniques, jazz, contact improvisation, while the Around the Globe series offers a taste of international dance styles including kathak, barefoot flamenco and contemporary African. The courses are led by an inspirational team of international dance teachers. Complementing the core programme are week-long residencies with three of the UK’s top dance companies - Akram Khan Company, Phoenix Dance Theatre and Richard Alston Dance Company. Company members will teach current repertory and creative workshops, giving a rare insight into their work. Each five-day course runs from Monday to Friday, with one class per day. You can therefore take up to four courses each week, shaping your timetable according to the range of dance you’d like to experience, and how far you hope to progress. At the end of each course, you will have the chance to present work to your fellow SUMMER INTENSIVES participants in our popular, informal studio sharings. To see the complete timetable and to book go to www.theplace.org.uk/summer or call 020 7121 1090.
information
How To Book Telephone 020 7121 1100 (Mon - Fri, 10.30am - 7pm, 6pm when no perf) Online www.theplace.org.uk (Visa/Mastercard/Maestro) In Person The Place, 17 Duke’s Road, London WC1H 9PY (Mon - Sat 10.30am - 8pm, 6pm when no perf) Prices £15 for Combined Tickets (TOUCH WOOD + an international performance on the same evening) Book four combined tickets and get the fourth free. £13 international performance £10 TOUCH WOOD Discounts are available for disabled people and groups. Contact the Box Office for details.
Photograph vicky evans
The theatre and studios have unreserved seating. All tickets are subject to availability. Tickets may not be exchanged or refunded.
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How to Find Us The Place is on Duke’s Road, off Euston Road. It is opposite St Pancras Church and next door to the Premier Travel Inn. Tubes: Euston, King’s Cross St Pancras, Russell Square. London Transport Information: www.tfl.gov.uk Access for Disabled People There is on-street parking for blue badge holders outside The Place, level access to the foyer and a lift to all floors. Most local bus services have wheelchair access. An induction loop is available at the Box Office and a Sennheiser infra-red hearing system in the theatre. Guide dogs and hearing dogs are welcome. Free tickets are available to those accompanying disabled people. If you have any other requirements, contact the Box Office and we will do our best to ensure that nothing inhibits your visit. The information in this brochure is available electronically and in large print. Eat and Drink The theatre bar is open from 7pm ahead of performances. Food and drink is available from our Café.
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