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by Jon Massey

Tucked away behind glass and green steel ust off illharbour lies the Lanterns Studio Theatre. The venue, which boasts a vast, 3,000sq ft plus, sprung dance oor is generally used by major production companies as a rehearsal space – one of the few capacious enough to accommodate the really big shows.

These sessions are typically held behind closed doors away from the eyes of the public. Lanterns, however, is starting to open up to audiences, thanks to Jamiel Devernay-Laurence.

Building on Ballet Nights, a show he hosted there in October 2021, TheIgnition Platform is set for a public performance at the sle f ogs venue on arch .

Jamiel essentially grew up at Lanterns – run by his mother Janet Viola – and following a dance career with Scottish Ballet, it’s where he’s decided to base his newly minted venture, Jamiel Laurence Creation.

“I’ve worked all over the UK,” he said. “I’ve lived in Glasgow, London and spent the past year orking in ardiff bringing quality dance performances to that city. When that came to an end and I was thinking about what to do next, I decided to put on a new intensive programme at the Lanterns Studio Theatre – which is no stranger to new and exciting things, although often there isn’t a performance output.

“We rehearse, without doubt, every major production company in the UK and now some in Europe as well – we’ve just had Theatre Du Chatelet, who were preparing for their production of 42nd Street

“After spending a decade learning how to put on those shows and seeing the companies in action, I decided it was my go. The rst thing did in anuary as to launch an intensive programme for professional dancers and the response to that was hugely overwhelming – there’s a real gap right now in contemporary dance for professional development.

“I hadn’t realised how big the need was – it was exactly the right time –and off the back of that reconnected ith ennedy unior untanga ho performed at Lanterns as part of Ballet Nights. Chatting with him about his ambitions was a powerful moment because it made me aware young choreographers are really feeling the pinch. There are lots of cuts to the arts right now and that means there are fewer opportunities out there.

“I’m a doer, so I decided to launch Ignition in response – a platform to put work by young choreographers up on stage. The rst level of that is hat audiences ill see on arch . ur budget might be minimal, but what matters is that the dancing will be anything but. It’s about showcasing a really big voice in dance that needs to be heard on the Isle Of Dogs – not an area that’s traditionally known for these things. very con dent there ill be an appetite for this locally so that’s stage one – the plan in future will be then to come back with a bigger production the next time. Hopefully the third time will be an all-singing, all-dancing, hologram-showing extravaganza.

“The idea is that Ignition will allow choreographers themselves to make a case for why their work should be on stage – then we make it happen for them.”

Tickets for the event on arch

The Ignition Platform: An Evening With Kennedy Muntanga – cost £20. The performance is set to start at 7pm.

“The performance itself will consist of a 30-minute trio from A Death Has

Occurred, which is a piece that Kennedy has written, taking inspiration from his faith to explore themes of destiny, identity, spirituality and truth.

“It follows the story of Nebu, a young journalist obsessed with the idea of being his own helmsman, as he struggles to offer hi self to od s plan for his life.

“Reporting as a war correspondent, Nebu is given a vision that prophesies a city abandoned and left to crumble to the wrath of war.

“Nebu’s interpretation of the dream leads him to reject God in protest at hat he sees. ennedy uses ction to bring to the forefront his learning and understanding of accepting a plan much greater than his own, even when suffering prevails. e plans one day to turn the piece into a full 90-minute show.

“After that, we’re going to have a solo dance by Kennedy himself, created exclusively for Ignition. There will also be a Q&A with the choreographer following the performances.

“It’s really exciting that I can take someone like him and give him a platform. His dancing is not any recognisable contemporary technique or format, his movement is really from a new place –it’s very contact-heavy.

“The word you see about him in every review is ‘visceral’, and that tells the tale – his work features very muscly, athletic men and women in contact with each other.

“He lives in Finsbury Park, but spends much of his time in Greenwich as the artistic director of Trinity Laban’s Youth

Dance Company as well as Kennedy untanga ance Theatre.

“What he does that’s really interesting is that he puts on classes for free every Tuesday night, and they are his practice in action that s ho he s re ning his voice.” a iel said the arch perfor ance would also help to make the case for further events at Lanterns and beyond. y philosophy is that don t think dance on stage is broken as a model –that’s not where the problem is. Instead, it’s the pastime of going to see dance.

“The Ignition Platform is really about support and what I want to do is build an audience who feel like they’re the home crowd for dance,” he said.

“For example, people on dates might go to the cinema or a show and have a eal rst they d kno ho to navigate that. ut ith dance theatre it s different.

“Would it be a long show, a short show? Would there be time to eat? Is it expensive or affordable urther a eld fro this ould love to have work that could tour internationally. That’s for the future.

“I’d like to achieve for dance what stand-up has for comedy – to have artists practising their craft and audiences getting a raw, accessible version of the work. Right now there are too many dancers and not enough opportunity.

“Long term, the goal for Ignition would be to build our own touring circuit – we’d very much like events to be exportable. That might be to other venues in London, but we’d also like to connect with Scotland, Wales and other towns and cities in England as well.

“Right now I believe there’s a huge opportunity in Docklands – a place that’s become a growing residential community. Lanterns can provide something for people locally where they don’t have to travel to the West End to see high quality performances – it’s right here on their doorstep.”

Go to jamiellaurence.com for more information

by Jon Massey

Aniche is what every entrepreneur needs for their business to be a success and that’s what Karyna Sukha spotted while working in the fashion industry. Originally from Ukraine, she came to the UK to study some 13 years ago.

“I did my degree at the London College Of Communication in graphic design and illustration, but I always wanted to work in fashion,” she said.

“My parents thought I should study architecture or interior design, so graphic design was somewhere in between.

“It’s something that gives you a wide range of skills. After university I started working for fashion companies such as Tata Naka, House of Holland, Alexander McQueen and Tateossian.

“I was mostly doing graphic design including print, textiles, photography, editing and that journey eventually led me to become a studio production manager

“That involved a lot of work with manufacturers to develop the collections and that s hen rst thought about starting my own company.”

The challenge for Karyna and the designers was the traditional approach of the makers when faced with fresh ideas.

“At that time, communication as di cult and it as causing problems with both design and manufacturing,” she said.

“So I thought it would be great to set up a company that would understand the new generation of designers.

“I was a young graphic designer at the time – I had so many friends ho ere nishing their degrees in fashion and needed someone they could relate to and have their designs produced by.

“I bought a machine, started making garments for them and that was the start of Fabrika. After about three months we got our rst client a bigger brand and we’ve now been working together for more than six years.”

Originally operating from North London, the business – which produces garments for Richard Quinn, Phoebe English and Matty Bovan as well as smaller labels and startups – recently moved to Design District on Greenwich Peninsula.

Occupying a lofty triple height space in one of 6A Architects’ steel, glass and marble cheesegrater-like buildings, Fabrika today is a team of 13, having grown its pool of skilled machinists to meet demand.

“We specialise in working with small designers producing anything from one to 300 pieces depending on their needs,” said Karyna. “They might come to us with a drawing or a pre-made sample and we will then help them develop the design, produce a paper pattern and then continue to make reproductions for however many items they need.

“Our current turnover per month is 600 garments and we’ve moved to Greenwich to expand – we want to push things a bit further this year.

“I’ve developed with the company – I was in my early 20s when I started and I’m 30 now.

“It’s been a long journey to get where we are now. The more clients we got, the more people started talking about what we were doing because of the quality we were able to achieve.

“We expanded with machinists and some freelancers working from home. About two years ago I employed a studio manager and that really helped because before that I was doing everything myself.

“There have been ups, downs and lots of nice times over the past few years. But it’s always interesting to grow and develop, to try new things and to meet new people. Every challenge is a good challenge.

There is de nitely a de and for garments made locally and sustainably. We’ve always tried to