Ageless Festival 2022 Brochure by Yorkshire Dance

Encounters Festival 1st — 2nd July 2022

Reimagining age through dance

yorkshiredance.com

We are proud to present our second Ageless Festival in partnership with Leeds Playhouse and Leeds City College. In 2022, Ageless feels even more vital and important than ever; bringing people together, questioning, celebrating and sharing the common language of dance. We began curating the festival against five key themes: The Political Act of Dancing, The Art and Act of Remembering, Dancing against the Norm, Boundary Crossing and Intergenerational Practice. Whilst the festival responds to these themes we also found a more profound connection

WELCOME

Dance is universal. Dance transcends age.

between the works which speaks to the richness of human experiences. Alongside our UK contributors, we are delighted to extend a warm welcome to dance artists from Italy, Netherlands, Senegal, Romania and Austria. We hope you find Ageless Festival a place of inspiration, reflection and curiosity.

I would like to thank the Ageless curatorial team, Bakani Pickup, Kirsty Redhead, Adie Nivison and Tanya Steinhauser and to all our contributors and participants who play such an important role in moving us and being moved.

Hannah Robertshaw Programmes Director at Yorkshire Dance

Ageless Venues

Festival Passes

Ageless takes place across three venues in the cultural quarter of Leeds: Yorkshire Dance, Leeds City College and Leeds Playhouse. Our volunteers will be available throughout the festival to guide you to the right place.

Early Bird festival passes are now on sale and give you access to all the events happening in the festival. Festival passes give you priority booking for the workshops, talks, classes and performances that best suit your interests. The offer expires at the end of May.

Access at Ageless We want everyone to enjoy Ageless Festival. All three venues are accessible. If you have any specific access needs or queries please give us a call on 0113 243 8765 or email us at access@yorkshiredance.com.

Food & Drink The festival pass includes a lunch voucher on both days of the festival. There will also be a selection of teas, coffees and refreshments available throughout the weekend.

Early Bird festival passes are offered at the following rates: … Organisation: £100 … Freelance/Individual: £60 … Concession: £40 When you purchase a festival pass you will receive an email with a link to book individual events. There are limited spaces for all events, so we encourage you to book as soon as the window opens. We look forward to seeing you there. Find out more about our festival passes at www.yorkshiredance.com.

Booking is Essential

Pay As You Feel

Whether you’re planning on purchasing a festival pass or would like to attend one of the Pay As You Feel events*, we ask that you book in advance of the 1 July. You can book festival passes and Pay As You Feel events at www.yorkshiredance.com or by phoning our box office on 0113 243 8765.

At Yorkshire Dance, we’re committed to making our work affordable for everyone. With that in mind, there will also be a Pay As You Feel* option available for a limited number of festival events.

#AgelessFestival Cover image: Germaine Acogney © Hyun Kim

Friday

Box Office: 0113 243 8765

Image: Wendy Houstoun © Brian Slater

llinas ús Va e: Jes Imag

Ageless Welcome event followed by ‘No Time Like the Present’ – a talk with Wendy Houstoun Fri 1st Jul, 11:30 – 13:00 Courtyard Theatre, Leeds Playhouse “Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from or movement towards. Neither ascent or decline. Except for the point. The still point. There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.” TS Eliot from Burnt Norton. Four Quartets.

Wendy Houstoun is a movement/theatre artist with distinctive style that combines movement with text and

She has worked extensively as a solo performer, and in collaboration with companies such as DV8 Physical Theatre, Forced Entertainment, Lumiere and Son Theatre. No Time Like The Present is presented as part of Conversations on Dance and Age in partnership with Dance East, Sadler’s Wells and Yorkshire Dance. Between May and July 2022, as part of Host, Elixir and Ageless Festival, we invite audiences to gather to listen, explore and respond to three conversations which place questions and provocations about dance and age at their heart. Each conversation is curated by an independent artist or collective and will open up dialogue about perceptions, artistry, risk, care and progression.

www.yorkshiredance.com

No Time Like The Present is a talk for time carriers of all ages addressing the age-old theme of the nature of time and the body’s capacity and desire to dance. Taking the form of an discussion this dialogue for one is open to prompts, hints and heckles from the room and is part intellectual endeavour, part tabloid talk.

meaning with humour.

Ageless Classes

About our Ageless Classes These are practical classes which invite you to dance. No previous dance experience is necessary, and everyone is welcome. Please wear comfortable clothes and bring a bottle of water.

Class with Villmore James Fri 1st Jul, 10:00 – 11:00 Studio 1, Yorkshire Dance

Image: Villmore James © Yorkshire Dance

Box Office: 0113 243 8765

Founder member of Phoenix Dance and Rehearsal Director for Dundee Dance, Villmore James delivers an uplifting, creative, contemporary and accessible dance session. With movements to promote body awareness, holistic health, fitness and wellbeing.

Ageless Classes

Class with Balbir Singh Company Fri 1st Jul, 10:00 – 11:00 Studio 2, Leeds City College Kali Chandrasegaram draws on his experience delivering workshops in care homes to explore body percussion and storytelling through dance. Inspired by nature, animals and the Indian Gods, this class explores classic Indian dance storytelling through hand gesture and expression and chair based Kathak.

Image: Kali Chandrasegaram © Malcolm Johnson

Class with Alex Pickford Fri 1st Jul, 10:00 – 11:00 Outside www.yorkshiredance.com

A gentle warm up followed by a guided improvisation with themes of friendship, dancing for joy or sadness and with an attentiveness to nature. Enjoy moving in fresh air, with no sequences to learn! Alexandra was formerly with The Royal Ballet Company and is a member of The Untold Dance Theatre and director of ‘Bolder’. Image: Alex Pickford © Nicola Percy

Workshop

Dancing With Your Grandparents with Katy Hewison Fri 1st Jul, 10:00 – 11:00 Studio 1, Leeds City College An hour of joyful, heart warming movement improvisation and imagination. We welcome families to come move, dance together and make memories. We will reminisce and dance in honour of the generations who have gone before us, grandparents, great grandparents and all who inspire us. Images, drawings, improvisation and playful games will guide us in a supportive, inspiring environment.

Image: Sara Teresa

This workshop is for all ages, no previous dance experience is needed, come along in comfy clothes with a bottle of water. Credits: Music by Wilfred Kimber. Research funded by Leeds Inspired.

Installation

Future Listening Installation by Kirsty Arnold & Tora Hed

Fri 1st Jul, 13:00 – 15:00 (book a half-hour timeslot) Studio 2, Yorkshire Dance Join Kirsty Arnold, Tora Hed and residents of a local care home for an interactive installation around care and collaboration. Based on their shared experience of living with

residents in a Leeds care home, the artists invite audiences to join them for afternoon tea, dancing, conversations and comfortable places to sit. Credits: Dance artists: Kirsty Arnold, Tora Hed/ Project Manager: Adie Nivison/ Photography: Alice Marcelino/ Mentor: Filipa Pereira/ Visual artist: Sally Storr/ Dance assistant: Ayça Turgut/ Sound Artist: Luke Wilson Future Listening is supported by Yorkshire Dance and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

Presentation

Instinctive Neighbourhood Fri 1st Jul, 14:00 - 16:30 Studio 1, Yorkshire Dance Instinctive Neighbourhood is an ongoing project, with choreography by Guilherme Miotto and music from Henk Bakker. Following a two week residency in Leeds, Instinctive Neighbourhood invite you to join them for a presentation which brings together a diverse group of people of different ages to move and create together. In this highly concentrated session, Miotto encourages residency participants to discover passions and potentials within themselves. As an audience you will be enriched with surprising encounters and unexpected insights, that will carry over to the next day and stay with you well beyond the studio doors.

Image: Eva Monen

Workshop

My Heart Goes Boom

Workshop on participatory practices with Daniele Ninarello Fri 1st Jul, 14:30 – 16:00 Studio 2, Leeds City College

My Heart Goes Boom is a reflection on collective and personal freedom, using the experience of moving together as a group as a way to experience liberation through dance. Originally commissioned by Operaestate Festival Veneto, this workshop was devised in collaboration with the research community ‘Dance Well Movement for Parkinson’s’ of Bassano del Grappa. Join Daniele Ninarello for a dynamic workshop that offers you a chance to experience what it means to find individual freedom within a group. Discover how movement creates a constant dynamic relationship with others and the space whilst also creating a form of mutual support.

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Image: © Fabio Melotti

Workshop

Călușarii here and now with Loredana Larionescu

Fri 1st Jul, 14:30 - 16:00 Studio 1, Leeds City College

Spreading the community healing factor of a UNESCO heritage Romanian folk dance Workshop with Loredana Larionescu.

Credits: Lead traditional dancer: Vladut Simulescu/ Asociatia Folclorica Valea Prahovei, Romanian Association for Dance and Movement Psychotherapy

Box Office: 0113 243 8765

A choreographed Călușarii dance will be performed, inviting participants to join a common circle dance. Join dancetherapist and member of the Romanian Association of Dance and Movement Psychotherapy,

Loredana Larionescu, for this energising workshop. Exploring and encouraging the nonverbal connections we make through dance followed by a facilitated feedback session.

Talk

Shared creative power: artistic practice in relation to health with Danielle Jones Fri 1st Jul, 15:30 – 17:00 Studio 2, Yorkshire Dance

In this panel talk, Danielle brings together dance artists from different health contexts to discuss the ecology of artistic practice in dance and health.

Image: Sara Hibbert

www.yorkshiredance.com

She will share her experience as Artistic Director of the CID Project, which since 2019 has co-created dance with dancers with Parkinson’s. The panel will discuss the impact of co-creation unpicking how the values of dance artistry can align with compassion, care and relationship in a dance and health setting.

Danielle Jones (Teale) is an artist, researcher, director, and experienced leader in dance and health. Danielle has an international reputation in the field of dance and Parkinson’s research and is a regular contributor to professional exchange and training programmes.

Performance

300,000 M/S

by Angus Balbernie & Stuart Jackson (Touchdown Dance) Fri 1st Jul, 17:30 – 18:30 Studio 3, Yorkshire Dance

300,000 M/S is a dance at the speed of light. This work-inprogress is created by Angus Balbernie and Stuart Jackson, with invited guests Tora Hed and Katy Dymoke, supported by Touchdown Dance.

Image: Courtesy of Chapter Arts Experimentia Festival

The audience are invited to leave their mobiles on, and have them ready, if possible, to play a tune or a song. Also to have a torch app, or if not, to bring a small torch. And a feather… bring feathers… Box Office: 0113 243 8765

Continuing the duo’s ongoing exploration into how we adjust (or not) to being ‘different’ and to growing older, this piece follows on from their previous work “343 M/S” (the speed of sound). 300,00 M/S is a quartet at the speed of light about The Beatles and Beethoven. About darkness and light, silence and sound. It asks why are our stories so much slower to tell, than see? And if owls fly at around 50km/h then what about the owls?

Performance

At the Brink by Emilyn Claid

Fri 1st Jul, 17:30 – 18:30 Theatre, Leeds City College Emilyn Claid, queer dance artist in her 7th decade, presents At The Brink, a work-in-progress solo performance. Following a 20-year break from performing, Emilyn has invited choreographers Heidi Rustgaard, Florence Peake and Joseph Mercier to collaborate with her to create vignettes, drawing Emilyn’s past experience as a performer, choreographer and therapist into play with current concerns of ‘presence’ in live art-dance performance.

Credits

Performer: Emilyn Claid / Artistic collaborators: Florence Peake & Heidi Rustgard / Music: Planningtorock / Producer: Sarah Trist / Production Manager: Rachel Shipp Image: Roswitha Chesher

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In this intimate and informal showing Emilyn will use movement, text and visual image to show ideas in process, followed by a talk with the audience. Between clay foot and monster, therapist and mannequin, excess and erotic, Emilyn playfully embodies queering and ageing, teasing at perceptions of what’s real and what’s imagined.

Film & Talk

An Evening with Germaine Acogny Fri 1st Jul, 19:30 – 21:30 Courtyard Theatre, Leeds Playhouse

We are honoured to host an evening with acclaimed choreographer, performer and educator, Germaine Acogny.

Germaine Acogny often known as ‘the mother of African dance’ established her first dance studio in Senegal in 1968. She has since become a

Image: Jean Lebreton

Her illustrious career saw her choreograph and act as the artistic director of numerous dance companies, including the renowned Studio-EcoleBallet-Théatre. In the mid 90s she returned to Senegal and established the School of Sands in Toubab Dialaw.

Box Office: 0113 243 8765

Join us for a screening of Iya Tunde followed by an on-stage discussion with Germaine Acogny facilitated by performer, writer and dramaturg Funmi Adewole.

major figure in dance, blending contemporary dance with traditional African styles.

Film

Iya Tunde, The Mother Came Back a documentary about Germaine Acogny

Directed by Laure Malécot, this film lifts the veil on the personality, the motivations and the route of the outstanding artist Germaine Acogny, choreographer, French-Senegalese dancer and professor of dance, at 70 years of age.

Image: Hyun Kim

Iya Tunde, is the history of the woman who achieved her dreams, and continues to overtake them.

www.yorkshiredance.com

Iya tunde, yoruba for ‘the mother came back’, is the history of roots found, woven and reinvented, of uninhibited culture, freed of colonialist rags, exceeding mental and physical borders.

Documenting the incredible impact her work has had globally, including her inspirations, the themes of her work, her international reach and collaborative approach through teaching, alongside an unwavering commitment to celebrate and value African cultures through dance.

Saturday

Box Office: 0113 243 8765

Image: Sara Teresa

Classes

Class with Daniele Ninarello Sat 2nd Jul, 9:00 – 10:00 Studio 3, Yorkshire Dance

Experience a fun and uplifting start to the day with Daniele’s unique approach to creating group choreographies. Starting from the smallest of movements, this class will build into a group experience that explores the empathic relationship between bodies as we generate group dance that involves everyone. Daniele Ninarello was an associate artist of the Lavanderia a Vapore and the International Dance Centre in Rovereto and is still supported by them.

Image: Selamawit Biruk

Class with Loredana Larionescu Sat 2nd Jul, 10:00 – 11:00 Studio 1, Leeds City College

Credits: Lead traditional dancer: Vladut Simulescu

www.yorkshiredance.com

An introduction to the Romanian ancient tradition of Călușarii, learn the basic steps and delve deeper into the history and underlying concepts that form the base of the healing role of this dance. Dancetherapist Loredana Larionescu will facilitate a graphic, written and verbal reflection at the end of the experience. Image: Konrad Mihat, CoVR Videos

Talk

Celebrating Age: In Conversation with Balbir Singh Dance Company Sat 2nd Jul, 10:00 – 11:00 Studio 2, Leeds City College

Hear from Balbir Singh Dance Company about their work, with a key focus on Celebrating Age.

Image: Malcolm Johnson

Box Office: 0113 243 8765

Learn about the process behind making The Wise Ones, their recent performance which celebrates the powerful gifts of our older people and explores the forces that have shaped them.

Find out about the making of Learning to Dance, commissioned by South Bank, featuring dance legends Namron and Guru-Puwar and about their collaborative work with ice skating Olympic competitor Gary Beacom. There will also be a sharing of a new work in progress project Older Children at Play.

Workshop

Dance for Joy Workshop with Monica Delgadillo Aguilar Sat 2nd Jul, 10:00 – 12:00 Studio 2, Yorkshire Dance

Come and play with rhythm, imagination, balance and coordination. This workshop invites us to develop a spirit of experimentation and to discover different aspects of time, space, energy and flow with our body.

Image: Rodrigo Courtney

Monica Delgadillo Aguilar is a dancer, choreographer and artistic director of Tanz die Toleranz.

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After the contemporary dance warm-up, dive into the magic of improvisation as a means for creative exchange with others and develop your own individual vocabulary of movements and express yourself in a non-judgmental space.

This workshop will also give an insight into Monica´s practice in participatory dance projects and her work with large groups creating choreographic work in co-creation with participants.

Workshop

Masterclass

With Germaine Acogny Sat 2nd Jul, 10:00 – 12:00 Studio 1, Yorkshire Dance Join festival headliner Germaine Acogny for this special masterclass. Germaine’s teaching is based on her modern African dance technique, a synthesis of traditional dances from West Africa (Sahel and the forest region) and Western contemporary dances.

Image: Antoine Tempé

Box Office: 0113 243 8765

The masterclass will explore movements from the Germaine Acogny technique which are inspired by nature - plants or animals, and also by elements of daily life in Africa.

Performance

Strike a Pose

Pop up Performance Fri 1st & Sat 2nd Jul, lunchtime This pop up performance rolls out the red carpet and playfully explores catwalks, voguing culture and inspirational octogenarians like Vivienne Westwood, Al Pacino and Tom Jones. Following a lockdown where older adults were portrayed as vulnerable and encouraged to stay at home Strike a Pose uses playful choreography and humour to challenge stereotypes and celebrate the older body in all its forms.

Strike a Pose is inspired by an idea from TC Howard and choreographed by Rachel Fullegar and Kate Cox (of Gracefool Collective) and performed by a cast of 50 non- professional older adults from across Leeds. Strike a Pose will pop up during lunch on both days of the festival.

www.yorkshiredance.com

Image: Paula Solloway

Films

Ageless Film Screening Sat 2nd Jul, 11:30 – 13:00 Studio 3, Yorkshire Dance Sit down, relax and enjoy four short films accompanied by breakfast refreshments. The films explore our relationship with age and the body, creating intimate portraits that comment on visibility, beauty, our relationship with ourselves and others. The showing will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers.

Twenty, Forty, Sixty (2018) Gillian (2021) by Kabecca Films

Image: Kabecca Films and Sophie Newton

For Ageless festival they present their most recent film ‘Gillian’ funded by Arts Council England, alongside ‘Twenty, Forty, Sixty’ both of which are part of a mini short film series that they are in the process of developing, that aims to increase the representation of fifty-plus women onscreen and celebrate and explore their relationship to dance and the impact it has on mental and physical wellbeing.

Box Office: 0113 243 8765

Katie and Rebecca DaleEverett are the producers and creatives behind Kabecca Films, a platform from which they generate thought-provoking short films, live works, and outreach projects that explore film and dance as both a choreographic medium and tool to creatively share other people’s experiences.

Films

Taken by the Hand

Collective IDentity (CID)

by Elizabeth Rose Arifien

by Danielle Jones & Jaka Škapin

Opposing the zeitgeist of youth, ‘Taken by the Hand’ looks towards age to celebrate our elders and hear an honest take on their place within society.

CID brings visibility to the artistry of dancers with Parkinson’s. During 2021, Artistic Director Danielle Jones (Teale) and Music Director Jaka Škapin visited the homes of dancers with Parkinson’s across the country inviting them to improvise a dance within their home, drawing on stories and experiences from their lives as inspiration. The resulting film is an honest, intimate, and jubilant look at life, the body, and the domestic space.

‘Taken By The Hand’ is a collection of five worlds colliding for one unifying dance. Our movement represents time, its passage and its impact, our emotive performance speckled with messages of community. An unapologetic account of life, set to the backdrop of Tottenham. Choreographer & Creative Director: Elizabeth Arifien

Image: Tom Sloan

Performance

Intergenerational Double Bill Sat 2nd Jul, 14:00 – 16:00 Courtyard Theatre, Leeds Playhouse The double bill will be followed by a post-show talk with Katy Hewison, TC Howard, Guilherme Miotto and Henk Bakker about co-production with communities.

Improplay by Katy Hewison

With live music, this dance work is influenced and inspired by Katy’s memories dancing with her Nanny and family. Celebrating those who inspired and continue to inspire us daily.

Image: Elly Welford

Credits: Music: Wilfred Kimber/ Dancers: Tora Hed, Inari Hulkkonen, Katy Hewison, James Olivo, Rachel Sullivan / Community Cast Support: Molly Watson / Access Support & Producer: Amy Dalton Hardy / Costume Print: Andi Walker With thanks to all individuals in our community cast and their families. Supported by Yorkshire Dance & Leeds Inspired.

Box Office: 0113 243 8765

A celebration of care. Cherishing imagination to support movement & heartwarming dancing across all ages. Intergenerational Improplay unites individuals from across Leeds to create and perform together using dance improvisation and play.

In Your Shoes by Company of People & TC Howard

This devised piece of dance theatre is created by Company of People, an intergenerational group rooted in the communities of Chapeltown Image: Yorkshire Dance

and Harehills in Leeds, the group has created the work through the sharing of stories, starting from the feet up. Company of People sits within a wider project called ‘Performing Gender Dancing in your shoes’ which aims to develop choreographic practice through a co-design approach with communities across 8 different countries Credits: Choreographic contributors: Izzy Brittain and Kate Cox

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We’ve walked in each other’s shoes and tried them on for size, we’ve put our best foot forward, filled our boots and are waiting for the other shoe to drop. We’ve balanced on a shoe string and followed each other’s lead; we’ve not let the grass grow. We’ve tripped the light fantastic, had the rug pulled from under, been the last one standing and been the first to our feet. You can’t put the same shoe on every foot but you can put yourself in someone else’s.

Performance

Because I Can by Eva Recacha

Sat 2nd Jul, 17:00 – 18:00 Theatre, Leeds City College Because I Can is a delicate dance solo made by Eva Recacha exploring notions of power, memory and growing old. The work features performer Lauren Potter and a soundscape by sound artist Alberto Ruiz Soler. The audience witnesses the performer revisit various memories, her presence becoming an ode to a quiet yet liberating rebelliousness

Image: Roswitha Chesher

that turns intimacy into a tower of power. Because I Can is commissioned by The Place and SED and supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

Join us to celebrate

Yorkshire Dance’s 40th birthday 2 Dec 2022

Performance Closing Party& Exhibition

The Royale Dancehall Flamingos – Live! by PC*DC

Sat 2nd Jul, 19:00 – Until late Studio 3, Yorkshire Dance

The #DancehallFlamingos have been hibernating alone for a year slowly working on their plumage. Now, a flock is formed… Join the flock as PC*DC (Posh Club Dance Club) close the Ageless Festival.

In this flamazing event, you’ll get to see the Royale Dancehall Flamingos flock in full, have the opportunity

Image by: Holly Revell

Credits: Starring: Jeannie McCaffrey, Barbara Layne, June Power, Daphne Wells, Donald Hutera, Angela Roach, Maybeline Dick, Dahlia Douglas, Kate Marshall, Princess Braithwaite, Ruth Hodinson, Olivea MacDonaldSmith and Barbara Stevenson / Artistic Director: H Plewis / Choreography: H Plewis, Azara Meghie and the dancers / Produced by Athenoula Bartley in association with Duckie and The Posh Club.

Box Office: 0113 243 8765

A joyful celebration of older age, the flamingos subvert the loneliness experienced by many during lockdown. The dancers slowly begin to stretch their wings, cock their legs, dream, dance and break free.

to become a Dancehall Flamingo, celebrate the Ageless festival and get down. Think whining nanas, hot pink leotards, TikTok dance challenges and fierce, fabulous fun.

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Timetable Event type

Venue

Class with Villmore James (1hr) Class with Balbir Singh (1hr)

10:00 10:00

Class Class

S1, YD S2, LCC

Class with Alex Pickford (1hr)

10:00

Class

Outside

Dancing With Your Grandparents (1hr)

10:00

Workshop

S1, LCC

Welcome Event with Wendy Houstoun (1.5hrs) Future Listening Installation (30 mins)

11:30 13:00 – 15:00

Ageless Welcome Installation

Courtyard LP S2, YD

Instinctive Neighbourhood