PRESS RELEASE: Dance GB: 3 National Dance Companies, 1 unforgettable experience

[Jan McNulty]

PRESS RELEASE: 24 May 2012

 

Dance GB: 3 National Dance Companies, 1 unforgettable experience

A ground-breaking national celebration of dance inspired by the London 2012 Olympics

 

 

Dance GB, UK Tour 19 June - 8 July

 

The UK’s three national dance companies - Scottish Ballet, English National Ballet and National Dance Company Wales, will perform together for the first time in a Olympian inspired programme featuring three specially commissioned works from leading contemporary choreographers. Dance GB premières in Glasgow before touring to Cardiff and London.

 

 

Scottish Ballet: Run For It

Set to the propulsive rhythms of John Adams’ Son of Chamber Symphony, Martin Lawrance’s Run For It is a high energy work inspired by the power of Olympic athletes. This dynamic piece features a striking sculptural installation created by Glasgow-born visual artist Martin Boyce built on an aesthetic concept sparked by creative workshops with the Company, and which was further developed into his recent Turner Prize winning piece.

 

”I’m working on movement-base phrases that represent the discus, the pole vault and more and with the dancers seeing how we can translate this into dance terms. The piece will start and end with a real fast tracked energy but there is also a beautiful slow movement in the middle. I want to show the resistance and determination; the muscularity of an athlete.” Martin Lawrance.

 

 

National Dance Company Wales: New Work

With sly musical references to Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean’s sensational 1984 Sarajevo Olympics win, Christopher Bruce’s piece is a heartfelt tribute to the sporting bravado and a tongue-in-cheek celebration of this event. Bruce’s witty and powerful piece weaves together both the London 2012 Olympics and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in a unique piece celebrating the sheer enjoyment of physical movement.

 

 

English National Ballet: And the Earth Shall Bear Again

The finale And the Earth Shall Bear Again is provided by celebrated choreographer Itzik Galili’s. Inspired by John Cage’s prepared music for piano, Galili’s piece attempts to turn Cage’s rich and versatile music into an extraordinary but accessible piece of dance. It promises to be a challenging piece of choreography, asking a lot of the dancers who are using the bodies in a very new way. “The title sounds epic and enigmatic”, says Galili, “2012 is a year of many beginnings, with potential for new world records...To me, it’s like the earth having its birth again.”

 

 

Get Involved

As part of Dance GB Scottish Ballet will be hosting a special Family Dance Challenge Day (Saturday 16 June) and a Youth Dance Challenge Day (Sunday 17 June) at the Company’s Headquarters at Tramway, Glasgow when participants can take part in a fun and creative dance workshop to challenge their strength and agility with a range of exciting Body Works Sports Stations.

 

 

Going Live

To celebrate this unique coming together, there will be a live broadcast of company class with all three Companies broadcast live online at www.dancegb.co.uk at 1.30pm on Friday 22 June from the Peter Darrell Studio at Scottish Ballet’s headquarters. The class will be followed by a Q&A session with dancers from each company, giving viewers the chance to answer questions live online. Tweet your questions @ScottishBallet or #DanceGB

 

 

 

Editors Notes

Screened with the performances is Dancing Parallel, an awe-inspiring film created and directed by Nic Sandiland featuring 60 young dancers from England, Scotland and Wales on a journey through classical ballet, contemporary dance and parkour. The young performers have created site-specific choreography drawing inspiration from the contrasting environments of their home cities. The Dancing Parallel project is part of Big Dance 2012, which is part of the London 2012 Festival.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dance GB Listings

Scottish Ballet, Tramway, 25 Albert Drive, Glasgow

16 June Dance GB Family Challenge Day (£4 per person)

17 June Youth Challenge Day (£15 per person including a ticket to Dance GB)

For more information or to book tickets please call 0141 331 2931 or email christine.halsall@scottishballet.co.uk

 

Glasgow Theatre Royal

19-23 June 7.30pm, 23 June 2.30pm, Tickets from £12, Box Office 0844 871 7647

 

Wales Millennium Centre

26 - 30 June 7.30pm, 30 June 2.30pm

 

The Big Top Tent, the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, London

4 – 7 July, 7.30pm, 8 July, 2.30pm

 

For further information please check www.dancegb.co.uk

[alison]

I must admit that I'm still slightly baffled as to why these 3 companies qualify as "the UK’s three national dance companies" - just because they have (more or less) the countries' names in their titles? Have they been awarded some major accolade that I'm not aware of?

[Jan McNulty]

I can't comment on ENB but both Scottish Ballet and NDCW are touted as the national company of Scotland and Wales respectively and blummin' good they are too. As, of course, is ENB.

[alison]

I guess I was just wondering why ENB got the nod over, say, BRB or NB. Plus I would expect that most foreign visitors even vaguely interested in dance would regard the RB as "England's" national company.