Press Release: Wild Card invites: The Palest Light by Pepa Unbera, 3 & 4 March 2016

[Jan McNulty]

Wild Card invites: The Palest Light

Curated by Pepa Ubera

Lilian Baylis Studio, EC1R
Thursday 3 & Friday 4 March 2016
Performances: Thu & Fri at 8pm
Tickets: £17
Ticket Office: 020 7863 8000 or www.sadlerswells.com

 

Sadler’s Wells Wild Card returns with more bespoke evenings curated by a new generation of dance makers. This edition takes a different shape, inviting The Palest Light, an existing night of performance curated by choreographer Pepa Ubera to the Lilian Baylis Studio on Thursday 3 and Friday 4 March 2016

 

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The evening is an opportunity for audiences to immerse themselves in work by artists whose idea of choreography expands to different mediums and experiences. It will include a rare performance of Togethering by through-provoking French choreographer Alice Chauchat, a sound bath experience to activate the audiences’ senses and a performance by Ubera herself in collaboration with Josefina Camus in Ellipsis Land, questioning how we relate to the virtual world. 

 

About the evening, Ubera said: “The Palest Light started as an evening of performance in 2013. As a dance artist attracted to exploration, I was driven to share what I found exciting from the artistic scene of East London where I live and work. The evening then evolved over five different iterations, during which time I discovered that a belief in poetic thinking and imagination is key to my curatorial approach. This edition of the Palest Light is about creating a shared moment that is socially aware and artistically curious, hopefully challenging how people usually relate to what they experience.” 

 

Originally from a classical background, Ubera trained in Spain before moving to London to study at London Contemporary Dance School. For the past ten years, she has worked as a freelance dancer, deviser and choreographer with a variety of artists both in the UK and abroad (Jose Vidal, Tom Dale, Karavan Ensemble, 30 Bird Productions). Most recently, she presented work at Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (2015) and Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre (Mirror City 2014, in collaboration with Giuliana Majo). She performs and choreographs for Secret Cinema and with music band Bunty Looping (Battersea Arts Centre, 2015). In July 2015, Ubera was selected as one of 21 new participants to attend Sadler’s Wells Summer University over four years. Led by choreographer Jonathan Burrows, the programme is aimed at dance artists active in their field at the earlier stages of their career. 

 

Between 2013 and 2015, Ubera was a core member of TripSpace Projects, an artist run dance space in East London, where she was one of the curators, helping launch the venue as a key place for innovation in the independent dance scene. This experience impacted her own work as a dance maker, piquing her interest in how the act of choreography can expand into curation. For her, this means fostering a community and questioning the political potential of performance. Central to that is erasing the separation between performers and the audience. “I want to create collective experiences that empower the individual, challenge the idea of participation and highlight the context they exist in”, she said

 

Pre-show activities from 7pm and extra content to be announced. See sadlerswells.com for details.

 

Notes to Editors

 

Listings information

Wild Card invites: The Palest Light
Curated by Pepa Ubera
Lilian Baylis Studio, EC1R
Thursday 3 & Friday 4 March 2016
Performances: Thu & Fri at 8pm
Tickets: £17
Ticket Office: 020 7863 8000 or www.sadlerswells.com

 

ABOUT WILD CARD
Wild Card is the unique initiative providing a glimpse of the rich variety of work that makes up the current dance landscape. Increasingly popular with audiences and artists alike, Wild Card opens the stage to an exciting and adventurous community of dance makers, giving a broad range of artists the unique opportunity to curate their own programmes of dance. These specially curated evenings feature exploratory approaches to choreography and combine different mediums, broadening audiences’ perspectives on dance made today.

 

Wild Card is part of Sadler’s Wells’ programme of support for young and emerging dance talent, alongside other initiatives including the New Wave Associates programme, Sadler’s Wells Summer University and hosting the National Youth Dance Company.

ABOUT SADLER’S WELLS
Sadler's Wells is a world-leading dance house, committed to producing, commissioning and presenting new works and to bringing the very best international and UK dance to London and worldwide audiences. Under the Artistic Directorship of Alistair Spalding, the theatre’s acclaimed year-round programme spans dance of every kind, from contemporary to flamenco, Bollywood to ballet, salsa to street dance and tango to tap. Since 2005 it has helped to bring over 90 new dance works to the stage and its award-winning commissions and collaborative productions regularly tour internationally. Sadler’s Wells supports 16 Associate Artists, three Resident Companies and an Associate Company and nurtures the next generation of talent through hosting the National Youth Dance Company, its Summer University programme, Wild Card initiative and its New Wave Associates.

 

Located in Islington, north London, the current theatre is the sixth to have stood on the site since it was first built by Richard Sadler in 1683. The venue has played an illustrious role in the history of theatre ever since, with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Opera all having started at Sadler’s Wells.

 

Sadler’s Wells is an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation and currently receives approximately 10% of its revenue from Arts Council England.