Press Release: les ballets C de la B returns to Sadler's Wells this summer

[Jan McNulty]

UK PREMIERE 
Alain Platel - les ballets C de la B 
nicht schlafen
 

Sadler’s Wells, EC1R 4TN
Friday 30 June & Saturday 1 July 2017
Performances at 7.30pm
Tickets: £20
Ticket Office: 020 7863 8000 or www.sadlerswells.com

Unclassifiable Alain Platel, the trailblazing founder and director of Belgian contemporary dance collective les ballets C de la B, returns to Sadler’s Wellsfor the London premiere of his new work, nicht schlafen on Friday 30 June & Saturday 1 July.

Motivated by the music of Gustav Mahler and the time the composer lived in, Platel draws parallels between the music and the troubled early years of the 20th century in Europe which ultimately led to the great crisis of the First World War. He uses cultural study Change and Culture in the West, 1900-1914 by the historian Philipp Blom as inspiration for nicht schlafen, featuring eight male and one female dancer.

Platel collaborates once again with composer Steven Prengels, who creates a soundscape using samples of natural sounds including cowbells and the sounds of sleeping animals and other elements from our everyday surroundings, but also incorporates the polyphony of the Congolese singers Boule Mpanya and Russell Tshiebua. Visual artist Berlinde De Bruyckere, whose sculptures of dead horses piled up in a jumbled heap are placed around the stage. This is the first time Platel and De Bruyckere have collaborated and both share an interest in exploring themes of suffering and death.

Founded in Ghent, Belgium in 1984, les ballets C de la B is one of the most influential performing arts companies in Europe, described as ‘cacophonous, many-headed dance-theatre collective whose performances careen between surrealism, social psychology, slapstick and semiotics’ (The Guardian). Travelling the world with an eclectic mix of contemporary dance, text, theatre and music, the company has provided a platform for the artistic development of artists, such as Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Sidi Labi Cherakoui and Hans van den Broeck.

Other les ballets C de la B productions at Sadler’s Wells include Wolf (2004) performed with 14 dogs on stage; Out of Context – For Pina (2010) which explored themes of hysteria and madness through movement; Lisi Estaras's Primero (2010), inspired by her own attempts to recall her childhood years; Coup Fatal (2015) performed by Congolese sapeurs and En avant, marche!(2016) performed with a brass band.

Listings:
UK PREMIERE
Alain Platel - les ballets C de la B
nicht schlafen
Sadler’s Wells, EC1R 4TN
Friday 30 June & Saturday 1 July 2017
Performances at 7.30pm
Tickets: £20
Ticket Office: 020 7863 8000 or www.sadlerswells.com

Notes to Editors: 
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 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 130 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, an Associate Company and three International Associate Companies. It also nurtures the next generation of talent through research and development, running the National Youth Dance Company and a range of programmes including Wild Card, New Wave Associates, Open Art Surgery and Summer University.

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 9% of its revenue from Arts Council England. 

ABOUT C DE LA B
les ballets C de la B (Ghent-Belgium) was founded by Alain Platel in 1984. Since then it has become a company that enjoys great success at home and abroad. Over the years it has developed into an artistic platform for a variety of choreographers. The company still keeps to its principle of enabling artists from various disciplines and backgrounds to take part in this dynamic creative process. As a result of its ‘unique mixture of artistic visions’, les ballets C de la B is not easy to classify. It is nevertheless possible to discern something like a house style (popular, anarchic, eclectic, committed), and its motto is ‘this dance is for the world and the world is for everyone’.