PRESS RELEASE: Sadler's Wells - Toni Jodar Modern Dance Speaks!

[Jan McNulty]

Toni Jodar

Modern Dance Speaks!

Lilian Baylis Studio, EC1R

Wednesday 7 & Thursday 8 November 2012

Performances at 7.15pm

Tickets: £10

Ticket Office: 0844 412 4300 www.sadlerswells.com

 

 

First presented in the foyer of the Mercat de les Flors Theatre in Barcelona a decade ago, Toni Jodar’s Modern Dance Speaks!comes to the intimate setting of Sadler's Wells' Lilian Baylis Studio from Wednesday 7 & Thursday 8 November 2012.

 

Jodar’s humorous show is a journey into the history of dance through the medium of dance itself. Using a combination of performance and storytelling, audiences are shown the evolution of the art form from classical through to contemporary as Jodar explains the different genres and forms that the body uses to express itself in movement. He also reveals the influence and legacy of each generation on the artists that have followed.

 

Modern Dance Speaks! was created by Jodar in 2002 after sensing the audience’s need to know and understand dance, particularly contemporary dance, more thoroughly through the perspective of a professional dancer.

 

The show is both light-hearted and informative with the aim of making dance more accessible to all reflecting Jodar’s philosophies that dance can, and should, be open to everyone. Modern Dance Speaks! takes the perspective of the mature dancer with the intention of showing that with age a dancer can continue to perform and have stage presence, though physically the body may no longer as capable as it once was.

 

Modern Dance Speaks! received a special mention for the Performing Arts Award at the Ciutat de Barcelona Prize 2002 and the APDC prize (Professional Association Dance Award of Catalonia) in 2006.

 

One of the most significant contemporary dancers in Catalonia and the Spanish State, Toni Jodar trained as a dancer in both Catalonia and New York. He belongs to a group of artists who developed Catalonia as a region famous for leading the way in contemporary dance during the 1980s.

 

During his 25 year career as an artist, performer and dance teacher, Jodar has given over 900 performances worldwide. He has performed with the Spanish contemporary dance company Gelabert-Azzopardi and many Spanish theatre companies, including Dagoll Dagom; Comediants and La Fura dels Baus. He is currently assistant director at Gelabert-Azzopardi and choreographs for the Spanish musician Carles Santos.