Press Release: Northern Ballet - Spotlight on dance through digital

[Jan McNulty]

 

For immediate release

7 February 2018

 

Northern Ballet puts the spotlight on dance through digital

Company invests in nurturing emerging choreographic and filmmaker talent

 

 

Northern Ballet is providing a unique platform for emerging choreographers and filmmakers to join forces to explore dance through digital. Over a four-week Choreographic Workshop 10 dancers from Northern Ballet will have the opportunity to experiment with the creation of narrative dance, working alongside budding dance filmmakers to play with new concepts and techniques for capturing dance. With the dance industry under increasing pressure to offer more work through digital platforms to diversify and increase accessibility of the art form, Northern Ballet’s pioneering Choreographic Workshop takes a forward-thinking approach to investing in the future of the industry.

 

This Choreographic Workshop marks the first time that Northern Ballet has invited emerging dance filmmakers to play a part in the workshops offering a unique opportunity for collaboration. Through the workshop Northern Ballet is investing in the career development of the filmmakers and the Company’s dancers, as well as providing them with future-proof choreography skills. The objectives of this collaboration are to enable emerging choreographers to consider work for contexts other than the live stage; explore how dance is created and performed differently for a digital audience; and contribute to the improvement of how dance is represented in digital.

 

The Choreographic Workshop is co-curated by Northern Ballet’s Artistic Director David Nixon OBE and Kenneth Tindall, former Northern Ballet Premier Dancer turned award-winning choreographer of Casanova. The company also received workshops in approaches to choreography led by guests Ana Catalina Román Horcajo, who has staged many productions by leading choreographer William Forsythe around the globe; and Andrej Petrovic, Choreographic Assistant to internationally celebrated choreographer Akram Khan.

 

The Choreographic Workshop will culminate in a sharing by the choreographers of the work created throughout the four-week process. The sharing takes place at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre, Leeds on Saturday 24 February 2018 at 6.30pm. Tickets cost £8 and are available to book at theatreleeds.com or by calling the Box Office on 0113 220 8008.

  

Notes to Editors

 

Northern Ballet

 

Artistic Director – David Nixon OBE

 

Northern Ballet is one of the UK’s leading ballet companies and the widest touring ballet company in the UK. Bold and innovative in its approach, Northern Ballet is prolific at creating new full-length work with a unique blend of strong classical technique and world-class storytelling. Northern Ballet’s repertoire embraces popular culture and takes inspiration from literature, legend, opera and the classics, pushing the boundaries of what stories can be told through dance.

 

A champion for the cultural exports of the North, Leeds-based Northern Ballet is dedicated to bringing world-class story ballets to as many people and places as possible, under the leadership of Artistic Director David Nixon OBE. Northern Ballet’s Company of 47 dancers performs a combination of its full-length ballets and specially created ballets for children at almost 50 venues annually.

 

For more details of Northern Ballet's tour, on sale dates and booking information, please visit northernballet.com/whatson

 

National Tour Sponsor