Press Release: Paris' bi-annual two-day competition - Danse Elargie at Sadler's Wells

[Jan McNulty]

UK PREMIERE

Danse Élargie
Dance Expanded
Sadler’s Wells, EC1R 4TN 
Friday 11 & Saturday 12 October
Performances: 7:30pm
Tickets: £20 - £25
Ticket Office: 020 7863 8000 or www.sadlerswells.com   

 

Co-devised by French choreographer Boris Charmatz, theatre director Emmanuel Demarcy Mota and Fondation d’entreprise Hermès, Sadler’s Wells presents the UK premiere of seven works from Paris’ bi-annual two-day competition Danse Élargie on 11 & 12 October.

 

From August - November, dance from France and francophone countries features across the UK, with 50 performances across 9 major cities. Sadler’s Wells is one of the 16 partners of FranceDance UK and presents four works as part of its Autumn season: Preljocaj’s La Fresque (30 September - 2 October), CROWD by Gisele Vienne (8 & 9 October), Danse Élargie: Dance Expanded (11 & 12 October) and Emanuel Gat’s WORKS (11 & 12 November).

 

Working across all disciplines within visual and performing arts, contestants are invited to create a work which must be under 10 minutes long and include at least three performers. The contest is hosted at the acclaimed Théâtre de la Ville and during the fifth edition in 2018, received 460 applicants from 70 countries. The fifth edition welcomed 18 finalists with five prizes: first, second and third prize, plus Youth Jury and Technicians prizes. The competition is an important reference point in the artistic calendar for emerging international artists.

Danse Élargie: Dance Expanded has been curated by Sadler’s Wells in homage to the two-day competition and showcases three winners from the most recent edition (2018). The first is the winning act by former Sadler’s Wells Wild Card curator, Kwame Asafo-Adjei, with his cinematic work Family Honour. Drawing on his heritage and experience of growing up in London, his work draws on issues such as cultural hierarchy and its impact on society as well as the concept of identity within black culture. Artistic Director of Breakin’ Convention and Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Jonzi D has mentored Asafo-Adjei since 2012. This year, he was awarded the hip hop Arts Foundation Futures Award and Family Honour most recently won the Rotterdam International Duet Choreography Competition for a section of the work and the Copenhagen International Choreography Competition.

 

Next up is Franco-Belgian artist Elsa Chêne whose playfully sinister work MUR/MER draws on inspiration from Martin Parr’s photography of overcrowded artificial beaches. Chêne presents a beach performance without landscape to ask ‘what would a beach be like if the sea was replaced by a wall?’. MUR/MER, which translates as wall/sea, came second place in the 2018 competition.

Third place and winner of the Technicians prize comes from house-dance specialist and choreographer, Ousmane Sy. His work Queen Blood explores the uniqueness of women to deploy their technical virtuosities and individuality to reveal or question what femininity can be. The work is built from the seven different dancers backgrounds and experiences.

 

The four other performances come from a pick of finalists. The winner of the Youth Jury Prize is South Korean artist Jusung Lee with Eye; Franco-German Clémentine Vanlerberghe and Italian Fabritia D'Intino examine group representations of femininity seen through history in Plubel; Italian artist Pietro Marullo’s Wreck - List of Extinct Species fills the stage with a black soft sculpture to present a multidisciplinary performance.

 

The seventh act comes from 2016’s winner, (LA) Horde, presenting its jumpstyle To Da Bone. The Parisian collective comprises of contemporary, commercial, acrobatic performers and has a growing reputation for its interdisciplinary dance productions. The company is best known for its frequent collaborations with Chris, formerly known as Christine and the Queens.

 

Listing information:
UK PREMIERE
Danse Élargie
Dance Expanded
Sadler’s Wells, EC1R 4TN
Performances at 7:30pm
Tickets: £20 - £25
Ticket Office: 020 7863 8000 or www.sadlerswells.com

 

Notes to Editors

 

ABOUT SADLER’S WELLS

Sadler's Wells is a world-leading creative organisation dedicated to dance in all its forms. With over three centuries of theatrical heritage and a year-round programme of performances and learning activities, it is the place where artists come together to create dance, and where people of all backgrounds come to experience it – to take part, learn, experiment and be inspired.

 

Audiences of over half a million come to its London theatres each year, with many more enjoying its touring productions at venues across the UK and around the world, and accessing its content through digital channels.

 

Sadler's Wells commissions, produces and presents more new dance work than any other theatre in the world, embracing the popular and the unknown. Since 2005, it has helped to bring over 160 new dance works to the stage, many of them involving its 16 Associate Artists, three Resident Companies and four Associate Companies – the most exciting talents working in dance today.

 

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. Sadler's Wells' learning and engagement activities reach over 25,000 annually through programmes that take dance out into the community and invite communities into the theatre. Projects include community productions and the renowned Company of Elders, its resident over-60s performance group, while events range from pre and post-show talks with dance artists to classes, workshops and assisted performances.

 

Located in Islington, north London, the current building is the sixth to have stood on site since entrepreneur Richard Sadler first established the theatre 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 having all started at Sadler's Wells.

www.sadlerswells.com
 

About FranceDance UK
Launched by the Institut Français, FranceDance UK is a unique contemporary dance festival running from August - November 2019. 16 leading institutions throughout the UK hosts over 50 performances by 14 young and promising French artists. With a focus on creation and innovation, the festival highlights the diversity and work of female choreographers, many of whom are presenting in the UK for the first time.

 

Partners of FranceDance UK: 

Ace Dance and Music Birmingham, Belfast International Arts Festival, Birmingham Hippodrome, Brighton Dome, Dance4 Nottingham, Dance International Glasgow, Dance Umbrella, Edinburgh International Festival, In Between Time Festival Bristol, Linbury Theatre, Scottish Dance Theatre, Siobhan Davies Dance, Southbank Centre, The Coronet Theatre, The Lowry

www.institut-francais.org.uk/francedanceuk