Press Release - BalletBoyz celebrate 20 years with brand new work Deluxe at Sadler's Wells and on UK Tour for Spring 2020

[Jan McNulty]

 

BalletBoyz® presents
DELUXE

• BALLETBOYZ ANNOUNCE BRAND NEW SHOW DELUXE AS THE COMPANY ENTERS ITS 20TH YEAR IN 2020
   
• THE NEW PROGRAMME BRINGS TOGETHER MAJOR ARTISTS FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE, INCLUDING THE UK DEBUT OF SHANGHAI-BASED CHOREOGRAPHER XIE XIN WITH MUSIC BY ELECTRONIC COMPOSER JIANG SHAOFENG, AND PUNCHDRUNK CHOREOGRAPHER MAXINE DOYLE IN A COLLABORATION WITH MERCURY PRIZE-NOMINATED JAZZ MUSICIAN CASSIE KINOSHI
   
• PLAYING SADLER’S WELLS FROM 25 – 27 MARCH 2020 AS PART OF A UK TOUR FROM 1 MARCH THROUGH TO MAY 2020
   
• IN AUTUMN 2020, BALLETBOYZ WILL UNDERTAKE A MAJOR NEW DIGITAL PROJECT FOLLOWING THEIR AWARD-WINNING DANCE FILMS YOUNG MEN AND RECENTLY NOMINATED ROMEO AND JULIET 

To celebrate their 20th year, BalletBoyz return in Spring 2020 with an all-new, live dance show Deluxe which fuses beautiful dance with original music in the company’s unique and unmistakable style, including collaborations from some of the world’s most inventive and thought-provoking choreographers and composers. Deluxe will embark on a nationwide UK tour from March to May, including three shows at London’s Sadler’s Wells between 25 and 27 March. Deluxe is a co-production with Sadler’s Wells. 

 

Deluxe will see Shanghai-based dancer and choreographer Xie Xin (TAO Dance Theatre, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Eastman) make her UK debut choreographing a new piece for BalletBoyz set to an original score by composer Jiang Shaofeng, whilst Maxine Doyle (Punchdrunk) will present work to live jazz music by composer Cassie Kinoshi, of the Mercury Prize-nominated SEED Ensemble.

 

Over the last 20 years BalletBoyz has made 38 pieces of new work for the stage, won 13 international awards, and collaborated with 25 choreographers, ranging from some of the world’s finest and most established to emerging and unknown choreographers including Christopher Wheeldon, Akram Khan, Kristen McNally, Matthew Bourne and Liv Lorent to name a few. 

 

BalletBoyz continues to be celebrated across four continents by audiences and critics alike; the company has performed their work more than 400 times around the UK and in 13 countries across the world, with over 350,000 people having seen one of their productions over the last 20 years. Many people have also attended their regular dance workshops and classes for both children and adults, including specialised classes for people with learning disabilities and Parkinson’s, held at their studios in Kingston. 

 

The current BalletBoyz Company includes: Joseph Barton, Benjamin Knapper, Harry Price, Liam Riddick, Matthew Sandiford and Bradley Waller.

 

BalletBoyz Artistic Directors Michael Nunn and William Trevitt said:

“Deluxe is going to be a night of entertaining and thought-provoking theatre that’s been 20 years in the making. The beauty of our job has always been about finding and pursuing extraordinary talent and sharing that with as many people as we can. It’s that simple.”

 

Maxine Doyle is an independent choreographer and director. Since 2002 she has been Associate Director and choreographer for Punchdrunk with whom she co-directed the multi-award-winning Sleep No More (London, Boston, New York, Shanghai), The Drowned Man, Faust and Masque of the Red Death to name a few. She has an MA in choreography from the Laban Centre and was Artistic Director of First Person Dance Company from 1996 – 2003 touring works such as Deja Deux, In the Face of a Stranger, Plastic Chill and It’s Only a Gameshow. In 2006 she was a Place Prize semi-finalist with Forest. Her work for theatre includes Evening at the Talk House (NT), Electra (Old Vic), The Changeling, Hamlet (Young Vic), The Children’s Hour (West End), Timon of Athens (The Globe) and Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (National Theatre). Opera includes Faust (Baden Baden) and The Cunning Little Vixen (Glyndebourne). Maxine is a regular principle artist at Springboard Danse Montreal creating Hubris, Electric Sheep and Miss D. Most recently Maxine has been collaborating on her first feature film Mari.

 

Xie Xin is an award-winning dancer and choreographer based in Shanghai where she founded the Xiexin Dance Theater school in 2014. She has worked with a variety of dance companies including Tao Dance Theatre, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui for Eastman, Guangdong Modern Dance Company, Jin Xing Dance Theatre and Face2Face. She has won numerous awards for her creations including Best Performance in the Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition, Silver and most popular work in the 29th Hanover International Choreographic Competition and Gold Prize in the 13th Seoul International Dance Competition.

 

Cassie Kinoshi is a Mercury Award nominated and Ivors Academy Award winning London-based composer, arranger and alto-saxophonist. She is currently working in theatre, film, contemporary dance and both the jazz and classical performance worlds. Cassie is best known for her work with her large ensemble SEED, Afrobeat band KOKOROKO and jazz septet NÉRIJA. Theatre composition credits include:  Top Girls (National Theatre), All The Shit I Can’t Say To My Dad, Blue Beneath My Skin (This Is Black, Bunker Theatre), SuperBlackMan (Battersea Arts), Pagans, Exceptional Mercy, Hy Brasil (Old Vic Theatre, Old Vic 12). Awards and nominations include:  Mercury Award Nominee 2019 (Driftglass, SEED Ensemble), Jazz FM Breakthrough Act of the Year Winner 2019, Ivors Academy Award Winner 2018, Best Jazz Composition for Large Ensemble (Afronaut, SEED Ensemble), Parliamentary Jazz Award 2017 for Best Newcomer (Nérija), Jazz FM Breakthrough Act of the Year Nominee 2016 (Nérija), BBC Young Composer of the Year Nominee 2012. 

 

Deluxe will have its first performance at Glasgow Theatre Royal on 1 March and will tour toDarlington Hippodrome, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Blackpool Grand, Leicester Curve, Dundee Rep, Poole Lighthouse, Worthing Connaught, Sadler’s Wells, Exeter Northcott, Richmond Theatre, Yeovil Octagon, Bradford Alhambra, York Grand Opera House, Portsmouth New Theatre Royal, Cheltenham Everyman, Wycombe Swan and Warwick Arts Centre with further venues to be announced. 

 

Tickets for Deluxe at Sadler’s Wells are available from www.sadlerswells.com and for the tour via individual venue websites. 
 

DIGITAL PROJECTS 

BalletBoyz is known worldwide for its ground-breaking live performances, films and TV appearances. This Autumn, Artistic Directors Michael Nunn and William Trevitt present Romeo and Juliet, an unprecedented feature film with The Royal Ballet dancers in Kenneth MacMillan’s original choreography with full screening details to be announced. Following the international success of Young Men, which aired on BBC2 on Christmas Day 2016 and was awarded the Rose d’Or and a Golden Prague, Michael and William are delighted to announce that they’ll be working on a brand new digital project in Autumn 2020 to mark 20 years since the company’s inception. More details will be announced in due course.  

 

Joseph Barton recently graduated from Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. Throughout his training he was able to work with and perform alongside many different artists and organisations. He trained as an apprentice with BalletBoyz, performed with Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, and has won multiple awards in Hanover, Germany with Connor Scott at the 32 choreography competition. He joined BalletBoyz full time in September 2019. 

 

Benjamin Knapper started dancing at the age of 14 at Elizabeth Hill School of Dance. He went on to train at Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, where he worked with choreographers including Richard Alston, Mark Baldwin and Ashley Page. Ben has also performed with Rambert Dance Company on their spring and autumn tours performing A Linha Curvachoreographed by Itzik Galilli. Ben was an apprentice dancer with BalletBoyz from Spring 2018, and joined the company full time in September 2018.

 

Harry Price has previously performed in the international tour of Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lakeacross Asia, Australia and Europe. He joined BalletBoyz in 2015, has toured globally with the company and has been involved in various film and TV projects. This will mark his fifth season with the company. Harry trained with Italia Conti Theatre Arts, Elmhurst Ballet School and the English National Ballet School. He has performed with the Baltic Dance Theatre and in national tours with English National Ballet and ENBII. 

 

Liam Riddick trained with London Contemporary Dance School and has toured nationally and internationally with the Richard Alston Dance Company for eight years. He received 7 nominations for the Critics Circle National Dance Awards, and in February 2018 won Best Male Dancer. He has also danced for James Cousins Dance and featured in Rick Guest’s exhibition and book What Lies Beneath.

 

Matthew Sandiford joined BalletBoyz in September 2012 and will now make his seventh season with the company. As part of BalletBoyz, he has toured the UK, Europe, the USA and Australia, performing work by Kristen McNally, Christopher Wheeldon and Alexander Whitley amongst others. Matthew has also danced with Charlie Dixon Dance Company and was a featured dancer in the London 2012 Closing Ceremony. 

 

Bradley Waller trained at the NECB School and Rambert School for Ballet and Contemporary Dance. Originally joining as an apprentice, Bradley became a full-time member of BalletBoyz in three months and is now also one of the directors of the Dancer’s Course. He has toured nationally and internationally during his five seasons with the company. 

 

LISTINGS

 

DELUXE
Presented by BalletBoyz

SADLER’S WELLS
Rosebery Avenue, London, EC1R 4TN

First performance: Wednesday 25 March
Final performance: Friday 27 March
Performance schedule: Wednesday to Friday at 7.30pm

Box office: 020 7863 8000
Website: www.balletboyz.com / www.sadlerswells.com
Prices from £15

Twitter: @BalletBoyz
Facebook: /BalletBoyz
Instagram: /BalletBoyz
 

UK TOUR DATES 

 

Sunday 1 March * on sale soon
THEATRE ROYAL, GLASGOW
0844 871 7647
www.atgtickets.com/venues/theatre-royal-glasgow/

 

Thursday 5 March
DARLINGTON HIPPODROME
01325 405405
www.darlingtonhippodrome.co.uk

 

Sunday 8 March
EDINBURGH FESTIVAL THEATRE
0131 529 6000
www.capitaltheatres.com

 

Tuesday 10 March * on sale soon
BLACKPOOL GRAND
01253 290190
www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk

 

Thursday 12 – Saturday 14 March * on sale soon
LEICESTER CURVE
0116 242 3595
www.curveonline.co.uk

 

Monday 16 March * on sale soon
DUNDEE REP
01382 223 530
www.dundeerep.co.uk

 

Wednesday 18 March
LIGHTHOUSE, POOLE
01202 280 000
www.lighthousepoole.co.uk

 

Saturday 21 March
CONNAUGHT THEATRE, WORTHING
01903 206 206
www.worthingtheatres.co.uk

 

Monday 30 – Tuesday 31 March * on sale soon
EXETER NORTHCOTT
01392 726 363
www.exeternorthcott.co.uk

 

Friday 10 – Saturday 11 April * on sale soon
RICHMOND THEATRE
0844 871 7651   
www.atgtickets.com/venues/richmond-theatre/

 

Tuesday 14 April * on sale soon
YEOVIL OCTAGON
01935 422 884
www.octagon-theatre.co.uk

 

Wednesday 22 April * on sale 14 October to Friends, general on sale 21 October
BRADFORD ALHAMBRA 
01274 432 000
www.bradford-theatres.co.uk

 

Tuesday 28 April * on sale soon
GRAND OPERA HOUSE, YORK
0844 871 3024
www.atgtickets.com/venues/grand-opera-house-york/

 

Thursday 30 April * on sale soon
NEW THEATRE ROYAL, PORTSMOUTH
023 9264 9000
www.newtheatreroyal.com

 

Tuesday 5 - Wednesday 6 May
CHELTENHAM EVERYMAN
01242 572 573
www.everymantheatre.org.uk

 

Monday 11 May  * on sale soon
WYCOMBE SWAN
01494 512 000
www.wycombeswan.co.uk

 

Wednesday 13 May * on sale soon
WARWICK ARTS CENTRE
024 7652 4524
www.warwickartscentre.co.uk

FURTHER VENUES TO BE ANNOUNCED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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