Press Release: National Youth Dance Company / Alesandra Seutin presents new work, Speak Volumes, following a digital year

[Jan McNulty]

 

National Youth Dance Company / Alesandra Seutin  
Speak Volumes 
London Premiere 
Sadler’s Wells, EC1R 4TN  
Saturday 24 July at 7.30pm  
Tickets: £10 - £15  
Ticket Office: www.sadlerswells.com 
 
National Youth Dance Company (NYDC), the country’s flagship organisation for young dancers, will present its work, Speak Volumes, in a London premiere at Sadler’s Wells on Saturday 24 July, led by the company’s Guest Artistic Director, Alesandra Seutin.  
 
Speak Volumes celebrates young people overcoming stereotypes and being able to speak their minds free of judgement. The work explores the impact of the media and societal pressures on young people and asks adults to take responsibility for how young people are treated. 
 
Speak Volumes is a contemporary piece rooted in African and hip hop physicality and will include spoken word written by the NYDC company members. Audiences can expect buoyant physicality and a mood which shifts between dark and joyous.  
 
NYDC will continue to present Speak Volumes on a UK Tour following the Sadler’s Wells performance, and their first performance at DanceEast on Tuesday 20 July.  
 
NYDC Guest Artistic Director Alesandra Seutin, said: “Speak Volumes is an open floor for the voices of the younger ones of these times, a space for their existence and truth to be heard, acknowledged and experienced lights on.”   

Enter our private sphere 
Dive into our ocean 
But surrender your barriers, 
Let the waves pass right through you 
Swimming through seas of emotional liquid  
Now you can too. 
Let us shift every cell inside your body 
Let our vibrations hold your bones, awaken your mind and 
See what you find 
We embody the sound of screaming 
it’s silent 
We say so much, 
it’s quiet. (Excerpt text by Maya Donne, NYDC Company Member 2020/21) 

Hannah Kirkpatrick, Head of NYDC, said: “We have had nearly a full year of Zoom residencies and rehearsals. The resilience and perseverance of the company and the artistic team has been inspiring. Now they have the chance to share this piece with audiences across the country and show the world quite how powerful they are as young artists.” 
 
The cohort of 29 is made up of 21 dancers recruited virtually in November 2020, who join eight returning dancers from last year’s cohort. The group is made up of 19 female and 10 male dancers from over 20 different towns and cities across the country. The NYDC company age range is 16-18, or up to the age of 24 for deaf or disabled dancers, and this year’s company span the full age range.  
 
Now in its ninth year, NYDC has, since its inception, established a reputation for producing high-quality, critically acclaimed productions by leading choreographers: Russell Maliphant (2019 – 2020) Botis Seva (2018 – 2017), Sharon Eyal (2017-18), Damien Jalet (2016-17), Michael Keegan-Dolan (2015-16), Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (2014-15), Akram Khan (2013-14) and Jasmin Vardimon (2012-13).  
 
Demonstrating their commitment to the next generation of young dancers, these internationally acclaimed artists highlight the power young dancers have to shape the future of dance. NYDC has a track record of putting young people on paths to successful dance careers, with over 80% of all former NYDC dancers now either in further dance studies, in vocational training or working professionally. Graduates from NYDC have since danced in Michael Keegan-Dolan’s Teaċ Daṁsa, Hofesh Shechter Company, BalletBoyz, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, Cullberg Ballet, Ultima Vez, Russell Maliphant Company, Rambert2 and the Jasmin Vardimon Company. 
 
National Youth Dance Company is supported using public funding by Department for Education and Arts Council England. 
 
Barclays is the Associate Partner of the National Youth Dance Company. 
  
Confirmed tour dates:  
DanceEast, Tuesday 20 July 2021 
Amata, Falmouth, Sunday 22 August 2021 
Bold Tendencies, London Saturday 28 August 2021 
 
- ENDS - 
 
NOTES TO EDTORS:  
 
National Youth Dance Company  
Founded in 2012, and run by Sadler’s Wells, NYDC is an exciting young company that creates and performs innovative and influential dance, drawing together some of the brightest young talent from across the country. The company has a track record of putting young people on paths to successful dance careers, with over 80% of NYDC dancers going onto further dance studies, in vocational training or working professionally.    
 
NYDC is jointly funded by Arts Council England and the Department for Education. Since NYDC’s inception in 2012:    

• 261 dancers have joined the company, working intensively with renowned dance artists including Guest Artistic Directors: Jasmin Vardimon (2012-13), Akram Khan (2013-14), Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (2014-15), Michael Keegan Dolan (2015-16), Damien Jalet (2016-17), Sharon Eyal (2017-18)  Botis Seva (2018-19) and Russell Maliphant (2019-20). These 261 dancers come from over 80 different towns and cities in England   

• Over 3,700 young people have worked with the company    

• NYDC has reached an audience of over 45,000 people   

• NYDC has featured in 83 performances, visiting 26 different venues across the UK, including some leading theatres in the country   

 
Sadler’s Wells  
Sadler's Wells is a world-leading dance organisation. We make and share dance that inspires us all. Our acclaimed year-round programme spans dance of every kind, from contemporary to flamenco, Bollywood to ballet, salsa to street dance and tango to tap. 

We commission, produce and present more dance than any other organisation in the world. Since 2005, we have helped to bring close to 200 new dance works to the stage, embracing both the popular and the unknown. 

Each year, over half a million people visit our three London theatres. Many more attend our touring productions nationally and internationally or explore our digital platforms, including Sadler’s Wells Digital Stage. In 2023 we’re opening a fourth London venue in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, to sit alongside our Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Lilian Baylis Studio and Peacock Theatre. Sadler’s Wells’ new space will house a 550-seat mid-scale theatre, as well as facilities for a choreographic centre and a hip hop theatre academy.  

Supporting artists is at the heart of our work. We have associate artists and companies, which nurture some of the most exciting talent working in dance today. We host the National Youth Dance Company, which draws together some of the brightest young dancers from across the country. Sadler’s Wells Breakin' Convention runs professional development programmes to champion and develop the world’s best hip hop artists, as well as producing, programming and touring groundbreaking hip hop performances.  

Around 30,000 people take part in our learning and engagement programmes every year. We support schools local to our theatres in Islington and Stratford, designing experiences for children and young people to watch, explore and critically engage with the arts. We also run Company of Elders, a resident performance company of dancers aged over 60 who rehearse with renowned artists to make new work for public performances locally, nationally and internationally. 

Sadler’s Wells is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.  
 
Alesandra Seutin 
International performer, choreographer and teacher Alesandra Seutin grew up in Brussels and lives in London. She studied dance internationally and continued her training at the École des Sables (Senegal) where she became a student of Germaine Acogny, training directly under Acogny. Seutin is an Artistic Director for École des Sables. Working in a variety of fields, Seutin is also a movement director, dramaturge, teacher and performer, performing for several noted artists including Jonathan Burrows, Tanusree Shankar, Germaine Acogny and Rafael Bonachela. Seutin founded Vocab Dance in 2007 and has progressively built an international reputation for creating thought provoking and visually striking performances. Her creativity is inspired by social and political circumstances, and with movement, voice and music, she shares stories to encourage further conversation. 
 
Seutin presented Boy Breaking Glass as part of Sadler’s Wells’ 20th anniversary commission, Reckonings, in October 2018 alongside works from Sadler’s Wells New Wave Associate Julie Cunningham and Botis Seva. Seutin has also created work for Sadler’s Wells’ resident over-60s performance company, Company of Elders. Seutin’s latest work Dear Winnie for JR.CE.SA.R supported by KVS & NNT will resume its tour in Belgium and will tour internationally in 2022.