PRESS RELEASE: TRANSFORM ANNOUNCES A WORLD PREMIERE, FOUR UK PREMIERES AND MORE FOR FINAL WAVE OF EXTENDED 21-22 FESTIVAL

[Jan McNulty]

 

PRESS RELEASE 

 

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TRANSFORM ANNOUNCES A WORLD PREMIERE, FOUR UK PREMIERES AND MORE FOR FINAL WAVE OF EXTENDED 21-22 FESTIVAL

 

AMBITIOUS PREMIERES AND PRODUCTIONS 

 

• UK PREMIERE OF CAMPO’S THE HISTORY OF KOREAN WESTERN THEATRE BY JAHA KOO (10 - 11 MARCH)
   
• UK PREMIERE OF IVORIAN CHOREOGRAPHER NADIA BEUGRÉ’S QUARTIERS LIBRES. A DEEPLY EMOTIVE SOLO PERFORMANCE (18-19 MARCH

 

• AT AN EXTRAORDINARY ROOFTOP LOCATION OVERLOOKING LEEDS MEXICAN-CHILEAN CHOREOGRAPHER AMANDA PIÑA PRESENTS THE UK PREMIERE OF  FRONTERA I BORDER – A LIVING MONUMENT (8-9 APRIL)

• IN A DURATIONAL EXPLORATION OF MEMORIAL AND LOCATIONS OF TRAUMA MULTI-AWARD WINNING WRITER AND PERFORMER RACHEL MARS COMES TO LEEDS TO CREATE A REPLICA OF THE DACHAU GATES OUT OF 60 KILOS OF MILD STEEL OVER THREE DAYS IN FORGE (31 MARCH - 2 APRIL)

• PART RITUAL, PART SEX CLUB, PART DANCE PARTY, LEEDS BASED ARTIST JAMAL GERALD EXPLORES THE TRADITIONAL DANCE OF MONTSERRAT THROUGH A QUEER LENS IN THE WORLD PREMIERE OF JUMBIE (17-19 MARCH)

• BRAZIL-BASED COLLECTIVE MEXA PRESENTS THE MORE YOU REHEARSE THE WORSE IT GETS, AN ONLINE PERFORMANCE (10-12 MARCH)

• THE OFRENDA CONTINUES - A LARGE SCALE INSTALLATION IN THE CENTRE OF LEEDS COMMEMORATING AND CELEBRATING THOSE WE’VE LOVED AND LOST (UNTIL 19 MARCH)

 

TRAILBLAZING SPECIAL EVENTS 

 

• A SOFT RAPTURE - TRANSFORMING THE TRADITIONAL CLUB NIGHT INTO AN OTHERWORLDLY EXPERIENCE, CURATED BY LEEDS-BASED SABLE RADIO (1 APRIL)

 

• WORK IN PROGRESS THE SOUND GRIEF PROJECT - AN INTIMATE SOUNDSCAPE TO ESCAPE INTO EXPLORING BEREAVEMENT BY BRADFORD BASED LUA  BAIRSTOW (17 MARCH)

• TRANSFORM’S RADICAL AND JOYOUS CLOSING PARTY TAKES OVER THE HOLBECK FOR A NIGHT OF DJ’S AND PERFORMANCES  (8 APRIL)

 

HYPER-LOCAL RESIDENCIES & COLLABORATIONS

 

• TWO LEEDS RESIDENCIES ANNOUNCED WITH US BASED CHOREOGRAPHER AND PERFORMER JUMATATU M. POE AND LOWRI EVANS AND MARTHA KISS PERRONE

 

• ICELANIC ARTIST ÁSRÚN MAGNÚSDÓTTIR HAS BEEN INVITED BY YOUNG CURATORS FROM TRANSFORM’S COLLECTIVE, TO UNDERTAKE A HYPER-LOCAL RESIDENCY WORKING WITH YOUNG PEOPLE IN LEEDS.

 

Transform, Leeds’ international performance festival has today announced the final wave of Transform 21-22, a reimagined festival for our times. The festival presents a series of ambitious world premieres and productions taking place in iconic venues in Leeds, alongside unusual and disused spaces. The festival also invites trailblazing co-curators to envisage extraordinary special events and experiences, and continues embedded residencies and hyper-local collaborations bringing together future-gazing artists and local citizens to together dream up major projects for future festival Transform 23. 

 

The festival invites audiences from across Leeds and beyond to rediscover and explore the city and to connect with bold, brave, vivid and socially-conscious performance by powerful artists from across the globe. From a cathartic and evolving installation, a night of sensual club revelry and an explosive collision of dance cultures overlooking the panoramic of the city, audiences are invited to dive in and discover extraordinary, powerful performance and events. Transform continues until 9 April 2022.

 

The Festival have announced today that they will bring five ambitious world and UK premieres to audiences in Leeds this spring.

 

Between 10-11 March, Transform teams up with Belgian arts centre CAMPO to present the UK premiere of The History of Korean Western Theatre at Leeds Playhouse, a documentary theatre performance, interweaving the personal and the political from South Korean theatre maker and composer Jaha Koo. Celebrating the centenary of Korean theatre in 2008, Jaha Koo realised that what is regarded as Korean theatre is largely determined by the Western canon and asks questions about tradition, self-censorship and authenticity. In order to speak to a new generation of South Koreans, Jaha attempts to smash age-old traditions of self-censorship and look to the future.

 

Between 18-19 March Transform presents the UK premiere of Ivorian choreographer Nadia Beugré’s Quartiers Libres at The Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre. Roughly translated as “free reign”, Beugré’s deeply emotive solo performance takes over the stage with breathless, raw energy, startling in its immediacy and unnerving imagery. In a fight with a world willing to bury her, piles of empty plastic bottles and Nadia's body start to amalgamate, merge, and melt. By blurring the lines between the performer and audience, Nadia transcends the stage, tangled in endless microphone cable, and surrounded by mountains of waste. Becoming trapped within herself and her surroundings, she struggles to reach out to the humanity around her.  

 

Overlooking the city on top of the Victoria Leeds Multi-Story carpark between 8-9 April, Mexican-Chilean choreographer Amanda Piña presents the UK premiere of Frontera I Border – a Living Monument. Frontera I Border has roots in a dance that emerged from the neighbourhood of El Ejido Veinte of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, on the border between Mexico and the United States. Performed by young people at risk from the extremely violent environment, this dance has continually evolved, seen as a form of resistance to colonial forces.  By exploring a choreography of borders in which hip-hop culture, colonial tales, native practices and mysticism intertwine, Piña’s highly visual, poignant performance and monumental dance is a homage to the power and resilience of those whose bodies carry borders, to those who dare to cross. In a truly one-of-a-kind presentation, the UK premiere of Frontera I Border – a Living Monument will be presented at dusk.

 

At the end of March, multi-award winning writer and performer Rachel Mars will come to Leeds to present FORGE. In 2014, the 100kg ‘welcome’ gate was stolen from Dachau concentration camp. A local blacksmith made a replica, exactly like the original. This Spring, Rachel will make an exact replica of the replica gate across three days, out of 60kg of mild steel whilst audiences watch. Examining how objects become contaminated by history, FORGE explores who memorials are for and what happens to places where traumatic events take place. Mars will investigate how to balance living with a traumatic past with a responsibility to the present. Featuring a sound-scape created live by sound artist Dinah Mullen, audiences are invited as witnesses as the artist welds over three days within the epic proportions of new experimental Leeds venue, Testbed. There will be daily long table discussions at nearby gallery The Tetley, inspiring artists and activists to explore the complex themes of memorial, grief and social responsibility.  FORGE runs 31 March - 2 April.

 

Provocative and playful Leeds based artist Jamal Gerald (Idol Transform 19) presents the World Premiere of JUMBIE, a ritual for our sickened times.  Rooted in the history and culture of Montserrat, the Jumbie dance calls on the spirits of the dead to cure illness, solve personal problems, and redress social injustice. It is traditionally a night of feasting and music in which anything might happen which was subsequently suppressed by colonial forces and the Christian Church. JUMBIE revives the traditional dance from a contemporary queer perspective. The performance is led by Gerald alongside a Black queer ensemble. The night promises to be one of sensual revelry - part ritual, part sex club, part dance party. JUMBIE runs at CLAY: Centre for Live Art Yorkshire 17-19 March and is a Transform and Dudaan co-production.

 

Inclusive, Brazilian based collective MEXA blur the lines between the scripted and the unpredictable, between the demands of the past and the urgencies of the present. Their online performance the more you rehearse, the worse it gets is an attempt to collectively build an artwork confined to a limited time frame and is an electric, unfiltered presentation of process and performance. Audiences can experience the chaotic and mesmerising world of MEXA as part of an online watch party on 10 March at 7pm, or engage with the experience ‘on demand’ online until Sat 12 March.

 

Transform have announced a programme of vivid and engaging special events curated with local and international collaborators. These include: 

 

Transform presents a Soft Rapture, a brand new sort of club night curated by Leeds-based Sable Radio. Transforming the traditional club space into an otherworldly experience - a more meditative, intimate environment - a Soft Rapture combines DJ’s, performance and movement practises to explore how club spaces can facilitate both hedonism and healing. The full line up and venue for a Soft Rapture on 1 April will be announced soon.

 

An intimate live performance akin to a highly visceral concept album, The Sound Grief Project is a sound-led performance work by Bradford-based performance artist Lua Bairstow, creatively exploring bereavement. In a residency supported by Transform and Bradford Producing Hub Bairstow will evolve The Sound Grief Project at Transform 21-22. On 17 March there will  be a sharing of this work in progress, an informal listening party designed to stimulate vital discussion and reflection around death and grief.

 

Running through until 19 March, artist Ellie Harrison from Leeds based company The Grief Series collaborates with Mexico’s Zion Studio to create The Ofrenda - a vast ever-evolving public artwork that underpins Transform’s extended festival and forms a reflective and commemorative gift to the city. Built in celebration of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), Ofrendas (Spanish for ‘offerings’) are constructed in remembrance of friends, family and people of significance who have been lost. Often brightly coloured and ranging in scale, these offerings take the form of displays with treasured photographs, flowers, candles, food and significant objects. Encompassing the breadth of the exterior of CLAY: Centre for Live Art Yorkshire The Ofrenda is already forming an extraordinary collection of memories and photographs from around the world commemorating and celebrating lost loved ones. The Ofrenda was unveiled on 18 November at which point people from across Leeds and beyond were invited to share a photo or memory immortalising their own loved ones within this cathartic and poignant installation, this opportunity continues until 19 March.

 

On Friday 8 April, Transform invites audiences to join them for the last gathering of the Festival, toasting the culmination of an extended programme of bold, brave, vivid and socially-conscious performance by powerful artists from across the globe. They will close out the festival at the iconic Leeds venue The Holbeck with the unmistakable Transform party atmosphere. Audiences can expect a packed night of live performance, music and celebration to end the festival on a high. 

 

For Transform 21-22 the Festival presents a series of hyper-local residencies and kickstarts exciting new collaborations, which audiences can engage with via the Transform website and which will later be unveiled as part of Transform 23.

 

USA based choreographer and performer jumatatu m. poe will undertake a residency in Leeds, exploring and considering landscape, the environment and indigenous dance practises and connecting with the city’s various ecologies. Lowri Evans and Martha Kiss Perrone (coletivA ocupação’s When It Breaks It Burns Transform 19) will return to Leeds to work with older women based in the city and ask: what can you teach us? MEXA will undertake a remote residency in Brazil on new production Transatlantica. As part of Transform’s commitment to nurturing bold new performance and reimagining what a festival can look like and do, they have launched the collective an ambitious programme inviting 16-21’s to dream up projects and ideas for Transform festivals. As part of Transform 21-22, a group of young curators have invited Icelanic artist Ásrún Magnúsdóttir to undertake a hyper-local residency and to give young people across Leeds space to speak up, be seen and be listened to. 

 

Supported by Leeds 2023 these international collaborations are expected to culminate as part of Transform 23. In the meantime, audiences can engage with short documentaries and insights in the coming months, via the Transform website.

 

As part of the Transform 21-22 process, Transform and collaborators will document the development of projects and collaborations as part of a new ‘Thinking’ section of the website with Manchester based writer and critic, James Varney. Forming an evolving online anthology over time, contributions will be collated to create an creative archive of interviews, thought pieces, ideas and reflections.

 

Amy Letman, Creative Director of Transform says:

“The final wave of our extended festival Transform 21-22 looks to the future, inviting audiences across the North of England and beyond to join us for a programme that is as reflective and cathartic as it is epic and celebratory. We invite artists, audiences and citizens to join us in acts of hope and bravery. To travel with us to see panoramic views of the city, to experience collisions of artforms and perspectives; to remember with us, to revel with us, to dance with us.  Featuring epic new shows, explosive events and contemplative encounters by extraordinary artists from the UK, Brazil, Mexico, Europe, the USA and beyond – join us in imagining what a festival of the future might look and feel like, and be part of Transform 21-22.”

 

The festival opened on 23 October and continues until Friday 8 April.

 

Transform is trialling a ‘Pay What You Can’ ticket model that invites audiences to select the pricing level that best applies to them. Ticket options will range from £2-£25 with the aim of allowing more people to access festival events whatever their circumstances. 

 

Transform 21-22 is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, and supported by Leeds 2023. Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. Produced in partnership with Leeds Playhouse. With the support of venues and organisations across Leeds

 

Venue partners include:

CLAY: Centre for Live Art Yorkshire
The Holbeck
The Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre
Outlaws Yacht Club
Testbed
Victoria Gate
Hammerson
The Tetley
Leeds City College
Yorkshire Dance

 

-ENDS-

 

LISTINGS

All festival events are pay what you can.

 

THE OFRENDA
Zion Collective (Mexico) & The Grief Series (UK)
Thursday 18 November 2021- Saturday 19 March 2022
CLAY: Centre for Live Art Yorkshire, 1-2 Regent Street LS27QA
Duration: This is an installation that runs until Saturday 19 March 2022.
Tickets: No ticket required to view the installation
Age Guidance: 12+
Advisory Information: This artwork deals with people's lived experience of loss and bereavement.
Access: The artwork can be viewed from street level and is touch free.
Credits: Commissioned by Transform, as part of Festivals of the Future. Co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union. Supported using public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England. Supported by Leeds 2023, 101 Outdoor Arts and CLAY: Centre for Live Art Yorkshire

 

THE MORE YOU REHEARSE, THE WORSE IT GETS

MEXA (Brazil)

Wed 9 – Sat 12 March 

Online, booking required

Duration: 7pm online watch party on Wed 9 March or ‘on demand’ until Sat 12 March, 110 mins
Tickets: Pay What You Can 
(options ranging from: £2 - £25 + £2.50 booking fee) 
Visit transformfestival.org or contact Leeds Playhouse box office - 0113 213 7700 
Age Guidance: 16+
Advisory Information: This performance contains full frontal nudity
Access:  This performance contains subtitles and will be screened online
Language: Brazilian Portuguese with English subtitles
Credits: A Panorama Festival initiative

UK PREMIERE

 

THE HISTORY OF KOREAN WESTERN THEATRE 

by Jaha Koo (Belgium)

Thu 10 – Fri 11 March 2022

Courtyard Theatre, Leeds Playhouse

Duration: 8pm, 60 mins

Tickets: Tickets – Pay What You Can  

(options ranging from: £2 - £25 + £2.50 booking fee)  

Visit transformfestival.org or contact Leeds Playhouse box office - 0113 213 7700 
Age Guidance: 12+

Advisory Information: This performance contains some loud noises and fast-moving imagery

Access: Please contact box office for access requests
Language: Korean with English subtitles
Credits: Produced by CAMPO. Co-produced by Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), Münchner Kammerspiele, Frascati Producties (Amsterdam), Veem House for Performance (Amsterdam), SPRING performing arts festival (Utrecht), Zürcher Theaterspektakel, Black Box teater (Oslo), International Summer Festival Kampnagel (Hamburg), Tanzquartier Wien, wpZimmer (Antwerp), Théâtre de la Bastille (Paris) & Festival d’Automne à Paris residencies Kunstencentrum BUDA (Kortrijk), wpZimmer (Antwerp), Decoratelier Jozef Wouters (Brussels), Doosan Art Center (Seoul) with the support of Beursschouwburg, Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie & Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst 

 

WORK IN PROGRESS

THE SOUND GRIEF PROJECT – LISTENING PARTY

by Lua Bairstow (UK)

Wed 16 March

Bramall Rock Void, Leeds Playhouse

Duration: 7pm, 50 mins

Tickets: Tickets – Pay What You Can  

(options ranging from: £2 - £25 + £2.50 booking fee)  

Visit transformfestival.org or contact Leeds Playhouse box office - 0113 213 7700 
Age Guidance:  12+

Advisory Information: This performance contains flashing lights as well as references to experiences of grief and loss

Access: Please contact box office for access requests
Credits: Co-commissioned by Transform and Bradford Producing Hub

 

WORLD PREMIERE
JUMBIE

by Jamal Gerald (UK)

Thu 17 – Sat 19 March

CLAY: Centre for Live Art Yorkshire

Duration: 9pm, 60 mins

Tickets: Tickets – Pay What You Can  

(options ranging from: £2 - £25 + £2.50 booking fee)  

Visit transformfestival.org or contact Leeds Playhouse box office - 0113 213 7700  

Age Guidance: 16+
Advisory Information: This performance contains flashing lights. It is anticipated that JUMBIE will contain elements of sexual content, depictions of BDSM and some scenes including nudity

Access: This is a standing event but seating will be made available if required - please contact box office. There is a single step access to a single door that opens into the venue, the door is 32 inches wide. CLAY has a metal ramp for the step which front of house staff will put out on request. There will be an accessible toilet located in the event space

Credits: Commissioned by Transform and HOME Manchester. Co-produced by Transform and supported by Leeds Playhouse and Theatre in the Mill. Recipient of a Jerwood Arts’ Live Work Fund Award in 2021

UK PREMIERE

QUARTIERS LIBRES  

by Nadia Beugré  (IVORY COAST)

Fri 18 – Sat 19 March
The Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre, Northern Ballet

Duration: 7pm, 60 mins
Tickets: Tickets – Pay What You Can 
(options ranging from: £2 - £25 + £2.50 booking fee) 
Visit transformfestival.org or contact Leeds Playhouse box office - 0113 213 7700 
Age Guidance: 12+
Advisory Information: This performance may contain partial nudity
Access: This is a standing performance where audience move around the space, but seating will be made available if required - please contact box office
Credits: A Libr'Arts / Virginie Dupray production. With support from Choreographic National Center, Agora-Montpellier Danse, and Choreographic Development Center.

 

A SOFT RAPTURE

by Sable Radio (UK)

Fri 1 April

Duration: 10pm, 240 mins

Tickets: Tickets – Pay What You Can  

(options ranging from: £2 - £25 + £2.50 booking fee)  

Visit transformfestival.org or contact Leeds Playhouse box office - 0113 213 7700  

Age Guidance: 18+
Access:This is a club night experience where audiences will move freely around the space. Please contact box office for more information 

Credits: Curated and produced by Sable Radio, commissioned by Transform

 

UK  PREMIERE
FORGE

by Rachel Mars (UK)

Thu 31 March – Sat 2 April

Testbed

Duration: Various days and times - see website for details

Tickets: Tickets – Pay What You Can 
(options ranging from: £2 - £25 + £2.50 booking fee) 
Visit transformfestival.org or contact Leeds Playhouse box office - 0113 213 7700 
Age Guidance: 18+
Advisory Information: The installation is linked to themes of genocide and the Holocaust. Any references are thematic only and the installation contains no direct imagery. Long table discussions will include  open, interactive and unscripted conversation that may contain references to genocide and the Holocaust.
Access: The installation is a standing experience where audience move around the space, but seating will be made available if required - please contact box office. Long table discussions will be BSL interpreted. Afterwards, a recording of the event will be made available online.

Credits: Commissioned by Transform and Cambridge Junction with support from Stobbs New Ideas Fund. With support from Chapter Arts Centre, Horizon Showcase, Metal Culture, MGCFutures and Asylum Arts. Originally developed through the Barbican Open Lab programme

 

TRANSFORM PRESENTS: A PARTY FOR OUR TIMES

Fri 8 April

The Holbeck

Duration: 7pm, 240 minutes

Tickets: Tickets – Pay What You Can  

(options ranging from: £2 - £25 + £2.50 booking fee)  

Visit transformfestival.org or contact Leeds Playhouse box office - 0113 213 7700 
Age Guidance: 16+
Advisory Information:This is a standing experience where audience move around the space, but there will also be seating available

 

UK PREMIERE

FRONTERA I BORDER – A LIVING MONUMENT

by Amanda Piña (Mexico/Chile)

Fri 8 – Sat 9 April

The Victoria Leeds Multi Storey car park, top floor

Duration: 7.30pm, 90 mins
Tickets: Tickets – Pay What You Can 
(options ranging from: £2 - £25 + £2.50 booking fee) 
Visit transformfestival.org or contact Leeds Playhouse box office - 0113 213 7700 
Advisory Information: This is a seated performance on the top level of an outdoor car park covered by a canopy. There is lift access to the top
Credits: A nadaproductions (Vienna - AT) production. Co-produced by Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels - BE), KIASMA - Museum of Contemporary Art (Helsinki) and Asphalt Festival (Düsseldorf). Management and Distribution: Something Great (Berlin - DE). Funded by the City of Vienna (Vienna) and Supported by The Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Mexico City - MX), the National School of Folkloric Dance of México (Mexico City - MX), INBA - Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (Mexico City - MX)

 

FESTIVAL OF THE FUTURE - CONVERSATIONS

Thu 10 &  Thu 31 March 2022

Outlaws Yacht Club

Duration: 3pm, 120 mins

Tickets: Just show up
Access: BSL interpreted. A recording of this event will be made available for any audiences unable to attend in person
Credits: Co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, as part of the network Festivals of the Future

NOTES TO EDITORS 

 

About Transform

Transform is an engine room for powerful performance, creating exhilarating international festivals and working year-round to catalyse future-gazing artists and creatives to reimagine what theatre can be. Transform brings bold, brave, vivid and socially-conscious international performance to the Leeds City Region and beyond. 

 

Last festival, Transform 19, saw audiences travel to some of the city’s most iconic venues and discover amazing hidden spaces for the first time. The festival commissioned trailblazing new theatre and welcomed artists from across five continents to Leeds. Commissioning and co-productions in recent years include ‘The Believers Are But Brothers’ by Javaad Alipoor, ‘Idol’ by Jamal Gerald and guest programme ‘Spirit of Change’ for the Barbican. Previously presented international artists include El Conde de Torrefiel, Florentina Holzinger and Vincent Riebeek, Tianzhuo Chen, machina eX, Nora Chipaumire, and many more.      

 

Transform leads the Creative Europe supported network ‘Festivals of the Future’ supporting founder-led festivals across Europe to imagine new festival blueprints. Transform is one of six consortium partners leading ‘Horizon’ - the new Arts Council England commissioned performing arts showcase. 

 

The organisation is led by Creative Director Amy Letman and was established as an independent company in 2015. The festival previously emerged as part of the Leeds Playhouse programme from 2011-2014.