Press Release: The Elixir Festival comes to Sadler's Wells Digital Stage on Monday 17 October with Longevity in Dance, featuring own productions amid colourful programme

[Jan McNulty]

The Elixir Festival comes to Sadler's Wells Digital Stage on Monday 17 October with Longevity in Dance, featuring own productions amid colourful programme    Sadler’s Wells Digital Stage presents Longevity in Dance, an eclectic mix of bold, playful and poignant films that challenge perceptions of dance and age.

Sadler’s Wells Digital Stage’s newest programme sheds light on creative ageing with two Sadler’s Wells productions including a documentary featuring iconic Germaine Acogny and celebrated Pina Bausch dancer Malou Airaudo – a founding member of Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal in 1973. The two artists developed common ground[s], a new duet co-produced by Sadler’s Wells, currently on tour.    Longevity in Dance also welcomes a new film featuring Sadler’s Wells Company of Elders, produced by award-winning choreographer and director Eleesha Drennan.  In addition, commissions by internationally acclaimed artists Charlotta Öfverholm and Nahid Siddiqui also become available, while ‘the Fred Astaire of Flamenco José Losada Santiago features in new film by Ana Gonzalez.    To complete the programme, Digital Stage presents Conversations on Dance and Age, two short films created during Host Festival at DanceEast on 27 May, Elixir Extracts Festival at Sadler’s Wells on 16 June, which provide insight from leading choreographers on perceptions of dance and age.     This eclectic collection looks at the passing of time, our connection with nature and the legacy we pass on, in a celebration of life through dance and the inherent desire to keep dancing.     No Space for Age  Featuring Malou Airaudo & Germaine Acogny   In No Space for Age, Malou Airaudo and Germaine Acogny, two iconic dancers in their 70s share the screen, proving that dance has no age limit.    Against the picturesque backdrop of Spoleto, Italy, the documentary film captures Malou and Germaine performing their duet in the final destination of an extensive international tour, alongside a company of 38 African dancers.    French-born Malou was a professional ballet dancer when she met Pina Bausch in New York in 1973. Bausch invited her to join Tanztheater Wuppertal, in Germany, where Malou became one of the ensemble’s key figure.     Considered the Mother of Contemporary African dance, Germaine was born in Benin and grew up in Senegal where she founded an international dance school in Senegal – the ECOLE DES SABLES – where they teach her famous ‘Acogny’ technique.    This film celebrates their incredible legacy and the power of dance to transcend generations and cultures.  A Sadler’s Wells production    In The Spotlight  Featuring Company of Elders  In the Spotlight is a moving memoir commissioned by Sadler’s Wells, in which four performers from its Company of Elders speak about why they choose to dance and share the movements that inspire them, through one-to-one interviews and solo improvisation.  Established in 1989, the Company of Elders is a performance group for non-professional dancers aged 60 and over. They create new works with professional choreographers each year, performing in the UK and abroad. Their work promotes the importance and value of creativity throughout life.   A Sadler’s Wells production      PLUCK  Eleesha Drennan Company   Pluck is a new film by Eleesha Drennan Dance & Helm Films featuring the Company of Elders.     Pluck, meaning spirited and determined courage, is the first of a trilogy of short intergenerational dance theatre films. It plays with the phenomenon of time perspective and how different a passage of time feels depending on what is happening.  Eleesha Drennan is an award-winning choreographer and director. Born in Canada and based in London, Drennan is passionate about creating theatrical experiences that connect people through laughter and tears. Her work is musically driven, bold and full of nuance.  A licensed film A film by Helm Films  PLUCK is Supported by the Genesis Foundation's Kickstart Fund  PLUCK is based on the live performances of All The Time In The World, a dance theatre production funded by Arts Council England created in partnership with DanceEast and Sadler’s Wells      Juice  Charlotta Öfverholm    Juice is a film by choreographer and dancer Charlotta Öfverholm and Anders Larsson, in which they explore what triggers the sparkle and juice of each person’s life. Charlotta took part in the Elixir Extracts Festival in person on 16 June 2022.    The film’s main objective is to question what makes people open up to the unknown and leap out of their comfort zones – and where they can recharge their batteries.    Charlotta Öfverholm and Anders Larsson have been producing films together since 2013. Anders has created three documentaries following the work of Charlotta´s project Age on Stage. Checking Out, a detective story, was their first dance film, released in 2021. A Sadler’s Wells Commission  Featuring Charlotta Öfverholm and 35 performers  Music by Massimo Broggio       Mirror Within  Nahid Siddiqui   In a new collaboration, director Shakila Taranum Maan and Nahid Siddiqui present Mirror Within, a short film celebrating the art of kathak that explores Siddiqui’s beliefs and practices, as a dancer and choreographer.    The piece is a progression of their ongoing dialogue, representing Siddiqui’s concept of the Mirror Within as she practices the art of kathak.    Reflecting on her piece, she said: “The urge to dance was to connect to the sky and the earth at the same time, feeling the core of my existence at the centre of the Universe as my navel. We are all seeds, creepers and trees bearing fruit and when it’s time to surrender after being heavy with bearing fruit we bow to the mother earth in gratitude.    “Buddhists used to look into water to see their faces, which is equivalent of a mirror; as water takes shape of its container, similarly the body has the ability to become air, water, fire and earth, a dancer is a painter, a sculpture, a mathematician, and a creeper; exactly like a creeper has to be directed to grow, the dancer through the hard work and strict training carves the path of her destination.    “The internal and outer expansion that is experienced through dance divides the human pixels covering the space of nothingness with its aura.    “The water has the stillness and clarity of a mirror to soak our reflection to move together holding each other’s hands, with and against the gentleness of gliding waves and shapes of the movements.    “The sound of the ankle bells (ghungroos) is taken from the gentle chirping of birds – nature is our Guru”. A Sadler’s Wells Commission      Carrete de Malaga  By Ana Gonzalez  Featuring José Losada Santiago  With Carrete de Malaga – a visual and sonic profile of artist José Losada Santiago – Gonzalez seeks to capture the essence of the 82-year-old dancer, creating a nuanced portrait decontextualised from the clichés that surround Spanish folk dance.    Rather than make flamenco the sole focus of Santiago's story, Gonzalez's goal is to emphasise the depth of the dancer’s feelings and the intensity of his life experiences as Gonzalez works to push Spanish art and culture outside of the box it has traditionally been placed in.    Ana Gonzalez is an award-winning, London-based film director interested in challenging social conventions. Her film “Flamenco Queer” was acquired by The New Yorker and received support from the Pulitzer Center. It was shown in Sadler’s Wells Theatre on 21 June 2022, as part of the Flamenco Festival. In 2020, Ana founded Eye Rise Films.  A Sadler’s Wells Commission      Conversations on Dance and Age  Between May and July 2022, as part of Host, Elixir and Ageless Festival, and in partnership with DanceEast and Yorkshire Dance, Sadler’s Wells invited audiences to listen, explore and respond to conversations focusing on questions and provocations about dance and age.     Two short films capturing a flavour of those original conversations will be released as part of Longevity in Dance on Digital Stage on Monday 17 October.    They feature choreographers Shobana Jeyasingh & Charlotta Öfverholm.      NOTES TO EDITORS:  No Space for Age – a Sadler’s Wells film  [with Malou Airaudo & Germaine Acogny]      In The Spotlight – a Sadler’s Wells film  Credits: Dancers: Isidora Joseph, Linda Lewcock, Stephen Rowe, Dahlia Douglas  Filmmaker: Sarah Vaughn-Jones  Technicians: Rich Yori, Jenny Cashman  Project Manager: Elaine Foley  In loving memory: Rich Yori      About The Company of Elders  The Company of Elders is Sadler’s Wells’ performance group for non-professional dancers aged 60 and over. It was established in 1989 and currently counts 21 dancers from local communities. Each year, the Company works with a range of professional choreographers to create new dance works that are performed at Sadler’s Wells and beyond.       Pluck - Eleesha Drennan Company   PLUCK is a film directed by Eleesha Drennan and produced by Helm Films.  PLUCK is Supported by the Genesis Foundation's Kickstart Fund.  PLUCK is based on the live performances of All The Time In The World, a dance theatre production funded by Arts Council England created in partnership with DanceEast and Sadler’s Wells.  About Eleesha Drennan Eleesha Drennan is an award-winning choreographer, director and dance artist who creates organic, fresh & vital dance theatre. Eleesha is recipient of the Sky Academy Arts scholarship award & previous house choreographer of National Dance Company Wales where she started making work and performed for 10 years gathering inspiration from choreographers such as Ohad Naharin, Nigel Charnock & Itzik Galili.  She is Artistic Director for Eleesha Drennan Dance who most recently created the production ‘All The Time In The World’ with three new works commissioned by DanceEast and Sadler’s Wells, funded by Arts Council England.    Previous accolades include first prize for Whiskers at the International Solo Dance Theatre Festival, Stuttgart in 2012 & world tour.  Eleesha's choreography has been commissioned by Studio Wayne McGregor, The Lost Estate, Vanara The Musical, The Place, EDge (LCDS), London College of Fashion, Grace & Growl Dance Company, Maiden Voyage Dance Company, Selfridges, Intoto (London Studio Centre), Fertile Ground, National Youth Dance Wales, RDC Youth, Mathew Herbert, (Ron Arad’s Curtain Call at The Roundhouse, London).    Eleesha is currently working on “Pluck” a trilogy of short films by Eleesha Drennan Dance funded by The Genesis Foundation. She is choreography supervisor for ABBA Voyage & Director/Choreographer for The Lost Estate’s new immersive theatre experience The Greatest Night of The Jazz Age (opening secret location in London Spring 2023)  More information about Eleesha Drennan Dance can be found here: https://www.eleeshadrennan.com    Three Sadler’s Wells commissions  1. Juice A film by Charlotta Öfverholm and Anders Larsson  Featuring Charlotta Öfverholm and 35 performers  Music by Massimo Broggio    About Charlotta Öfverholm  Since the start of Compagnie Jus de la Vie 1995, Öfverholm has created over 30 productions, which have toured all over Europe, North and South America and Africa. Her work is physical dance theatre with depth, irony, brutality and humor. In 2015 Charlotta initiated the project AGE ON STAGE presenting maturity on stage, questioning the norms concerning age and bodies in the field of dance. It creates and presents international productions with dancers over 45 by well known choreographers, workshops for people over 65, festivals and seminars on the subject. Age on Stage is the Swedish part of the European project Dance on, Pass on, Dream on including nine dance companies and institutions in eight different countries in the EU. https://jusdelavie.se/biography/      2. Mirror Within  Dancer/Choreographer - Nahid Siddiqui  Music – Hassan Mohyeddin  Camera – Shamim Bhatti  Production Still – Nabila C Maan  Production Assistant – Sehur Chowdhary  Researcher – Cecile Scaros  Director/Editor – Shakila Taranum Maan    Nahid Siddiqui is one of the finest Kathak dancers and choreographers in the world. Her work has been recognized and acclaimed internationally. She has personally contributed hugely to the growth of and accessibility to Kathak through efforts such as starting classes at the Bharatya Vidya Bhavan in London and introducing Kathak into the curriculum at the University of Surrey. Nahid's creations have been original and ground-breaking, blending traditional and contemporary techniques extending Kathak's repertory and developing it as a universal vocabulary. Nahid has lived in the West Midlands for almost twenty years and has had countless students, performances for major venues, festivals and television world-wide. Her work has received numerous accolades in Britain and around the world, including Pakistan's highest artistic merit, the Pride of Performance.   Nahid Siddiqui has acquired her artistry in the formal tradition of seena baseena (one-on-one training) by two renowned Gurus: Maharaj Ghulam Hussain Kathak and Pandit Birju Maharaj. During the course of her career, she has evolved her artistic practice into what can be described as Sufianic in its narrative ventures, yet precise in its embodiment of tradition.      3. Carrete de Malaga Film directed by Ana Gonzalez Featuring José Losada Santiago AKA Carrete    Ana Gonzalez is a filmmaker/journalist with experience in more than 20 countries. She has collaborated with media outlets such as the BBC, Atlas Obscura, NatGeo, TIME, Al Jazeera, Mediaset and others. In 2021, her documentary “Flamenco Queer” was released by The New Yorker with support from the Pulitzer Center. Ana was previously a correspondent for Spanish press agency Efe/EPA in Paris and Bangkok, where she helped the company set up its multimedia headquarters for Asia – a continent she went on to explore extensively during four years as a freelance filmmaker with a base in Indonesia. In 2020, she founded Eye Rise Films – an audiovisual production house which tells stories that challenge the way we perceive the world.    José Losada "Carrete" was born in Ventas de Zafarraya on an unknown date in 1940. He was the son of a livestock dealer and a gypsy who could sing, dance and read palms, known as Carmen "La Carreta". He led a nomadic life together with his thirteen siblings until he ended up in Malaga, where he made a living as a shoe shiner, selling lottery tickets and dancing in Malaga bars. With his earnings, he would go to the cinema, and it was there he discovered Fred Astaire who he thought danced  “bulerías”(a flamenco rhythm). Astaire's dancing captivated him so much that he always included some tap steps in his performances from then on.     At 15 years old, he became a "professional" and, at 22, a "principal dancer". He was a brilliant, impressive and unique flamenco dancer who revolutionised flamenco on the Costa del Sol. He defined himself as an "abstract flamenco dancer".     Considered an artist of artists, Carrete has been accompanied on guitar by genius Sabicas, Paco de Lucía, and Camarón who called him “the monster of flamenco". He danced for many celebrities in the 1950´s and 60´s who visited the Costa del Sol such as Ava Gardner, Frank Sinatra, Antony Quinn and Brigitte Bardot. He learned his craft thanks to individuals such as Pepe Córdoba, Los Vargas, and worked with great artists:  Antonio el Bailarín, Farruco, Matilde Coral, Bambino, Mariquilla, Gades, La Chunga, or Chiquito de la Calzada…    In 2005 he performed at the closing ceremony of the First Edition of the Bienal Málaga en Flamenco in the show "Dos generaciones" with Chano Lobato and La Cañeta de Málaga, in 2007 at the Festival Málaga en Flamenco with the show "Yo no sé la edá que tengo" (I don't know how old I am), and in 2015 at the Teatro Echegaray he celebrated his "60 years of dancing".     In 2022 he danced in the New York Flamenco Festival as guest artist of Miguel Poveda, which was part of the documentary about his life “Quijote in New York”.     At 82 Carrete dances every day and feels he is at the best moment of his life.  Director & Scriptwriter - Ana Gonzalez Executive Producer – Eye Rise Films – Flamenco Festival Producer – Ana Gonzalez – Miguel Marin –Pepe Zapata – Zaher Soufi Cinematographer – Rafa Arroyo First Assistant camera – Manu Rivero Original Music – Francisco Sokolowicz Graphic Designer – Laura Acquaviva Sound Recordist – Karo Sampela Location Manager - Pepe Zapata Editor – Juanjo Martínez - Rafa Arroyo Colourist – Laura Fernandez K Sound Designer – Alex Marais Equipment – KBN Next Media Music - “Carrete” by Franscisco Sokolowicz  The Elixir Festival on Digital Stage is Co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union as part of DANCE ON, PASS ON, DREAM ON.

About Sadler’s Wells Sadler's Wells is a world-leading dance organisation. We strive to 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 - Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Lilian Baylis Studio and Peacock Theatre. Millions 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 Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Sadler’s Wells East will house a 550-seat mid-scale theatre, as well as facilities for the Choreographic School and 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.        www.sadlerswells.com     Stay up to date with everything Sadler’s Wells on social media      Facebook: @SadlersWells      Twitter: @Sadlers_Wells      Instagram: @sadlers_wells      YouTube: Sadler’s Wells Theatre