Press Release: Sadler’s Wells nurtures the next generation of dancers and choreographers

[Jan McNulty]

 

Sadler’s Wells nurtures the next generation of dancers and choreographers   Sadler’s Wells today announces the new dance artists joining two of its headline artist development programmes, as part of its Learning & Engagement work. The four new Sadler’s Wells Young Associates for 2023/2024 are: Tough Boys Dance Collective (TBDC), Maiya Leeke, BLUE MAKWANA and Elisabeth Mulenga. They are the third intake of dance makers aged between 18 and 26 who will receive support from Sadler’s Wells over the next two years.    The new cohort includes a queer-led dance theatre collective that explores ideas of community and its intersections with gender, sexuality, religion and class, a choreographer whose work is rooted in her background as a jazz saxophonist and discovering a physical language of hope. A choreographer who fuses different dance styles to focus in on specific stimulus such as hairstyles and how they’re portrayed in the media, and a dance artist whose work is at once unflinching, tender and intimate, and takes inspiration from film directors to explore the human psyche.  The Young Associates programme, launched in 2018, supports Sadler’s Wells mission to nurture the next generation of talent. Guiding early career choreographers to deepen their understanding of their own artistic practice, whilst gaining valuable insight into dance production. The initiative provides a crucial first step into their career as choreographers. The artists receive a tailored programme of professional development and support, including the opportunity to present their work as part of Sadler’s Wells artistic programme. The National Youth Dance Company (NYDC), the country’s flagship company for young dancers which is run by Sadler’s Wells, has selected its next intake for its 10th anniversary year. With 35 dancers, aged between 16 and 24 years old, hailing from 19 towns, cities and villages across England it’s a truly nationwide company. The new cohort joins Guest Artistic Director and Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Wayne McGregor CBE to work on a new piece which premieres at The Lowry, Manchester on Saturday 15 April, before touring. The 35 dancers of National Youth Dance Company’s New Cohort for 2022/23 are: Matthew Atkinson (Lanchester), Milly Bajpai (Brighton), Krish Bhakerd (Bristol), Jayda Dawkins (London), Samuel Defty (Durham), Gabriel Dunn (London), Alyssa Eve (Brighton), Freya Hattam (Newcastle upon Tyne), Corlee Haverty (Coventry), Alex Johnston (London), Ali Jones (Impington), Lucas Jones (Brighton), Jewels Kemp (Lake District), Charly Knights (Leamington Spa), Nic Lee (Manchester), Meg Morgan (Bristol), Phoebe Mufushwa (Winchester), Kitty Newton (Haslemere), Blaise Noon (London), Ace Papworth (Hertfordshire), Beth Rogers (Manchester), Aoibh Ryan (Manchester), Lila Sefi (Falmouth), Venus Shury (London), Emma Staples (Brighton), Judd Tucker (Nottingham), Lydia Uwanogho (London), Perry Wade (London), James Cale (Nottingham), Aimee Farrell (Brighton), Jocelyn Johnson (Derbyshire), Josie Linscer (Brighton), Renée Miller-Reid (London), Adhya Shastry (Reading) & Maddy Westhead (Penryn). Joce Giles, Director of Learning & Engagement said, “2023 marks a milestone in Sadler's Wells history of nurturing and supporting young dancers and dance makers across the country. We are delighted to announce the incredible young dance makers who will join Sadler's Wells as Young Associates for 2023/24. Tough Boys Dance Collective, Maiya Leeke, BLUE MAKWANA and Elisabeth Mulenga are fantastic young, emerging artists, all pushing their practice in interesting directions and we’re delighted to be working with them over the next two years.   Also, National Youth Dance Company celebrates its 10th anniversary year with the announcement of its new cohort and the premiere and national tour of a new work by Wayne McGregor, created on the company's new cohort of diverse and talented dancers. The Company will also be delivering activities that enable thousands of young people in England to engage with dance and the work of NYDC. It is vital we continue to give young artists the opportunities to create and perform and I can't wait to see the work of the Young Associates and NYDC on stage over this coming year.” About The Young Associates 2023/24 Cohort From left to right: Maiya Leeke, Elisabeth Mulenga, BLUE MAKWANA & Tough Boys Dance Collective   Maiya Leeke is a London based choreographer, performer, and teacher whose work reflects her background as a jazz saxophonist and a contemporary dancer. Leeke is an alumnus of NYDC’s ninth cohort and has an MA from Northern School of Contemporary Dance where she danced with Candoco Dance Company. Leeke was a finalist in BBC Young Dancer 2022. Her artistic practice continues to be influenced by her research with Hawk Dance Theatre, Mimbre, and Alleyne Dance. Her choreography is rooted in exploring the physical language of hope and freedom of her voice. Elisabeth Mulenga is a London based dance artist. Mulenga was born in Birmingham and is of German and Zambian heritage. Her choreography comes from a practice of sensitivity and awareness, aiming to highlight a range of lived emotional experiences. Her choreographic choices are also influenced by her spirituality and cultural identities. Mulenga is an alumnus of NYDC’s eighth cohort and trained at Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. Mulenga has performed in works by Thick & Tight, Jessica Nupen, Magnus Westwell, Kennedy Junior Muntanga, Ivan Michael Blackstock, Gianna Gi and Russell Maliphant. In April 2022, she competed in the Grand Final of BBC Young Dancer 2022, winning the Choreographic Innovation Award for her solo Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani?. BLUE MAKWANA is a London based choreographer and performer whose work ranges from focusing on a specific stimulus, to being abstract, with appreciation of movement expression and tone. MAKWANA is an alumnus of NYDC’s fourth cohort. Having trained in contemporary dance, ballet, jazz, commercial and musical theatre, MAKWANA aims to utilise her versatile skill set and incorporate elements of fusion in her work. Often using the skull and hair as a focal point in her personal work, she aims to show appreciation and acknowledgement of a range in hairstyle choices and experiences, and how they're portrayed in the media. Her choreographic goal is to focus on the dancers she works with, exhibiting their strength in continuously evolving and entertaining work. Tough Boys Dance Collective (TBDC) is a queer led dance theatre collective who create multidisciplinary works. Composed of co-founders Sula Castle, Roseann Dendy and Daze Hingorani, the collective was established in 2021 during their training at Trinity Laban. Hingorani was born and raised in London, spending their youth immersed in theatre and literature. Castle and Dendy grew up in Scotland’s central belt, each bring their nuanced perspectives influenced by Scottish culture in relation to Catholicism, folklore and the working-class experience. Pulling from phenomenological research, TBDC’s work explores ideas of community and its intersections with gender, sexuality, religion and class. National Youth Dance Company’s New Cohort for 2022/23 Covering all regions across the country, 22 workshops took place between June - August 2022 to select the new members for the 2022/23 intake, who have joined six returning dancers from last year’s cohort. All 35 dancers are aged 16-24 and come from a range of different dance backgrounds. During the dancers’ time with NYDC, they are offered a unique insight into the dance profession, living and working closely together as a company, alongside NYDC staff and the artistic team. The year-long experience within the company provides members with the necessary skills and techniques to find career opportunities and raise aspirations, self-esteem and confidence. The dancers are mentored during four intensive residencies in school holidays to create and rehearse the new piece. The 2022/23 residencies will take place in Ipswich, Birmingham, London, Leeds and Manchester. To mark the tenth anniversary of NYDC, Sadler’s Wells Learning & Engagement department will lead activity around the country, including 100 free school workshops and five regional commissions celebrating the success of the company. Sadler’s Wells will host a series of birthday parties linked to the tour dates bringing young people together to celebrate and dance.   As well as supporting dance artists we will also be supporting new behind the scenes talent with an exciting opportunity. For the tenth anniversary commission an early career lighting designer will be mentored by renowned Lighting Designer Lucy Carter.   Over the last ten years NYDC has worked with over 6000 young people through workshops and projects across the country. 313 young people have joined the company, creating ten full length dance productions by internationally renowned choreographers including Alesandra Seutin, Russell Maliphant, Botis Seva, Sharon Eyal, Damien Jalet, Michael Keegan Dolan, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Akram Khan & Jasmin Vardimon.   Some NYDC alumni continue their artist development journey with Sadler’s Wells, going on to the Young Associates programme including Ruby Portus (NYDC cohort two) and John-William Watson (NYDC cohort three & four). Three of the aforementioned new Young Associates are also NYDC alumni including BLUE MAKWANA (cohort four), Elisabeth Mulenga (cohort eight) and Maiya Leeke (cohort nine).   NYDC alumni have gone on to perform in leading dance companies including Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, Phoenix Dance Theatre, PunchDrunk and Cullberg Ballet. Many return to the Sadler’s Wells stages, recently as Jack Frost in Birmingham Rep’s The Snowman and in Jasmin Vardimon’s ALiCE. Previous NYDC Guest Artistic Director Russell Maliphant brings VORTEX in May, in which two alumni will be performing.   NYDC Tour dates 2023:  Saturday 15 April The Lowry, Manchester  Saturday 3 June, Sadler's Wells, London Saturday 8 July, Jerwood DanceHouse, DanceEast, Ipswich Saturday 15 July, The House, Plymouth Tuesday 18 July, DMU, Leicester Wayne McGregor CBE is a Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist NYDC is jointly funded by Arts Council England from Lottery and Grant in Aid Resources, and the Department for Education  Barclays is the Associate Partner of National Youth Dance Company Barclays is the headline sponsor of the Tenth Anniversary Celebrations of NYDC   NOTES TO EDITORS Listings information National Youth Dance Company / Wayne McGregor Tour Dates Manchester The Lowry Saturday 15 April at 7:30 pm Tickets: https://thelowry.com/whats-on/national-youth-dance-company/ London Sadler’s Wells Saturday 3 June at 7:30 pm Tickets: https://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/national-youth-dance-company-22-23/ Ipswich Jerwood DanceHouse, DanceEast Saturday 8 July at 7:30 pm Plymouth  The House Saturday 15 July at 7:30 pm Leicester  DMU Tuesday 18 July at 7:30 pm About Young Associates  The Young Associates programme supports talented 18-24-year-olds and 18-30 for d/Deaf and disabled choreographers for two years, providing a crucial first step into their career as choreographers. The programme recruits four young artists from a range of dance styles who are selected for their potential to become the next generation of dance makers. The Young Associates will be supported by Sadler’s Wells over a period of two years and receive a tailored programme of professional development. They will also be provided opportunities to collaborate with other young artists and to develop and present new work in the form of two commissions within the Sadler’s Wells artistic programme. The Young Associates will also receive mentoring and training from Sadler’s Wells teams and a wide range of artists including the organisation’s Associate Artists, as well as financial support in the form of bursaries and commissioning fees. Young Associates – 2021/22 cohort  Olive Hardy has been continuing to research her improvisational practice, and has just spent some time researching during her residency at Wainsgate Chapel in Hebden Bridge. Hardy is currently planning on leading workshops and classes over the coming months. Vidya Patel has been continuing to develop and plan for future works and collaboration. In Autumn 2022 she exhibited her own collage photography artwork at Centrala Gallery. Patel is also mentoring for Young Creative 2023 as part of One Dance UK and is touring with Thick and Tight.  John-William Watson has been selected as one of Messums Wiltshire’s 4x20 artists for 2023. At Messums Festival of Dance in the summer they will present Hang in There Baby - their most recent work, commissioned by Sadler’s Wells in 2022, as part of the Young Associates programme. As a development of the short film they created for the Sadler’s Wells digital stage they have been commissioned by Messums to create a new solo work.   Magnus Westwell is currently leading a research week with NSCD MA Students, releasing an EP in the coming months, and is working on a new collaborative live production with Machine Woman, to tour in 2024.  Young Associates - 2018/19 cohort Anthony Matsena has been commissioned by Sky Arts, Sadler’s Wells, BBC, National Dance Company Wales, Jasmin Vardimon 2, Messums Wiltshire, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD), Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance and London Contemporary Dance School. Matsena is an associate artist with National Dance Company Wales and Messums Wiltshire. He sits on the board of National Youth Arts Wales. Matsena recently became a fellow at the RWCMD. More recently, directing and choreographing Shades of Blue which visited Sadler’s Wells, DanceEast and RWCMD in Spring 2022 and premiering his first feature-length film as a director Error Code 8:46. Wilhelmina Ojanen works as a choreographer and performer in Finland. Recently, Ojanen created a large scale site specific piece and facilitated a three month community dance project. Ruby Portus has been commissioned to create shows for Sadler’s Wells, Yorkshire Dance and Northern School of Contemporary Dance; has made a children’s show about saving the bees, supported by The Place, Yorkshire Dance and Arts Council England and has worked as Assistant Choreographer at Glyndebourne. As a movement director, Portus has worked on the Warner Bros. film Emily, on multiple plays and with The Belgrave House Band for their UK tours.Performance credits include touring with Southpaw Dance Company; performing in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony and for choreographers including John-William Watson. Christopher Thomas has been touring the UK as a performer with Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures and Mark Bruce Company. Thomas has also been developing relationships with Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, Arlene Philips and the Theo Adams Company. During the pandemic Thomas rediscovered his love for creation, deepening and experimenting with his choreographic style and making a series of dance films. He is also collaborating on a new choreographic work with composer Jordan Hunt. About NYDC  Founded in 2012, and hosted at 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:   313 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), Russell Maliphant (2019-20) and Alesandra Seutin (2020-2022). These 313 dancers come from over 80 different towns and cities in England.  Over 6000 young people have worked with the company     NYDC has reached an audience of over 50,000 people    NYDC has featured in 94 performances, visiting 25 different venues across the UK, including some leading theatres in the country 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 About Wayne McGregor, CBE  Born in 1970, Wayne McGregor CBE is a multi-award winning British choreographer and director, internationally renowned for trailblazing innovations in performance that have radically redefined dance in the modern era. Driven by an insatiable curiosity about movement and its creative potentials, his experiments have led him into collaborative dialogue with an array of artistic forms, scientific disciplines, and technological interventions. The startling and multi-dimensional works resulting from these interactions have ensured McGregor’s position at the cutting edge of contemporary arts for over twenty-five years.   Wayne McGregor is Artistic Director of Studio Wayne McGregor, a creative nexus that pushes the frontiers of physical intelligence through dance, design and technology. Company Wayne McGregor is McGregor’s ensemble of highly skilled dancers. Founded in 1993, this was the original instrument through which McGregor evolved his distinctive visual style, revealing the movement possibilities of the body in ever more precise degrees of articulation. Company Wayne McGregor is Resident Company at Sadler’s Wells, London.   Wayne McGregor is Resident Choreographer at The Royal Ballet, where his productions reconfigure the classical language, and is the Director of Dance for the Venice Biennale until 2024. He is also regularly commissioned by and has works in the repertories of the most important ballet companies in the world, including Paris Opera Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, New York City Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet and Australian Ballet.   He is also in demand as a choreographer for theatre (Old Vic, National Theatre, Royal Court, Donmar) opera (La Scala/Royal Opera, ENO), film (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Legend of Tarzan, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them 1 & 2, Sing, Mary Queen of Scots, Audrey), and music videos (Radiohead, Thom Yorke, The Chemical Brothers). In May 2022 the highly anticipated ABBA Voyage concert opened in London, with choreography by McGregor. About Barclays Barclays is a British universal bank. We are diversified by business, by different types of customers and clients, and by geography. Our businesses include consumer banking and payments operations around the world, as well as a top-tier, full service, global corporate and investment bank, all of which are supported by our service company which provides technology, operations and functional services across the Group. For further information about Barclays, please visit our website www.barclays.com