Press Release: Sadler’s Wells tours acclaimed production The Rite of Spring / common ground[s] to North America and Europe

[Jan McNulty]

Wednesday 29 November 2023 Sadler’s Wells tours acclaimed production The Rite of Spring / common ground[s] to North America and Europe   Image credit: The Rite of Spring Maarten Vanden Abeele © Pina Bausch Foundation   The Rite of Spring / common ground[s] begins the latest leg of its international tour this week with a sold-out two-week run at the iconic Park Avenue Armory in New York City. The acclaimed work, a Pina Bausch Foundation, École des Sables & Sadler’s Wells production, then tours the USA to the Charleston Galliard Centre, Charleston; The Music Centre, Los Angeles, and Cal Performances, Berkeley in February 2024 before visiting Lugano Arte e Cultura in Switzerland and the Schrit_tmacher Festival in The Netherlands in Spring 2024. Sadler’s Wells today releases a short behind-the-scenes documentary featuring interviews with key creatives, filmed during its tour to the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2023. Watch the short documentary on the Sadler's Wells touring page here: https://www.sadlerswells.com/on-tour/ Pina Bausch’s (1975) The Rite of Spring is danced by a specially assembled company of dancers from 14 African countries. In this pioneering work, with music by Stravinsky, a ‘chosen one’ is sacrificed changing the season from winter to spring.   common ground[s] is a new work created, performed and inspired by the lives of two remarkable women: Germaine Acogny, “the mother of contemporary African dance” and founder of École des Sables in Senegal, and Malou Airaudowho has performed leading roles in many of Bausch’s early works. The poetic and tender piece, the duo’s first collaboration, examines their shared histories and emotional experiences. Suzanne Walker, Executive Producer at Sadler’s Wells, said: “It is very exciting to be bringing this extraordinary double bill to the States with our partners the Pina Bausch Foundation and École des Sables. At the heart of this programme is the idea of exchange, so it feels wholly appropriate to be bringing a collaboration by creatives across the European and African continents to further audiences in North America. We can’t wait to see what it looks like in the utterly unique setting of The Armory, where the US tour begins. It’s also a great pleasure to be concurrently touring another Sadler’s Wells co-production, Message In A Bottle, across North America from February to May 2024.”  A Pina Bausch Foundation, École des Sables & Sadler’s Wells production, co-produced with Théâtre de la Ville, Paris; Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg; Holland Festival, Amsterdam; Festspielhaus, St Pölten; Ludwigsburg Festival; Teatros del Canal de la Comunidad de Madrid, Adelaide Festival and Spoleto Festival dei 2Mondi.   The project is funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the Ministry of Culture and Science of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the International Coproduction Fund of the Goethe-Institut, and kindly supported by the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. NOTES TO EDITORS    https://www.sadlerswells.com/on-tour/ The Rite of Spring / common ground[s] touring calendar Park Avenue Armory, New York, USA 29 November – 14 December 2023 Charleston Galliard Centre, Charleston, USA 2 – 3 February 2024 The Music Centre, Los Angeles, USA 9 – 11 February 2024 Cal Performances, Berkeley, USA 16 – 18 February 2024 Lugano Arte e Cultura, Lugano, Switzerland 28 & 29 February 2024 Schrit_tmacher Festival, Heerlen, Netherlands 7 & 8 March 2024 https://www.sadlerswells.com/on-tour/current-productions/pina-bausch-germaine-acogny-malou-airaudo-the-rite-of-spring-common-grounds/ Message In A Bottle touring calendar Chassé Theatre, Breda, Netherlands 29 November – 3 December 2023 MartinPlaza, Groningen, Netherlands 7 – 10 December 2023 Les Theatres de la Ville, Luxembourg 25 – 27 January 2024 Hollywood Pantages Theatre, Los Angeles, USA 6 – 11 February 2024 Buell Theatre, Denver, USA 13 – 25 February 2024 Cadillac Palace Theatre, Chicago, USA 28 February – 3 March 2024 Place des Arts, Montreal, Canada 12 – 16 March 2024 Meridian Hall, Toronto, Canada 20 – 23 March 2024 Emerson Colonial Theatre, Boston, USA 26 – 30 March 2024 Knight Theater Blumenthal Performing Arts Centre, Charlotte, USA 2 – 7 April 2024 The Kennedy Centre, Washington DC, USA 9 – 21 April 2024 New York City Centre, New York City, USA 30 April – 12 May 2024 Miller Theatre, Philadelphia, USA 14 – 19 May 2024   https://www.sadlerswells.com/on-tour/current-productions/message-in-a-bottle/   About the Pina Bausch Foundation  https://www.pinabausch.org/  The Pina Bausch Foundation carries the artistic legacy of dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch into the future. Her son Salomon Bausch founded the non-profit foundation shortly after her death in 2009 to make her work accessible and tangible for dancers worldwide, diverse audiences, and new generations. The focus is on rehearsing and performing Pina Bausch's pieces and physically getting to know her work in workshop formats.    For this purpose, the Foundation passes on Pina Bausch's choreographies to dancers and companies worldwide and collaborates with universities. It also develops a training process for rehearsal directors and artistic strategies to safeguard the unique knowledge of the choreographies and their rehearsal process for the future.    One of the Foundation's fundamental tasks is to make the extensive materials of Pina  Bausch's artistic legacy accessible through digital archives. The Pina Bausch Archives,  which include photographs and video recordings as well as written materials on the creation of the pieces, serve as a knowledge resource that is used again and again during rehearsals and restagings. Since November 2021, first materials are publicly accessible worldwide in the online archives at pinabausch.org. The online archives are constantly being expanded with new materials and pieces.    About École Des Sables, Senegal   https://ecoledessables.org/    École des Sables is an international centre for traditional and contemporary African dances, a school for theoretical and practical teaching, a laboratory for research, and a space for meetings and exchanges, conferences and artistic residences.     The school is dedicated to professional training for dancers from all over Africa in traditional and contemporary African dances. Its objectives are to professionalise African dancers, allowing them to be able to live from their art, and to encourage communication and collaboration between dancers, choreographers and companies from Africa and with the rest of the world; in short, to develop and promote contemporary African dance. Since 1998, the school has regularly organised professional training workshops gathering dancers and choreographers from Africa, the African diaspora and all over the world.     École des Sables was created in 1998 by Germaine Acogny, considered as “the mother of contemporary African Dance”, and her husband Helmut Vogt. Germaine Acogny is the former director of Mudra Afrique (1977-1982), a pan-African school founded by Leopold Sedar Senghor and Maurice Bejart, which had the objective of giving a professional education to African dancers and citizens to make them become responsible and autonomous through the art.   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 more than 200 new dance works to the stage, embracing both the popular and the unknown. Our acclaimed productions tour the world. Since 2005 we’ve produced 64 new full-length works and performed to audiences of more than two million, touring to 51 countries.      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.     Sadler’s Wells East   In 2024 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 new Rose Choreographic School and the hip hop theatre training centre, Academy Breakin’ Convention.   Sadler’s Wells East joins the rich cultural heritage of Stratford, opening in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as part of the East Bank development alongside the BBC, UAL’s London College of Fashion, UCL and the V&A. Sadler’s Wells East will support artist development and training, and the creation of new work. It will build the infrastructure for dance and make it accessible to more people. Sadler’s Wells East will house a flexible theatre presenting a wide variety of dance performances. Community will be at the heart of Sadler’s Wells East with a large open foyer that can be used by everyone as a meeting or performance space. There will also be dance studios and world-class dance facilities for dancemakers to train, create and rehearse productions.    Supporting artists  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.      Learning and community links  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