Press Release: Dance Umbrella: Big Pulse Dance Alliance Artist Marco Da Silva Ferreira nominated for Rose Prize

[Jan McNulty]

 

 

PRESS RELEASE

10 January 2025

 

● BIG PULSE DANCE ALLIANCE CONCLUDES WITH ROSE

INTERNATIONAL DANCE PRIZE NOMINATION FOR SCALING-UP

ARTIST MARCO DA SILVA FERREIRA’S CARCAÇA

 

● DANCE UMBRELLA ANNOUNCES TWO NEW BOARD MEMBERS -

SIMEILIA HODGE-DALLAWAY & NIKHIL BOLTON-PATEL - PHOTOS

AVAILABLE HERE

 

● DANCE UMBRELLA SEED FUNDED BY ACE TO SEEK WAYS TO

DIVERSIFY CURATORIAL STEWARDSHIP

 

Big Pulse Dance Alliance was a 4-year partnership (2021- 2024) of 12 European dance festivals and institutions united by their passion to promote, strengthen and broaden the reach of the contemporary dance sector. Dance Umbrella’s involvement was initiated by its

then Artistic Director Emma Gladstone, just before Brexit. With the support of EU Creative Europe co-funding, Big Pulse’s aim was to diversify dance programming and audiences and support artist development through mentorship, travel and workshop programmes.

 

The project’s long-term vision is to establish a lively network of European dance festivals who work collaboratively and sustainably to further the life-changing impact of dance. The Big Pulse Dance Alliance partners are listed here The Big Pulse Scaling Up programme aimed to bring contemporary dance to the big stages

of Europe. This series of co-productions focused on supporting dance artists to transition from producing work for small and medium-sized stages to creating large-scale productions. Artists that were part of the Scaling Up programme created new works which were co-produced by and toured to several partner festivals including Dance Umbrella in London.

 

The Upscale Programme artists featured in Dance Umbrella were: Oona Doherty Navy Blue (2022); Sonya Lindfors One Drop (2023); POCKETART’s Fairy Tales (2024) and Marco da Silva Ferreira’s CARCAÇA which is nominated for the first ever Rose International Dance Prize, which was the last project Emma Gladstone worked on before she sadly passed away in February this year.

 

Marco da Silva Ferreira’s CARCAÇA features a cast of over ten dancers, drawing from European folk dance footwork to urban dance styles in search of a rebellious and carnival-like collective body. It is co-presented by Dance Umbrella and Big Pulse at Sadler’sWells on 1 & 2 February. The winner of the inaugural Rose International Dance Prize will be announced on 8 February.

 

As part of Big Pulse’s legacy, it has published a collection of digital guidebooks called Pathways, which detail the key learnings from the 4-year project, and provide practical advice and guidance for artists and festivals: https://www.bigpulsedance.eu/pathfinder/ for the future.

 

Dance Umbrella new board members- Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway & Nikhil Bolton-Patel.

Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway is an Arts leader working across the UK, in the US and globally. Founder of Beyond The Canon and Co-founder of Black Lives Black Words, she was also formerly a curatorial consultant at Factory International. Simeilia was also researcher and

project manager of Kwame Kwei-Armah’s initiative the ‘Black Plays Archive’ at the National Theatre and is Creative producer of the ‘I AM’ festival at the Goodman Theatre and is also an acclaimed author, responsible for first monologue anthology for black actors.

 

Simelia said: “It's an honour to serve on the board of the most dynamic, innovative and forward-thinking dance organisation. Dance was my entryway into the arts and nothing has brought me greater joy than to witness Dance Umbrella, year after year push the

boundaries of dance, revolutionise the industry and provide an artistic home for local and international groundbreaking talent. I look forward to serving with DU's impressive board members and dedicated staff as we navigate and collectively shape what is yet to come.”

 

Nikhil Bolton-Patel is UK Senior Finance Analyst at ATG Entertainment and was formerly management accountant at National Theatre Productions before which he was finance officer at The Place. Nikhil said: ‘Contemporary dance gave me my foot in the door to the UK performing arts industry. I’m beyond excited to now have the opportunity to be a part of Dance Umbrella, who year after year open the doors of London’s main stages to a breadth of exceptional artists who have not yet had the opportunity to present work there. Widening and diversifying access to the sector is at the heart of Freddie and Tania’s philosophy for DU - and I’m looking forward to supporting them and their team in achieving that.

’

Diversifying Curatorial Stewardship

During 2024, Dance Umbrella has been seed funded by ACE to explore ways to diversify curatorial leadership – actively seeking to broaden the perspective of the people who decide what gets shown on UK and international stages. Delia Barker, CEO of Brixton House, has worked with DU on the project. DU Artistic Director and Co Chief Executive Freddie Opoku-Addaie and Delia recorded a conversation about the project, discussing where it came from, why it matters, how it happened and what they found out. The audio recording is

accompanied by an article by Delia. Dance Umbrella is now eveloping the next stage of this work and seeking funding partners.

 

https://danceumbrella.co.uk/2024/11/21/diversifying-curatorial-stewardship-a-conversation/

 

Listings Information

Marco da Silva Ferreira - CARCAÇA

Sadler’s Wells Theatre

Sat 1 and Sun 2 Feb, 8.30pmCARCAÇA is co-presented with Dance Umbrella & Big Pulse Dance Alliance

 

Notes to Editors

Biographies

Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway

Simeilia is an award-winning arts leader working across the UK and America. She is the founder and CEO at Beyond The Canon, and the former Co-founder at Black Lives Black Words International Project and the former founding CEO and Artistic Director at Artistic Directors of the Future (ADF).

 

Throughout Simeilia’s career in the arts, she has designed several critically acclaimed leadership initiatives, most celebrated for Up Next: a leadership takeover initiative in partnership with Bush Theatre and Battersea Arts Centre, and The Stage Innovation Award-winning initiative, ADF Board Shadowing Programme.

 

In 2020, Simeilia became an entry in the Who’s Who Directory of noteworthy and influential people who impact British Life. In 2019, TED in partnership with Google selected Simeilia as one of the five Emerging Innovators, she has been listed seven consecutive years in The Stage: Top 100 Power List, and named in the London Evening Standard Newspaper’s The Progress 1000: London’s most influential people for Theatre in 2018.

 

Simeilia’s previously work includes, curatorial consultant at Factory International (formerly known as Manchester International Festival), researcher & project manager of Kwame Kwei-Armah’s brainchild initiative the ‘Black Plays Archive’ at the National Theatre, creative producer of the ‘I AM’ festival at the Goodman Theatre, where she gained international recognition for the commission and direction of 'The Interrogation of Sandra Bland' by Mojisola Adebayo, performed by 100 women from the global majority at Goodman Theatre and executive film producer for multi-award-winning films ‘Bottled Spirits’ in partnership with Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Stellar and her directorial feature film debut ‘Ride Share’ in partnership with Writers Theatre (Chicago), which was listed in the Wall Street Journal as ‘an electrifying example of hybrid theatre at its best’, Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway won ‘Director of the Year’ by the Young-Howze Theatre, named as a finalist for ‘Best Director’ at the London Director Awards and nominated for ‘Best Diaspora Narrative Feature’ by the Africa Film Academy.

 

In addition, Simeilia is a critically acclaimed author, responsible for the first monologue anthology for black actors inspired by Black British Plays titled ‘The Oberon Book of Monologues for Black Actors: Classical and Contemporary Speeches from Black British Plays’ which was followed by a second first-of-its-kind monologue anthology ‘Audition Speeches for Black, South Asian and Middle Eastern Actors’   Simeilia’s latest publications include,

‘Decolonizing the Theatre Space. A Conversation’

co-edited with Kwame Kwei-Armah and Olivia Poglio-Nwabali and ‘Beyond The Canon’s Plays for Young Activists’, co-edited with Sarudzayi Marufu.

 

Former Trustee at the Directors Guild of Great Britain and Boundless Theatre (formerly known as Company of Angels Theatre Company), she also worked across the UK and internationally as a lecturer, audience development and leadership consultant.

 

Nikhil Bolton-Patel

Nikhil Bolton-Patel is UK Senior Finance Analyst at ATG Entertainment and was formerly management accountant at National Theatre Productions before which he was finance officer at The Place.

 

Nikhil works in finance in the commercial theatre sector and is currently the UK Senior Finance Analyst for programming, data, and London venues at ATG Entertainment. Previously, he has worked at National Theatre Productions, focusing on financial planning and production accounting for shows including War Horse (UK & Ireland Tour), Dear England (Prince Edward Theatre), Standing at the Sky's Edge (Gillian Lynne Theatre) and The Lehman Trilogy (Gillian Lynne Theatre, InternationalTour). Nikhil’s involvement in the contemporary dance sector began at The Place, where he worked in

particular with the producing and programming teams.

 

About Dance Umbrella

Dance Umbrella is a London festival 45 years in the making and moving with the times. Every year our festival ignites London and online with the next generation of trailblazing artists. Since 1978, we

have been an international home for dance across a global city, presenting more than 1000 artists from 45 countries to over one million people. We have brought outstanding dance to more than 145

venues throughout London and online; from the high-profile stages of Sadler’s Wells, Southbank Centre and Barbican to local arts centres – and taking in the more unexpected locations of canal

boats, ice rinks and car park rooftops in between.

 

Since 2020, we have also given online audiences the chance to experience the festival through a curated programme including dance films and artist encounters. Dance Umbrella is also a

commissioner of new work, co-producing with partners based in the UK and abroad, to invest in the next wave of international choreographic talent. Alongside this, we create year-round creative learning initiatives for all ages and nurture the development of arts professionals.

 

Appointed in 2021, Dance Umbrella’s new Artistic Director/CEO Freddie Opoku-Addaie's vision for the festival builds on its 45-year track record of commissioning and producing excellent work. This new chapter introduces a programme that puts emerging and diverse talent at its heart, reflecting the global identity of our London home.

 

Dance Umbrella Festival 2024 will take place 6-31 October, across London and online. Watch this space for more spectacle shows announced in the coming months before the full festival LAUNCH in

June.

Danceumbrella.co.uk

 

About the Rose International Dance Prize

The Rose International Dance Prize is a biennial prize for new dance creations in any style, showcasing some of the most inventive and daring choreographers at work today. The Prize, hosted at Sadler’s Wells, consists of the Rose category for established choreographers presenting a full-length performance of 50 minutes or longer, and the Bloom category, for emerging choreographers with a maximum of ten years’ experience. The shortlisted works will be performed

between 29 January and 8 February 2025.

 

www.sadlerswells.com/the-rose-prize-2025/