Press Release: Sadler's Wells new Wild Card season begins with Vicki Igbokwe

[Jan McNulty]

Wild Card
Vicki Igbokwe
Mixed Bill
UK Premiere
Lilian Baylis Studio, EC1R
Friday 20 September 2013
Performance at 8pm, pre-show activity from 7pm
Tickets: £17
Ticket Office 0844 412 4300 or www.sadlerswells.com

The first production in the Autumn season’s Wild Card programme comes from the creative director of Uchenna Dance and independent choreographer, Vicki Igbokwe who presents a mixed bill featuring the UK premiere of her new work Our Mighty Groove plus other new work from Ella Mesma, Alesandra Seutin and Cindy Claes, in the Lilian Baylis Studio at Sadler’s Wells on the 20 September 2013.

Vicki Igbokwe’s Our Mighty Groove sees the Lilian Baylis Studio transformed into an underground club. Set in promenade style the audience can experience the production sitting down, standing up or dancing. Igbokwe’s work is deeply rooted in choreography that explores the club dance scene namely house, waacking and vogue. Igbokwe’s movement vocabulary is urban in its content, African in its essence and contemporary in its aesthetic, using the company name Uchenna - her Nigerian name meaning God’s will - to describe her way of moving.

Contemporary dancer and b-girl Ella Mesma performs in the UK premiere of Ecdysis, choreographed by Anthony Egea of Compagnie Revolution. The piece explores themes of power, growth, strength and sexuality, inspired by the artwork of Frida Kahlo and the Peruvian Inca beliefs of Chakana. Ecdysis is also influenced by Ella Mesma’s experiences as a dancer, a person of mixed heritage and a woman. Ella Mesma has recently performed in The Rodin Project by critically acclaimed choreographer Russell Maliphant.

The programme also includes the London premiere of Ceci n’est pas Noire by performer, choreographer and teacher, Alesandra Seutin. Using dance, theatre, spoken word and music, Ceci n’est pas Noire is a reflective journey of a mixed race woman delving into her personal memories of living in Europe whilst travelling in Africa and the way perceptions of her change depending on context, resulting in a multitude of masks, roles and attitudes. Alesandra Seutin has been running Vocab Dance since 2007, she combines African traditional dance with contemporary and hip hop, creating a distinctly Afro-European dance.

The evening’s programme includes a pre-show performance by choreographer and dancer Cindy Claes, who presents a unique dancehall theatre piece on the theme of gender inequalities and feminism featuring three female dancers. Passionate about hip hop dance theatre, Cindy has presented work nationally and internationally including the SF Hip Hop Dancefest in San Francisco; J.U.I.C.E Hip Hop Festival, Hollywood and at the Edna Manley Theatre, Kingston Jamaica. She has worked with a wide range of leading dance organisations including Breakin’ Convention, Jonzi D Productions and the Royal Opera House.

On how she approached curating this exciting evening of dance Vicki says: "I have seen these artists work before and have collaborated with some of them in the past. To present work as part of the programme at Sadler's Wells is hugely exciting and all the artists involved are relishing the prospect of opening their work up to new audiences and contributing to the thriving dance community that surrounds Sadler's Wells"

Wild Card is supported by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, The Eranda Foundation and the Garrick Charitable Trust.

 

 

Notes to Editors

The works presented are supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and the Association of Dance of the African Diaspora through their Trailblazer Champion Fellowship Award.