Press Release: Sadler's Wells - Wild Card: Cindy Claes and Eva Recacha present cutting edge work this Spring/Summer 2014 season

[Jan McNulty]

Wild Card

Cindy Claes
World Premiere
Dancehall Takeover
Thursday 13 & Friday 14 February 2014

Eva Recacha
Dear Devil
Thursday 27 March 2014

Lilian Baylis Studio at Sadler’s Wells

Performances at 8pm, pre-show activity from 7pm
Tickets: £17
Box office: 0844 412 4300 or www.sadlerswells.com

 

After two successful seasons Wild Card returns to Sadler’s Wells this Spring. This Sadler’s Wells initiative opens up the theatre’s Lilian Baylis Studio to the next generation of choreographers and dance makers, who are invited to curate a mixed bill evening of cutting edge work.

 

Each season selected emerging artists from different spectrums of the contemporary dance landscape are given the rare opportunity to present work of their choice alongside their own work in the Lilian Baylis Studio at Sadler’s Wells, fully supported by the theatre.

The first of this Spring/Summer 2014 season’s two Wild Card evenings is curated by dancer, choreographer and Association of Dance of the African Diaspora Trailblazer 2013-14, Cindy Claes who presents an evening entitled Dancehall Takeover: an immersion into the world of Jamaican dancehall on Thursday 13 & Friday 14 February. A dancer, actress, playwright and choreographer, Cindy’s work has been showcased in the UK and internationally, notably at the San Francisco hip hop Dancefest. She is currently researching setting up a dance exchange between Jamaica and the UK.

 

With this evening Claes brings together comedy, street dance, and urban dance theatre to look at the roots and influence of this dynamic street dance culture from Jamaica, unknown to many and yet growing in popularity. Central to the evening is the coming together of three generations of dancehall performers and artists, including work performed and choreographed by Paradigmz; Jamaican crew, Shady Squad, who perform for the first time in the UK; the Dancehall Theatre Exchange Collective (DTX Collective) who perform a new piece choreographed by Claes and Shady Squad; and work by Claes herself. The programme also includes an installation piece created by H Patten.

 

Choreographer and twice Place Prize finalist, Eva Recacha presents the second Wild Card evening on Thursday 27 March. She curates and presents an evening entitled Dear Devil exploring themes of authority, power, subjugation and rebellion. This programme aims to question our perception of how we relate to one another in different arenas, specifically opening a debate on how the dance world deals with hierarchy and the division of roles between dancers and choreographers. Originally from Spain, Recacha has established herself as an emerging artist with a distinctive voice. She has been commissioned to create work for Edge, DanceXchange, Bloomberg SPACE and the Opera Estate Festival in Veneto.

 

Recacha’s evening features work from emerging dance makers including the UK premiere of a new duet by Colin, Simon and I; a new film installation and live performance by the collective Dog Kennel Hill Project (Ben Ash, Henrietta Hale and Rachel Lopez de la Nieta) who recently presented Tug on a canal boat at Dance Umbrella 2013; and Recacha’s own 2013 Place Prize piece The Wishing Well, featuring the soloist Martha Passakopoulou.

 

Cindy Claes and Eva Recacha’s programme’s follows last year’s Wild Card series which included work from BELLYFLOP, Ivan Blackstock, Dan Canham, Vicky Igbokwe, Anand Bhatt and Laura Dajao.

 

Wild Card is supported by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation and the Garrick Charitable Trust. Artists selected benefit from additional support from Arts Council England.

 

 

Notes to Editors

 

Cindy Claes’ programme is supported by Arts Council England, Scanner’s Inc, RichMix, Breakin’ Convention, Greenwich Dance, ADAD Trailblazers, Juste Debout UK.

 

Eva Recacha’s The Wishing Well was commissioned by The Pace Prize for Dance, sponsored by Bloomberg. Recacha is a Work Place supported artist.

 

Sadler’s Wells Artist Support

As a world leader in contemporary dance dedicated to bringing the very best international and British dance to the widest possible audiences, Sadler’s Wells is committed to both supporting professional dance makers and nurturing new and emerging talent.

Sadler’s Wells hosts the National Youth Dance Company (NYDC), which creates and performs innovative and influential youth dance, drawing together some of the brightest young talent, aged 15-19 from across the country to work with our internationally renowned Associate Artists. NYDC is funded jointly by Arts Council England and the Department for Education, from the National Lottery and Grant in Aid funds.

 

In its fourth and final year, the Sadler’s Wells Summer University supports a cohort of 15 aspiring choreographers typically aged 25-35 during an annual two week intensive course featuring lectures, discussions, workshops and guest artists, directed by award-winning choreographer Jonathan Burrows. The Jerwood Charitable Foundation supports the programme as part of the ongoing Jerwood Studio at Sadler’s Wells which began in 2006, to develop creative opportunities for choreographers and practitioners from other art forms to experiment and take risks.

 

With Wild Card, Sadler’s Wells invites emerging choreographers and producers to curate an evening of work for its Lilian Baylis Studio, with production, technical and marketing support from the theatre. Sadler’s Wells’ New Wave Associates programme, supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, offers the next generation of artists a structured programme of support, directing them to opportunities that will further develop their careers and a commitment to commission and show new work by each of them.

Completing the continuum of support, Sadler’s Wells’ 16 Associate Artists and three Resident Companies are offered opportunities to work alongside collaborators and dancers, and develop concepts and ideas for large-scale productions which the theatre commissions and co-produces.