Press Release: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui announced as the next guest artistic director of the National Youth Dance Company

[Jan McNulty]

Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui announced as next Guest Artistic Director of the National Youth Dance Company (NYDC)

Following two critically acclaimed sell-out performances by the National Youth Dance Company at Sadler’s Wells, NYDC starts its search for the next intake of 30 company members who will work with Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, the next Guest Artistic Director of the company.

One of Europe’s most exciting choreographers, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui has made more than 25 choreographic works. He has choreographed for the award-winning film Anne Karenina by Joe Wright, Cirque du Soleil’s recent Las Vegas production Michael Jackson ONE, and worked with performance artist Marina Abramovic and Damien Jalet on Boléro for the Paris Opera Ballet. His choreographic works include zero degrees with Akram Khan, Antony Gormley and Nitin Sawhney; Olivier Award-winning Babel^(words) also with Damien Jalet, Faun (which premiered at Sadler’s Wells as part of In the Spirit of Diaghilev), Dunas with award-winning flamenco dancer and choreographer Maria Pages, Olivier Award-winning Puz/zle, Sutra which has toured to 27 countries and been seen by over 185,000 people worldwide, and his current productions m¡longa and ç��é�¿genesis.

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s appointment follows previous Guest Artistic Director’s and Sadler’s Wells Associate Artists, Jasmin Vardimon (2012-2013) and Akram Khan (2013-2014).

To date, the young members of NYDC have been chosen from a total of 27 experience workshops that, combined, saw over 500 young people take part. The chosen members come from over 33 towns, cities and villages across England.

The next round of NYDC members will be recruited from workshops taking place across England, to regions ranging from Plymouth to Hull and Newcastle to Brighton. The company, hosted by the UK’s leading dance house Sadler’s Wells, is seeking the brightest young dance talent from across England. Those chosen will have a chance to work with a range of inspirational teachers and choreographers to learn, create and perform innovative work, drawing on a number of dance techniques including contemporary, hip hop and ballet.

The Experience Workshops are open to dancers aged 16-18 of all backgrounds and abilities, with experience in any dance style. The first step for those who would like to join is to attend an Experience Workshop at one of a number of locations around the UK. The workshops are free to attend, but places must be reserved by emailing NYDC@sadlerswells.com

The workshop days will include teaching on technique and creative elements, as well as an information session about NYDC, further training and professional careers in dance.

NYDC tours the UK with Akram Khan’s work The Rashomon Effect & Vertical Road this summer, full details below.

Alistair Spalding (CBE), Chief Executive & Artistic Director at Sadler’s Wells says “The future strength of the whole dance industry depends on there being a pipeline of new talent coming forward. The NYDC is one way in which Sadler’s Wells can offer a unique opportunity for young people right across the country to work with some of the best choreographers working today and give them an experience that will help them on their way to a career in dance.”

NYDC is funded jointly by Arts Council England and the Department for Education, from the National Lottery and Grant in Aid funds.

 

Notes to Editors

The age range is flexible in certain circumstances- please see guidance notes for more information.

NYDC 2014 Tour Dates

20 June 2014
The Point, Eastleigh
Vertical Road

27 June 2014
U.Dance, Nottingham Playhouse
The Rashomon Effect

28 June 2014
As part of Sadler’s Sampled Playlist, Sadler’s Wells
The Rashomon Effect

29 June 2014
As part of Sadler’s Sampled Playlist, Sadler’s Wells
Vertical Road

5 July 2014
Dance City, Newcastle
The Rashomon Effect / Vertical Road

6 July 2014
The Riley Theatre, Leeds
The Rashomon Effect / Vertical Road

12 July 2014
Commonwealth Youth Dance Festival, Glasgow
The Rashomon Effect

20 July 2014
Latitude Festival, Waterfront Stage
As part of Sadler’s Wells at Latitude Festival
Vertical Road

NYDC 2014 Experience Workshop dates

25 May 2014
The Castle, Wellingborough

26 May 2014
DanceXchange, Birmingham

27 May 2014
Dance City, Newcastle

27 May 2014
Sadler’s Wells, London

28 May 2014
Donut Creative Arts Studio, Chesterfield

28 May 2014
Dance East, Jerwood DanceHouse, Ipswich

29 May 2014
Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Leeds

29 May 2014
Marina Studios, Brighton

30 May 2014
Hull College, Hull

30 May 2014
Swindon Dance, Swindon

31 May 2014
The Life Centre, Plymouth

1 June 2014
The Dance House, Manchester

20 June 2014
As part of The Point Careers Day, Eastleigh

27 – 29 June 2014
As part of U Dance 2014 Festival, Nottingham

For further details visit http://www.sadlerswells.com/national-youth-dance-company/

About National Youth Dance Company (NYDC)
Founded in 2012, formed in 2013 and hosted at Sadler’s Wells, the National Youth Dance Company aims to create and perform innovative and influential youth dance, drawing together some of the brightest young talent from across the country. NYDC provides a bespoke programme to support the physical, artistic and personal development of talented young dancers at a critical age. It seeks to develop confident, versatile, creative dancers who are capable of thinking independently, are open to new ideas, can work to a professional standard and can push the boundaries for youth dance. Each year, 30 dancers aged 16 - 19 are selected from across England to form a new cohort within the Company and can stay with NYDC for up to three years.

One of Sadler’s Wells’ internationally renowned Associate Artists or visiting company directors is appointed Guest Artistic Director for each cohort, giving the members the opportunity to learn, create, rehearse and perform new and existing work for the theatre’s main stage and a UK tour. They draw on a number of dance techniques including contemporary, hip hop, ballet and South Asian dance.  The Company meets in school holidays to participate in four intensive weeks per year at Sadler’s Wells and regional venues.

Over June and July 2013 NYDC took part in nine performances seen by over 5,000 people in a range of venues, from large scale theatres to site specific outdoor stages, in locations stretching from London to Leeds, Bristol to Kent.

The National Youth Dance Company is funded jointly by Arts Council England and the Department for Education, from the National Lottery and Grant in Aid funds.

About Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s debut as a choreographer was in 1999 with Andrew Wale’s ‘contemporary musical’, Anonymous Society. Since then he has made more than 25 full-fledged choreographic pieces and picked up a slew of awards, including the Fringe First award in Edinburgh, the promising choreographer prize at the Nijinsky Awards in Monte Carlo and the Helpmann award from Australia in 2007. In 2008 Sadler’s Wells named him an Associate Artist and in 2009 the Alfred Toëpfer Stiftung conferred its Kairos prize to him in recognition of his artistic philosophy and his quest for cultural dialogue. In 2008 and 2011 he was declared Choreographer of the Year by the dance magazine Tanz. He received the Olivier Award in the Best New Dance Production category for Babel^(words) - co-choreographed by Damien Jalet - in 2011 and recently, for Puz/zle in 2014.

While Cherkaoui’s initial pieces were made as a core member of the Belgian collective, Les Ballets C. de la B. – Rien de Rien (2000), Foi (2003) and Tempus Fugit (2004) – he also undertook parallel projects that both expanded and consolidated his artistic vision. Ook(2000) was born from a workshop for mentally disabled actors held by Theater Stap in Turnhout with choreographer Nienke Reehorst; D’avant (2002) from an encounter with longstanding artistic partner Damien Jalet, Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola and Luc Dunberry of Sasha Waltz & Guests company; and zero degrees (2005) with friend and choreographer Akram Khan. He has worked with a variety of theatres, opera houses and ballet companies, but from 2006 –2009 Cherkaoui was based in Antwerp where he was an associate artist at Toneelhuis, the theatre that produced Myth (2007) and Origine (2008).

In 2008 Cherkaoui premiered Sutra at Sadler’s Wells. This award-winning collaboration with Antony Gormley and the Shaolin monks continues to tour the world to great critical acclaim. After his first commissioned piece for a North American dance company, Orbo Novo (for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet) and a series of duets such as Faun (which premiered at Sadler’s Wells as part of In the Spirit of Diaghilev) and Dunas with flamenco danseuse María Pagés (both in October 2009), he launched his new company Eastman in 2010, resident at deSingel International Arts Campus.

Spring 2010 saw him reunited with co-choreographer Damien Jalet and Antony Gormley to make Babel^(words), the third part of a triptych that began with Foi and Myth. That same year he also created three duets: Rein featuring Guro Nagelhus Schia and Vebjørn Sundby; Play, with kuchipudi danseuse Shantala Shivalingappa; and Bound, for Shanell Winlock and Gregory Maqoma as part of Southern Bound Comfort. 

2011 saw the creation of TeZukA, a new piece for 15 performers about the works of the master of Japanese manga, Osamu Tezuka. Cherkaoui also created Labyrinth for Dutch National Ballet.

In 2012 he created Puz/zle with 11 dancers and the Corsican men’s choir A Filetta, Lebanese singer Fadia Tomb El-Hage and Japanese musician Kazunari Abe. He also helmed the choreography for Anna Karenina, the film by Joe Wright, featuring Keira Knightley and Jude Law.

During the spring of 2013 Cherkaoui made several pieces: 4D for Eastman, Boléro (in collaboration with Damien Jalet and Marina Abramovic) for the Paris Opera Ballet andm¡longa, a tango performance, for Sadler's Wells. Autumn 2013 saw the premiere of ç��é�¿genesis, a new Eastman production,in Beijing.

About Arts Council England
Arts Council England champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people’s lives. ACE support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2011 and 2015, we will invest £1.4 billion of public money from government and an estimated £1 billion from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country. www.artscouncil.org.uk