Press Release: Boy Blue national tour kicks off!

[Jan McNulty]

Boy Blue Entertainment - The Five & the Prophecy of Prana

 

 

NATIONAL TOUR: 2 October – 15 November 2014

 

London, Brighton, Poole, Truro, Doncaster, Newcastle, Nottingham, Blackpool, Canterbury, Coventry, Oxford, Salford and Cardiff.

 

The 13 UK venue national tour of Boy Blue Entertainment’s, The Five & the Prophecy of Prana (2 Oct – 14 Nov 2014) kicks off next week, Thurs 2 Oct at the Barbican, London - proudly presented by Dance Touring Partnership www.thefivetour.co.uk. Boy Blue Entertainment is a Barbican Artistic Associate.

 

Due to the generous financial support of Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Everybody Dance Now (EDN) will be rolled out to all the venues on the national tour of Boy Blue Entertainment's The Five & The Prophecy of Prana.

 

Everybody Dance Now

 

Piloted last autumn, Dance Touring Partnership’s initiative Everybody Dance Now brings together young people that may not have been to the theatre before - or danced - with local dance artists to develop the skills and experience of both. The project will deliver specialist participatory dance work to local communities, creating progressive learning experiences for the least engaged young people whilst offering dance artists high quality, sustained CPD (Continuing professional development). EDN will also provide local dance artists with a peer learning infrastructure which enables the sharing of best practice. Audiences and ‘partnership working’ remain central to the ethos of DTP. Everybody Dance Now, together with Arts Council England’s Strategic Touring Fund is an important element of this aim.

 

The Five & the Prophecy of Prana

 

Five young troublemakers are drawn into a power struggle that has divided a secret group of warriors. Given a chance to redeem themselves in the ensuing battle to restore peace, their action-packed adventure becomes a celebration of camaraderie and the triumph of the human spirit. 
Set in modern Tokyo, The Five & the Prophecy of Prana sees dazzling visuals frame a dynamic fusion of hip-hop and martial arts in an explosive tribute to manga – Japan’s popular graphic novel form.

 

Kenrick ‘H20’ Sandy and Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante, the Olivier Award-winning team behind Pied Piper and choreographer and composer for the film Streetdance 3D, have worked with the monks from the Shaolin Temple Warrior School, Japanese manga artist Akio Tanaka, and award-winning video animation studio Yeast Culture, to create this electrifying show.

 

 

TOUR DATES Autumn 2014

 

2–4 Oct                         Barbican, London                                             020 7638 8891

7 & 8 Oct                      Brighton Dome                                                 01273 709709

10 & 11 Oct                  Lighthouse, Poole                                             0844 406 8666

13 & 14 Oct                  Hall for Cornwall, Truro                                       01872 262466

17 October                   Cast Doncaster                                                 01302 303959

21 & 22 Oct                  Northern Stage, Newcastle                                0191 230 5151

24 & 25 Oct                  Nottingham Playhouse                                      0115 941 9419

28 & 29 Oct                  Grand Theatre, Blackpool                                  01253 743346

1 & 2 Nov                     Gulbenkian, Canterbury                                       01227 769075

4 & 5 Nov                     Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry                           024 7652 4524

7 & 8 Nov                     Oxford Playhouse                                             01865 305305

11 & 12 Nov                  The Lowry, Salford Quays                                 0843 208 6010

14 & 15 Nov                  Sherman Theatre, Cardiff                                   029 2064 6900

 

www.thefivetour.co.uk

 

 

Production co-commissioned by the Barbican, London and Derry-Londonderry UK City of Culture. Produced by Boy Blue Entertainment. Co-produced by the Barbican and Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg. Additional support from The Great British Sasakawa Foundation and Laban Theatre, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance.

 

Original creation and UK tour supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and Arts Council Wales.

 

Further media information for the National Tour:

Tony Shepherd on 0207 288 0266 / 07956 655813 and at tony.shepherd3@btopenworld.com

 

 

Dance Touring Partnership

 

Formed in 2002, Dance Touring Partnership (DTP) is a network of theatres working together to bring exciting and engaging dance to audiences around the UK. It has commissioned new work and, through its national tours of groundbreaking dance, aims to build audiences, increase the range and diversity of work available and encourage new attenders into dance. It also gives people the opportunity to meet artists and experience new dance first-hand through workshops and talks as well as providing useful education resources to students and teachers. The combination of these has helped to dramatically change the face of dance in the UK.

 

Since 2004 DTP has toured Ultima Vez, Australian Dance Theatre, Jasmin Vardimon, Renegade Theatre, Stan Won’t Dance, Theatre Rites, Hofesh Shechter, Tanja Liedtke’s Twelfth Floor, Bounce Street Dance Company, Danish Dance Theatre, Shaun Parker & Company, Blanca Li Dance Company, and twice toured Fabulous Beast.

 

 

www.dancetouringpartnership.co.uk

 

DTP core members. Brighton Dome: Hall for Cornwall, Truro: Lighthouse, Poole: The Lowry, Salford: Northern Stage, Newcastle: Nottingham Playhouse: Oxford Playhouse: Sherman Cymru, Cardiff: Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry.

 

Boy Blue Entertainment is an award-winning hip-hop dance company founded in London by choreographer Kenrick ‘H2O’ Sandy and composer Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante. As joint Artistic Directors, they work together on the creation and development of all of Boy Blue Entertainment’s productions and projects. Acclaimed for presenting “the perfect marriage of music and dance” Boy Blue releases boundless creative energy in its performances, laying down the beats and delivering thrilling and raw dance sequences. The Company is proud to be home to some of the UK’s most sought-after hip-hop artists.

 

Boy Blue Ents most prominent commission to date was for the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, where in collaboration with Danny Boyle, Kenrick choreographed hundreds of young dancers for the segment Frankie and June say thanks Tim, the staging of the Olympic torch handover to seven future Olympians and the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron. Michael provided musical compositions for the celebration of British music and the accomplishments of Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

 

Since its inception in 2002, Kenrick and Michael have always been keen to take hip-hop beyond the streets and clubs, remaining at the forefront of the UK movement to present hip-hop as an art form in its own right, creating dance theatre productions from the outset. Their breakthrough into the mainstream came with the production Pied Piper, originally presented at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, before transferring to the Barbican and touring the UK. The production won the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Dance Production. The success of Pied Piper led to Boy Blue being invited to join the Barbican as an Associate Artist