Press Release: Sadler's Wells inclusive series celebrates it's inaugural year with a weekend of shows this March

[Jan McNulty]

A Sadler’s Wells series 
=dance 
Lilian Baylis Studio, Sadler’s Wells
Saturday 21 & Sunday 22 March 2015  
Performance and post show discussions (full details below or visit sadlerswells.com)
Tickets: £6 - £12 (Concessions available for Access members, students, under 18s and over 60s)
Ticket Office: 0844 412 4300 or www.sadlerswells.com
Minicom Number: 020 7863 8015  

“This renowned theatre, specialising in dance, offers a bewildering array of facilities and a visit here can be an inspirational experience, if only to see what is achievable.”  The Rough Guide to Accessible Britain

Sadler’s Wells completes the inaugural year of the =dance series with two programmes of work; a mixed programme entitledEquation and a triple bill from Corali dance company in the Lilian Baylis Studio on 21 & 22 March 2015. In the biggest presentation of inclusive dance ever programmed by the theatre, =dance aims to present some of the most exciting and innovative work created and performed by both established and emerging deaf and disabled artists. =dance also includes a programme of workshops, discussions and professional development opportunities alongside each performance.

Opening the weekend performances on Saturday 21 March is Equation, presenting highlights from featured companies and artists from the first year of =dance, followed by a discussion around the contribution of their work to the =dance series and its impact on the dance sector. The =dance discussion will be chaired by Sadler’s Wells Artistic Director and Chief Executive, Alistair Spalding.

The mixed programme includes an excerpt from Stopgap Dance Company’s Artificial Things. Stopgap Dance Company employs disabled and non-disabled artists who find innovative ways to collaborate and integrate disabled and non-disabled people through dance. Artificial Things sees a group of individuals who are slowly suffocating in each other’s company. They seek escape through riotous rock-n-roll, but their wild disorder descends into playground politics to reveal some uncomfortable truths. Artificial Things is choreographed by Lucy Bennett, one of the UK’s leading experts in integrated choreography, and is devised and danced by a cast including The 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony performer, David Toole.

Marc Brew choreographs and performs a solo work entitled Remember When. Brew’s work fuses the physicality of contemporary dance with tender expression to explore an emotional narrative in dance. Using line and extension, intricate folding, placement and replacement, in this piece he looks at peeling away the layers to expose what it is that he remembers.

The Soundman (a work in progress) is a piece by DMD. Founded by deaf choreographer Mark Smith, DMD is made up of professional dancers who are deaf, and incorporates a range of dance forms and sign language to create a unique choreographic practice. The piece is inspired by DB1's music called The SoundMan which tells the story of a man who, because he was going deaf, recorded everything from his top pocket using a recording unit, then hears back later what he has missed. 

Completing the line-up is independent freelance artist and Sadler’s Wells Wild Card artist, Laura Dajao who presents Missing.In 2007 Dajao was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and was in and out of a wheelchair for a year until it was necessary for her to be in it permanently in order to be mobile. Her work explores her own dance practice. Missing, a piece about the emotional journey of traumatic or difficult times in one’s life. Laura explores movement through sign language, contemporary and hip hop vocabulary.  

Corali Dance Company is a company of artists with and without disabilities who work across artistic disciplines with artist collaborators and educationalists. For its =dance performances on Sunday 22 March,  the company presents a triple bill including its acclaimed work Empty Theatre Dream, inspired by dreams the performers have had, using dance, spoken work, live music and projected animation. The company also perform two new works including Overlap a solo which explores bringing together dance and film created independently from the same inspiration. Completing the triple bill is a new work resulting from a collaboration with Wayne McGregor | Random Dance, inspired by the company's 2013 work Atomos.     

After the performance the audience is invited to stay and meet the dancers and choreographers for a post-show discussion with a difference; the artists ask the questions.

"Corali create extraordinarily complex and multi-layered performances and site-specific events. Corali has evolved to reflect interdisciplinary arts practice at its best" Liz Ellis Curator, Public Programmes Tate Modern

Free post-show talk with Sadler’s Wells Artistic Director and Chief Executive Alistair Spalding (BSL-interpreted):Saturday 21 March, on stage
Free post show discussion with a difference; the artists ask the questions: Sunday 22 March, on stage


Notes to editors:

About Sadler’s Wells
Sadler's Wells is a world leader in contemporary dance, committed to producing, commissioning and presenting new works and to bringing the very best international and UK dance to London and worldwide audiences. Under the Artistic Directorship of Alistair Spalding the theatre’s acclaimed year-round programme spans dance of every kind, from contemporary to flamenco, bollywood to ballet, salsa to street dance and tango to tap. Since 2005 it has helped to bring over 90 new dance works to the stage and its international award-winning commissions and collaborative productions regularly tour the world. Sadler’s Wells supports 16 appointed world class Associate Artists and 3 Resident Companies and nurtures the next generation of talent through its National Youth Dance Company, Summer University programme, Wild Card initiative and its New Wave Associates.

Located in Islington in north London, the current theatre is the sixth to have stood on the site since it was first built by Richard Sadler in 1683. The venue has played an illustrious role in the history of theatre ever since, with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Opera all having started at Sadler’s Wells.

Sadler’s Wells is an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation and currently receives approximately 9% of its revenue from Arts Council England.