PRESS RELEASE: SADLER'S WELLS 2012 AUTUMN SEASON

[Jan McNulty]

The Autumn 2012 Season at Sadler’s Wells

 

The Autumn 2012 season is on sale from Monday 21 May 2012

 

To view the Autumn 2012 season brochure visit: http://www.sadlerswells.com/autumn2012

 

The Autumn 2012 season at Sadler’s Wells in detail:

 

James Cousins

New Adventures Choreographer Award: Showcase WORLD PREMIERE

Friday 7 September

Tickets: £12

Selected from hundreds, James Cousins is the winner of the inaugural New Adventures Choreographer Award (NACA). The evening features three world premieres. Cousins’ There We Have Been is a duet which takes inspiration from the climax of the 1957 novel, Jealousy by Alain Robbe-Grillet and Everything and Nothing is a dynamic collaboration between James Cousins, lighting designer Lee Curran and set designer Colin Falconer. The piece is performed to an original score fusing electronic and classical sound worlds by composer Seymour Milton.

 

NACA runner-up Tom Jackson Greaves premieres Vanity Fowl which observes one man’s journey from grace to disgrace. With a pioneering score by Peter Lyons, this intimate solo is performed by the choreographer himself.

 

 

British Youth Opera PEACOCK THEATRE

The Bartered Bride / A Night at the Chinese Opera

Saturday 8 - Saturday 15 September

Tickets: £12 - £40

 

British Youth Opera celebrates its 25th anniversary with two new productions in association with Southbank Sinfonia. Smetana’s comic masterpiece, inspired by folk tales from his native Bohemia, tells of The Bartered Bride whose arranged marriage is thwarted by her true love’s cunning. A Night at the Chinese Opera is a colourful depiction of China in the time of Kublai Khan, Marco Polo and the ‘Orphan of Zhao’, whose tragic tale of military invasion and personal vendetta is mirrored by Judith Weir’s theatrically turbocharged comic-opera-within-an-opera.

 

Free pre-show talks: Tuesday 11, Friday 14, Saturday 15 at 5.45pm, Wednesday 12 September at 6.15pm

 

 

Kassys LILIAN BAYLIS STUDIO

Cadavre Exquis UK PREMIERE

Thursday 13 & Friday 14 September

Tickets: £15

A Cadavre Exquis is a poem written by several poets, without knowing what the others have written. The first writer composes a line of poetry on a piece of paper. Then he or she folds the paper so that only the last word is visible. The second writer continues, guided by that last word. The third writer follows and

so on.

 

For this performance, four theatre companies have come together to create a live Cadavre Exquis on stage. Each creates a 15 minute section that starts with the last image of the previous part, without knowing what has taken place previously. This innovative international project is being led by Kassys theatre company (Holland), Nature Theater of Oklahoma (US), Tim Crouch (UK) and Nicole Beutler (Germany / Holland).

Free post-show talk for ticket holders: Friday 14 September

 

 

San Francisco Ballet

Three Mixed Bills

Friday 14 - Sunday 23 September

Tickets: £12 - £45

San Francisco Ballet has a worldwide reputation for its vast and rich repertory, performed by some of the finest ballet dancers today. This autumn, the company arrives in London to present three programmes over two weeks, performing some of its most popular works of recent years. Programme A features Edwaard Liang’s abstract ballet Symphonic Dances, set to Rachmaninov’s last composition, George Balanchine’s work for Mozart’s chamber piece, Divertimento No.15 and Christopher Wheeldon’s uplifting Number Nine.

 

Programme B brings together Wheeldon’s atmospheric 2010 work Ghosts, Ashley Page’s highly physical Guide to Strange Places set to music by John Adams and a triptych ballet Trio, choreographed by San Francisco Ballet artistic director Helgi Tomasson and set to Tchaikovsky’s glorious Souvenir de Florence.

 

Programme C is comprised of Mark Morris’ Beaux, Yuri Possokhov’s interpretation of Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony, Possokhov’s multimedia dance theatre work RAkU, based on the burning of Kyoto’s Golden Pavilion in 1950; and Christopher Wheeldon’s ethereal Within the Golden Hour, set to music by Ezio Bosso and Vivaldi.

 

 

ZooNation Dance Company PEACOCK THEATRE

Some Like it Hip Hop

Thursday 20 September - Saturday 13 October

Tickets: £12 - £38

ZooNation’s Some Like It Hip Hop was one of the most successful new shows to hit the West End last year, wowing audiences and prompting widespread critical praise, five star reviews and standing ovations with its infectious “wit, heart and magnificent energy” (The Independent). Following in the footsteps of the company’s 2006 smash hit Into the Hoods, Some Like It Hip Hop unites sensational dancing with a clever and engrossing storyline.

 

 

The show returns to the Peacock Theatre for a limited run ahead of its first UK tour, having been nominated for multiple awards including two Olivier Awards and a South Bank Sky Arts Award. With a nod to Billy Wilder’s film and Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, it tells a comical tale of love, mistaken identity, cross-dressing and revolution; all played out in ZooNation’s trademark style of hip hop, comedy and physical theatre. Directed by Kate Prince, Some Like It Hip Hop features original music by Josh Cohen and DJ Walde.

 

“Zany and zippy, hilarious and heart warming. A WINNER” The Times

A ZooNation and Sadler’s Wells Co-production

 

 

Sasha Waltz & Guests

Continu UK PREMIERE

Friday 28 - Sunday 30 September

Tickets: £12 - £38

Based in Berlin, Sasha Waltz & Guests is known for its innovative choreographic musical theatre performances. Since being founded in 1993 it has collaborated with more than 250 artists and ensembles, from 25 countries on nearly 20 productions. The company presents the UK premiere of Sasha Waltz’s Continu, a full length dance performance partly inspired by her work on two major museum-based projects: the artistic inaugurations for David Chipperfield’s Neues Museum in Berlin, and Zaha Hadid’s MAXXI in Rome.

 

Developed with 24 dancers, Continu is set to a contemporary classical score, featuring Arcana, written in 1927 by French avant-gardecomposer Edgar Varèse. Featuring costume design by Bernd Skodzig, scenography by regular collaborators Thomas Schenk and Pia Maier Schriever and lighting by Martin Hauk Continu is also set to music by Iannis Xenakis and Claude Vivier.

A Sadler’s Wells Co-production

 

 

Akram Khan Company

DESH

Tuesday 2 - Tuesday 9 October

Tickets: £12 - £36

Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Akram Khan’s latest work made its world premiere in 2011 to unanimous critical praise. The Olivier Award-winning DESH is a full length contemporary solo and his most personal work to date. Meaning “homeland” in Bengali, DESH draws on multiple tales of land, nation and resistance, all converging in the body and voice of one man trying to find his balance in an unstable world. Moving between Britain and Bangladesh, Khan weaves threads of memory, experience and myth into a surreal world of surprising connection.

 

A collaboration of extraordinary proportions, Khan joined forces with visual artist Tim Yip (production designer for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), award-winning lighting designer Michael Hulls, writer and poet Karthika Nair, Olivier Award-winning composer Jocelyn Pook and slam poet PolarBear to create “the most urgent, beautiful and confident work of his career” (The Guardian).

Captioned performance by Stage Text: Wednesday 3 October

A Sadler’s Wells Co-production

Supported by American Express

 

 

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet

Mixed Bill UK PREMIERE

Thursday 11 - Saturday 13 October

Tickets: £12 - £27

New York based company Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet makes its highly anticipated UK debut, presenting three UK premieres at Sadler’s Wells. Led by artistic director Benoit-Swan Pouffer, the company is known for its “impressive articulation and intensity” (New York Times) in works created by some of the world’s most highly regarded dance makers.

 

Its programme includes Hofesh Shechter’s Violet Kid, which examines man’s struggle for harmony within a complex and often horrifying universe. Performed by all 16 dancers, the piece is set to an original score by Shechter using recorded audio text performed by the choreographer. Alexander Ekman’s Tuplet is also featured. This work for six dancers is set to a score created in collaboration with the dancers’ own rhythmic impulses, using their bodies as percussion, alongside an electronic score composed by Mikael Karlsson. Former star of Sadler’s Wells’ Debut initiative, Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite’s Grace Engine concludes the bill.

 

 

Rambert Dance Company

Featuring Labyrinth of Love

Tuesday 16 - Saturday 20 October

Tickets: £12 - £38

Returning to Sadler’s Wells this October is one of Britain’s leading dance companies Rambert Dance Company. Irish choreographer Marguerite Donlon makes her Rambert debut with Labyrinth of Love. Both heartbreaking and humorous, it is set to a commissioned score by one of America’s most performed living composers, Michael Daugherty. With designs by renowned visual artist Mat Collishaw and theatre designer Conor Murphy, Labyrinth of Love is accompanied on stage by a soprano.

 

Continuing Rambert’s relationship with Merce Cunningham’s legacy, Sounddance makes its UK revival premiere alongside Roses by Paul Taylor, another American dance master. Richard Alston’s sharp and witty creation, Dutiful Ducks, completes the programme. Live music is provided by the Rambert orchestra.

Free pre-show talk (BSL): Wednesday 17 October 6.30pm

BSL-Interpreted Show: Wednesday 17 October

Free pre-show music talk: Friday 19 October 6.30pm

 

 

Jonzi D LILIAN BAYLIS STUDIO

Lyrikal Fearta - Redux

Thursday 18 - Saturday 20 October &

Thursday 25 - Saturday 27 October WORLD PREMIERE

Tickets: £15

Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Jonzi D returns to his creative roots to perform his Lyrikal Fearta. For many years Jonzi D has been known as the face leading the international festival of hip hop dance that is Breakin’ Convention. Jonzi is now launching out on his own again, returning to the stage after ten years as a creator of sharp, relevant and poetic dance theatre with two programmes of works made up of past productions and new creations.

 

Programme A features vintage Jonzi; Guilty, Shoota, Safe, Aeroplane Man and Silence the Bitchin’. Programme B includes a specially commissioned new work; representing Jonzi's ‘choreopoetic’ response to his world today. Working with a small team of performers and a live band, both programmes have poetry, movement, politics and wit.

 

“The name Jonzi D shouts respect in circles of hip hop dance theatre” The Independent

Age Guidance: 12+

Free post-show talk for ticket holders: Friday 19 & Friday 26 October

A Sadler’s Wells Production

 

 

body:language talks LILIAN BAYLIS STUDIO

Monday 22 October Jonzi D and Soweto Kinch

Monday 12 November Sue Buckmaster

Monday 3 December Hofesh Shechter

Tickets: £6

body:language returns with a fourth series of talks in the Lilian Baylis Studio about the body in dance and live performance, philosophy, science, medicine, anthropology and the arts. The talks are chaired by Guy Cools and feature Sadler’s Wells Associate Artists Jonzi D and Hofesh Shechter, as well as Sue Buckmaster, Artistic Director of Theatre-Rites, and jazz musician Soweto Kinch.

 

 

Birmingham Royal Ballet

Opposites Attract & Autumn Celebration!

Tuesday 23 - Saturday 27 October

Tickets: £10 - £40

Birmingham Royal Ballet present two programmes this Autumn. Opposites Attract features three modern ballets.Co-commissioned by Birmingham Royal Ballet and International Dance Festival Birmingham 2012, Lyric Pieces is American choreographer Jessica Lang’s first ballet for a major European company, set to music by Norwegian Romantic Edvard Grieg. Take Five is director David Bintley’s personal tribute to jazz icon Dave Brubeck. Completing the bill is one of Hans van Manen’s most famous works, Grösse Fuge.

 

Autumn Celebration! brings together Shakespeare, Noel Coward and an Olympic theme. The Grand Tour by Broadway show choreographer Joe Layton is an amusing take on the celebrities of the 1920s. Faster, a ballet inspired by the Olympic motto, ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’ from David Bintley and composer Matthew Hindson, focuses on speed, power and athleticism. Finally, The Dream is Frederick Ashton’s elfin comedy based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream performed to Mendelssohn’s instantly recognisable score.

 

 

Russell Maliphant Company

The Rodin Project

Monday 29 - Wednesday 31 October

Tickets: £12 - £27

Inspired by the works of the great French sculptor Auguste Rodin, award-winning choreographer Russell Maliphant’s latest work made its UK premiere at Sadler’s Wells as part of British Dance Edition earlier this year to critical acclaim.

 

After a successful European tour, The Rodin Project returns for three nights, giving audiences a second chance to see this visually arresting piece set to Alexander Zekke’s entrancing score. The Rodin Project

also features lighting design by Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Michael Hulls, set design by Es Devlin and Bronia Housman, and costumes by Stevie Stewart.

 

“The dancers hang, slide, tumble and contort themselves, while the choreography shapes a language of delight from a vocabulary of torment” Evening Standard

Contains some nudity

Pre-show Director’s Conversation (live subtitling): Tuesday 30 October 6.15pm - 7pm £4, £3 conc

A Sadler’s Wells/Russell Maliphant Production

 

 

Philippe Decouflé Company DCA

Panorama UK PREMIERE

Friday 2 - Sunday 4 November

Tickets: £12 - £38

The imagination of Philippe Decouflé has been delighting audiences for nearly 30 years. A choreographer, dancer, mime artist and director, his latest piece, Panorama, draws on his company’s extensive repertoire, dating back to 1983 with Vague Café.

 

This is no ordinary retrospective; a new production has emerged in which Decouflé and company ‘re-write’ their past glories with generous helpings of humour and astonishingly full throttled performances by seven dancers, taking in elements from eight of their earlier works. Among them is Codex (1986) and its army of strange flipper-equipped microbes, Triton (1998), which plays with every dance and circus cliché imaginable, Shazam (1998), with its kaleidoscope of frames, surfaces and mirrors and 2006’s Sombrero, mixing video and Chinese shadows to Claude Ponti’s texts.

 

“A man who knows how to use the power of illusion to make life tip into dream and beauty” Le Monde

 

 

Rosas

En Atendant / Cesena UK PREMIERE

Monday 5 - Friday 9 November

Tickets: £12 - £27

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and her company Rosas return to Sadler’s Wells with two of their most recent works, En Atendant and Cesena. Cesena is a celebration of dawn, while En Atendant captures the merging of twilight into night.

 

Performed by eight dancers, three musicians and one singer, En Atendant is set to the Ars Subtilior - a complex form of 14th century medieval polyphony featuring dissonance and contrast. For Cesena the company worked closely with Björn Schmelzer and his graindelavoix music ensemble. The stage, with set by Ann Veronica Janssen, is shared by 19 dancers and singers, all of whom both sing and dance, exploring the limits of their abilities.

 

“De Keersmaeker’s artistry and intelligence can’t be overstated” Evening Standard

]Pre-show Director’s Conversation (live subtitling): Tuesday 6 November 6pm - 6.45pm £4, £3 conc

 

 

Toni Jodar LILIAN BAYLIS STUDIO

Modern Dance Speaks! UK PREMIERE

Wednesday 7 & Thursday 8 November

Tickets: £10

Toni Jodar explains the history of dance through the medium of dance itself using a combination of performance and storytelling. Audiences are shown the evolution of the art form from classical through to contemporary as Jodar explains the different genres and forms that the body uses to express itself in movement. He also reveals the influence and legacy of each generation on the artists that have followed.

 

Designed to raise awareness about dance, this humorous work was first presented a decade ago and has appeared in a wide range of venues, including schools, museums, theatres and universities. This performance is a reflection of Jodar’s philosophy that dance can, and should, be open to everyone.

 

 

Jasmin Vardimon Company

FREEDOM

Monday 12 & Tuesday 13 November

Tickets: £12 - £27

Following sell-out performances at Sadler's Wells of 7734 and Yesterday, award-winning choreographer and Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Jasmin Vardimon returns with the London premiere of her new work, FREEDOM.

 

Exploring notions of what keeps our imagination free; this full-length dance theatre production promises breathtaking physicality with brutally visceral characterisation. Powered by Vardimon's beguiling theatricality and provocative daring, FREEDOM is performed by a company of international dancers. Uniting the creative team behind her previous productions, FREEDOM layers intricate visuals and animation with live action and inventive set designs.

 

“Vardimon is a powerful voice in Physical Theatre, and the daring movements she creates leave scars on the memory” The Guardian

Age Guidance: 14+

Free post-show talk for ticket holders: Monday 12 November

A Sadler’s Wells Co-commission

 

 

Alias

Sideways Rain UK PREMIERE

Thursday 15 & Friday 16 November

Tickets: £12 - £22

Alias is an award-winning contemporary dance company based in Geneva led by choreographer and director Guilherme Botelho. Since its inception, Alias has produced more than 20 new works and performed in Europe, Africa, Asia and North and South America to critical acclaim.

 

Sideways Rain is a metaphor for the primal energy running through all living things. Performed by 16 dancers, they walk, run, fall, rise, stop and then start again, depicting the evolution of man and the human urge to constantly change and move forwards. Set to a chillingly hypnotic score by Mexican artist Fernando Corona (best known as Murcof), Sideways Rain is a powerful visual examination of human nature.

Contains some nudity

 

 

Batsheva Ensemble UK PREMIERE

Deca Dance

Monday 19 - Wednesday 21 November

Tickets: £12 - £32

Batsheva Ensemble is the younger branch of Israeli contemporary dance group, Batsheva Dance Company. Led by artistic director Ohad Naharin, they have been described as “acrobats of God” (San Francisco Chronicle) who “dance like demons” (New York Times).

 

The Ensemble, who work independently of Batsheva Dance Company, is made up of performers selected annually by Naharin from a pool of around 300 dancers, many of whom are recent graduates from the most prestigious dance schools in the world, from Juilliard to the Paris Conservatory.

 

For their first appearance in the UK, Batsheva Ensemble perform Deca Dance, a work which brings together the most memorable and best-loved segments of Naharin’s creations from the last 20 years.

Set to an eclectic mix of music from Vivaldi to The Beach Boys, the piece is constantly updated and so offers a fresh look at the work created by Batsheva every time it is performed.

 

Part of a Dance Consortium Tour

A full tour schedule can be found at www.danceconsortium.com

Free post-show talk for ticket holders: Monday 19 November

 

 

Paco Peña Flamenco Dance Company

Quimeras

Friday 23 November - Saturday 1 December

Tickets: £12 - £38

Legendary guitarist, composer, dramatist and producer Paco Peña presents his 2010 work Quimeras, directed by Southbank Centre artistic director Jude Kelly. Exploring the lure of travel and the dream of a better life, Quimeras tells the story of a group of migrants who have come to Spain from Africa in search

of work.

 

Over a career spanning more than four decades, Peña has expanded the possibilities of flamenco and changed perceptions of the art form by mining the richness of its traditions while continuing to be inspired by contemporary culture. With Quimeras, he draws on his own experience of living in Andalusia, a gateway to Europe for many North African immigrants. The result is a marriage of both traditional Spanish and African music and dance, creating a spectacle of virtuosic performances and intimate storytelling.

 

“The dance – by turns flamenco and high energy African movement – is superb” Daily Telegraph

 

 

 

Birmingham Repertory Theatre PEACOCK THEATRE

The Snowman

Wednesday 28 November 2012 - Sunday 6 January 2013

Tickets: £12 - £32

Family Ticket: £95 (4 tickets inc at least 1 child)

When a young boy’s snowman comes to life on Christmas Eve, the two set off on a night-time quest for adventure. On their travels they meet dancing penguins, reindeer and naturally, Father Christmas. Watch spellbound as the Snowman flies through the night sky, before escaping the clutches of the evil Jack Frost to return home for Christmas morning.

 

The stage show based on Raymond Briggs’ classic book and the subsequent film has become a much-loved festive tradition at the Peacock Theatre, and returns for a record-breaking 15^th year. Featuring

Howard Blake’s Walking In the Air, performed by a live orchestra, choreographed by Robert North and directed by Bill Alexander, this is the perfect Christmas treat for all the family with its wonderful mix of storytelling, spectacle and magic.

 

“Sheer theatrical magic. Go see The Snowman and melt” The Times

Suitable for all ages

Audio-described performance: Saturday 15 December 2.30pm

 

 

ZooNation Dance Company

ZooNation 10th Anniversary

Sunday 2 December

Tickets: £12 - £22

ZooNation Dance Company celebrates its tenth anniversary at Sadler’s Wells this December. The evening includes extracts from ZooNation’s award-winning West End show Into the Hoods and its critically acclaimed smash-hit Some Like It Hip Hop, performances from ZYC (ZooNation Youth Company) and by the ZAD students (ZooNation Academy of Dance), plus special guests. With over 200 hip hop dancers on stage, the foyers will be packed with DJs, freestyle circles and ten years of ZooNation in photography.

 

Sadler’s Wells Resident Company ZooNation is internationally renowned for its resonant and inventive hip hop dance theatre. It also runs the ZooNation Academy of Dance for young people and a bespoke agency, connecting hip hop dancers to the commercial sector.

 

 

New Adventures

Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty

Tuesday 4 December 2012 - Saturday 26 January 2013

Tickets: £12 - £60

Family Ticket: £140 (4 tickets inc at least 1 child, not available for certain performances)

New Adventures’ 25th year of celebration culminates with the world premiere of Matthew Bourne’s latest re-imagining of a ballet classic. Sleeping Beauty sees him return to the music of Tchaikovsky to complete the trio of ballet masterworks that started in 1992 with Nutcracker!, continuing in 1995 with the international smash hit, Swan Lake.

 

This timeless fairy tale about a young girl cursed to sleep for 100 years, was turned into a legendary ballet in 1890. Bourne’s production introduces Aurora at her Christening that same year, when fairies and vampires fed the gothic imagination, before the story moves through the ages to the modern day; a world more mysterious and wonderful than any fairy story! Featuring designs by Olivier Award-winners Lez Brotherston (set and costumes), Paule Constable (lighting) and sound design by Paul Groothuis in specially recorded surround sound.

 

Matthew Bourne’s haunting new production is a gothic romance for all ages; a supernatural love story across the decades, that even the passage of time cannot hinder. Matthew Bourne is an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells and New Adventures is a Resident Company.

 

Some scenes may not be suitable for young children

Talk with Matthew Bourne (BSL): Sunday 9 December 5.15pm - 6pm £4, £3 conc

Audio-described performance: Saturday 12 January 2.30pm

 

 

Travelling Light & Bristol Old Vic LILIAN BAYLIS STUDIO

BOING!

Thursday 20 - Monday 31 December

Tickets: £7 - £12

 

In collaboration with Champloo Dance Company, Travelling Light and Bristol Old Vic have created an energetic and enchanting piece of children’s dance theatre combining comedy, acrobatics and breakdance. Set on Christmas Eve, BOING! captures the delirious excitement of waiting for Santa to arrive on the most magical night of the year. BOING! is directed by children’s theatre specialist Sally Cookson and choreographed and performed by Champloo founders Wilkie Branson and Joel Daniel.

 

“Utterly dazzling. Rumbustious, exhilarating dance theatre” The Guardian

Age Guidance: 3+

[alison]

I was just looking at my current SW brochure and thinking it must be time for the new one to come out. Thanks for posting all that, Janet.

[Jan McNulty]

I've just had my paper brochure, with details of performance times, and am very sad to see the lack of matinees. Even the SFB 1600 starts are no good on a Sunday if travelling from Liverpool - it would still entail an overnight stay.

[GailR]

I have sent you a message Janet - Gail

[Jan McNulty]

Gail, I've responded. Thanks