The Great Train Dance performers; dancers and students from throughout the region, transformed the Severn Valley Railway into a magical experience with a puzzle to solve. In a Hitchcock thriller designed for families, this fascinating performance drew all ages on the train into the world of the absurd and seduce everyone into hunting for clues.
I missed this – I got stuck in traffic on the way there and just missed the train – so it’s good to see a film’s been produced (by Louis Price). It can’t have been easy to shoot though, there’s all sorts going on and was only performed once. It looks like it was a lot of fun.
I like IDFB. It was probably the first one, back in 2008, that got me interested in dance in the first place. I then worked on the 2010 festival and managed to pack in 18 shows over the course of its month-long run. This one looks like being another good one.
DanceXchange have been at the Hippodrome for 10 years and are having a bit of a celebration. If you’re not aware of them, they bring touring contemporary dance companies to the city, put on classes and act as a focal point for other regional dance activity. They’re also a partner on International Dance Festival Birmingham and… well, they do all sorts.
Book for 3+ shows at once, get 20% off, and book for 5+ shows at once and get an amazing 50% off! That means you could come to all 10 shows in the season for just £50!
Ten shows for £50 really is a ridiculous bargain and no, I’m not on commission here.
They’ve also brought in Supercool to sort out their website, which is a relief because the previous one was pretty awful.
Leaps and Bounds are the ones that did Ballet Hoo (screened on Channel 4 in 2006) and, given that the chain shop is one of the oldest in the country, this could be quite a special thing. Here’s some blurb from the Dancing for the Games website:
Making Links is an exciting new dance project inspired by the industrial heritage of the Black Country. Over 2,000 young people are working with regional artists to explore the history of their local area. In Summer 2011 and 2012 you can see large exciting dance performances in unusual places throughout the Black Country
The livestream will be available below from 5pm. (Hopefully, if not head over to Dancing for the Games).
On 23 July 2011, The Great Train Dance will transform the Severn Valley Railway into a magical family experience with a puzzle to solve. With dancing at each station and in the train itself by a host of bizarre characters, this totally unique work will reveal all in a finale at the Engine House in Highley.
On 27 March, over 70 dancers of all ages, styles and levels of experience descended on The New Art Gallery Walsall for sampad dancedub, a new digital dance project, part of the Arts Council’s Arts Nation campaign.
5 SOLDIERS: The Body is the Front Line by Rosie Kay Dance Company is a contemporary dance piece that was commissioned for last year’sInternational Dance Festival Birmingham. It toured to good reviews and was especially well received by the military.
Head to the website and you can watch the ‘director’s cut’ of the piece the whole way through or, at any point, you can click the name of the camera angle to continue watching the piece from one of 13 different viewpoints (including each dancer’s point of view).
Have a play with it and, if you reckon it’s interesting, please use the Twitter and Facebook buttons at the bottom of the page to let others know.
sampad launch their residency at The Barber Institute on 16 February, with a free performance of Dancing About Sculpture at 1.10pm.
In the first of a series of performances and discussions, Devika Rao will present a unique and free performance, responding to key pieces of work from the Barber’s collection of European sculpture, encompassing everything from classical marbles to bronzes by Degas and Rodin.
‘Four artists from sampad, with the artistic direction of Piali Ray, will be in residency between February and June 2011. My opening performance, through sequences of movement and poses, will complement the sculptural works of art contained within the exhibition Carved, Cast and Modelled. The residency will be able to make creative connections between ancient Indian myths, legendary epics and stories and the mythical characters of the Barber collection.’
- Devika Rao
For more information on the residency, take a look at sampad’s website.
Earlier today Alex Jones and I popped over to an aircraft hangar at Coventry Airport. Rosie Kay‘s in there at the moment with Aquila TV, filming a version of her most recent work – 5 SOLDIERS: The Body is the Frontline.
In the spirit of full disclosure I should mention that we’re involved in this project too via Meshed Media (that’s our day job, in case you didn’t know).
Stuart Griffiths, Chief Executive at Birmingham Hippodrome, has blogged revealing what we can expect from their new season of dance.
As the climax of Birmingham Royal Ballet‘s 20th Anniversary celebrations, David Bintley’s brand new production of the classic fairytale, Cinderella, has been presented as a gift to the city. You can catch it from 24 Nov – 12 Dec (and follow the Creating Cinderella blog in the meantime), but before then there’s plenty to keep you entertained. A few of the highlights include:
Matthew Bourne will be bringing his latest production north of London for the first time, plus the Welsh National Opera are offering a selection of new operas and revivals.
On the musical front, several favorites will be back by popular demand, with new productions of including Hairspray and Chess. Bringing 2010 to a close, Joan Collins tops the bill at this years pantomime, along with Julian Clary, Nigel Havers, Keith Harris and Orville, and Jeffrey Holland in a spectacular production of Dick Whittington.
DanceXchange have announced their Autumn 2010 performance season, which starts from 30 September at The Patrick Centre, Birmingham Hippodrome.
Thu 30 Sep: The Featherstonehaughs – Edits. This highly anticipated new work translates the convention of film, photography and painting into dance.
Fri 1 Oct: The Featherstonehaughs – The Featherstonehaughs draw on the sketchbook of Egon Schiele. A classic piece created in 1998, which brings the tormented and stunning artistic vision of Egon Schiele to life.
Thu 14 Oct: New Art Club – This is Now. Britian’s funniest dance duo, jump into the dark pool of yesteryear, as their ‘delightfully silly’ show deconstructs the first ever ‘Now That’s What I Call Music’.
Sat 6 Nov: Tavaziva Dance – Wild Dog. These high-octane performers capture the beauty and elegance of one of Africa’s most endangered species against a mind-blowing soundtrack by award-winning Bawren Tavaziva.
If you’ve not yet signed up to CiBmail – our weekly email stuffed with news and upcoming events – then jump on it, we’ll have a competition giving away danceXchange tickets soon.
There’s a big project (18 months, 17 artists, 138 performers – that kind of thing) that’s coming to a head this weekend, specifically between 6.30-9.30pm on Saturday 7 August at Retort House, 9 Gas Street:
The River project is a collaborative animated film based on a bespoke piece of contemporary dance
The event will be an exhibition featuring live music, dance and film. It’s a one-off, so don’t go thinking you’ll get a second chance to see this.
