Conversations with Ballet & Dance Icons

Sadler’s Wells is not your typical dance house, it is not a theatre, or a dance company, but it’s an institution that curates, commissions and showcases the most outstanding dance from the UK, Europe and across the world.

Sadler’s Wells pushes the boundaries of dance, nurtures new choreographic talent, educates and engages audiences.

As part of their mission to reach out to new audiences, they take dance out of the theatre and to the English countryside at the ever popular Latitude Festival.

The incredible woman responsible for creating the wildly successful dance programme at Sadler’s Wells is Katy Arnander.

Katy is the Director of Artistic Programme that ranges from classical ballet by the English National Ballet to contemporary dance from a talented group of associate artists through to flamenco, hiphop and experimental dance plus more. 

Katy shares her hot hits for this year’s Latitude dance line-up, including Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, Sisters Grimm, BBC Young Dancer 2017 finalists, hip hop Boy Blue Entertainment and the National Youth Dance Company.

Listen to Katy talking about how she creates intriguing and inspired dance programmes that keep audiences coming back for more.

Katy also shares her thoughts on the future of dance, the positive impact of technology on dance, and how Sadler’s Wells is helping give a voice and a stage to more female choreographers.

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Acclaimed Tamsin Fitzgerald, Artistic Director and choreographer of the award winning and physically adventurous 2Faced Dance Company is a trail blazer and a strong advocate of female choreographers.

Not only has Tamsin created an exciting and successful dance company, she is actively tackling the serious concerns about the lack of equality faced by female choreographers within the dance sector today.

In response to these concerns, Tamsin created The BENCH a programme that aims to influence change and current behaviours within the UK dance industry.

The BENCH is the first of its kind in the UK and is fast becoming a launchpad for exciting works by female choreographers across the country.

Works by Tamsin and The BENCH choreographers are hitting the stage at The Place in London with the hot new triple bill RUN on 4 & 5 April.

Before you see the show, listen to Tamsin talk about her experience of launching 2Faced, her vision for The BENCH and her approach to choreographing her spectacular work.

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Illuminati – according to conspiracy theorists – is a secret society of wealthy people hell bent on world domination. The Illuminati are said to brainwash celebrities to spread their mind control to the masses using symbols like the pyramid, eye and skulls.

Rosie Kay, Artistic Director & Choreographer of her award-winning contemporary dance company – Rosie Kay Dance Company – has studied the secret society and turned it into the hot new show ‘MK Ultra‘.

Listen to Rosie Kay talk about the Illuminati, Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber and how she choreographed MK Ultra.

Rosie is also an advocate of women in the arts. She shares her experience as a female artistic director and choreographer in the dance world today and the importance of the female voice in dance and choreography.

MK Ultra is touring the UK from 17 March, you can get your tickets to this pop-inspired show at www.mkultra.dance/buy-tickets/

Read more about Rosie Kay Dance Company at rosiekay.co.uk

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Dance4Humanity is the brainchild of principal guest artist and social entrepreneur Aaron Smyth. Dance4Humanity a global collective of artists giving back to humanity one movement at a time that raises money for charity.

Aaron Smyth is truly one of the next generation of dancers, who at 25 yrs old travels the world as a guest principal artist and, in addition to Dance4Humanity, he is the co-founder of The Smyth Collective – a wellbeing brand and is also about to launch a boutique wellness sanctuary in the heart of London.

Originally from Queensland, Australia, Aaron left home to dance with the prestigious Royal Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet and American Ballet Theater II. He’s travelled the world as a guest principal artist which included performing for Michelle Obama plus working on TV  shows and commercials.

Listen to Aaron talk about his journey from Australia to dancing on the world stages, his experiences that inspired him to create Dance4Humanity and his plans for the future of the The Smyth Collective.

You can also see Aaron perform in the hit show An American In Paris, hitting London’s West End stage.

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Listen to Kevin Finnan, choreographer and artistic director of the UK’s leading dance theatre company, Motionhouse, talk about this exciting dance form.

Motionhouse is a groundbreaking company of just 8 incredible dancers. It pushes the boundaries of dance, taking dance out onto the streets, projects onto buildings and swings dancers from construction cranes to create a high energy experience that everyone can enjoy.

Motionhouse is showcasing their acclaimed dance theatre piece SCATTERED at London’s Peacock Theatre. Imagine dancers, acrobatics, digital waterfalls, waves & glaciers inspired by water and movement.

LISTEN to Kevin talk about what he looks for in dancers to join his company and the courage and openness they need to go beyond their own expectations of dance.

Book your tickets to see Motionhouse’s exciting show SCATTERED running from 26 – 29 April, go to sadlerswells.co.uk for tickets.

Check out Motionhouse on their website: motionhouse.co.uk

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https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/djwpodcasts/1wwwod/Kevin_Finnan.mp3

Going inside the mind of a choreographer is a fascinating experience!

My discussion with British choreographer Theo Clinkard reveals a deeply considered, intelligent and thoroughly relevant approach to creating contemporary work.

Theo’s latest piece ‘The Listening Room’ – created for Danza Contemporanea de Cuba (Contemporary Dance of Cuba) – is an inspired example of his unique creativity. The dancers listen to one piece of music, while the audience listens to another – intriguing!

Theo has challenged and thrilled audiences in Cuba who responded to The Listening Room with rave reviews. Danza Contemporanea de Cuba is showcasing this piece as part of their UK Tour throughout Feb & March 2017.

Listen to Theo talk about his experience in Cuba and working with dancers from the company that combines traditional Cuban and contemporary dance.

And for the very first time Theo also shares his thinking on a new dance project that could span 100 years!

Book tickets to see Danza Contemporanea de Cuba perform ‘The Listening Room’ here.

Check out: www.theoclinkard.com

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https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/djwpodcasts/1wwwod/theo_clinkard_feb12_2017.mp3

Casanova is the hotly anticipated new ballet from the Northern Ballet. The story of the infamous womanising lover Casanova is being brought to life by choreographer Kenneth Tindall.

Casanova is a decadent, spine-tingling spectacle of 18th century excess with gorgeous costumes, sumptuous staging created for the stunning dancers.

Before becoming an award winning choreographer, Kenneth Tindall was a principal dancer with the Northern Ballet, having danced all the leading roles in ballet classics.

Kenneth grew up in London, studied at the acclaimed Central School of Ballet and danced in Japan and Israel before returning home to the Northern Ballet, the company in his heart.

Northern Ballet tour details can be found here and you can catch the show in London Sadler’s Wells in May 2017.

Listen to Kenneth talk about choreographing Casanova and his life as a principal dancer.

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https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/djwpodcasts/1wwwod/KennethTindall.mp3

The sensational show Mother Africa is currently on stage in New York, receiving rave reviews from the New York Times.

In our latest DANCETALKS podcast interview we talk to the show’s dancer & choreographer Nolly (Noluyanda) Mqulwana. Nolly has an inspiring story having grown up and started dancing in South Africa, joined the Lion King in Singapore and then in Germany where she now lives and works as a dancer & choreographer. 

Mother Africa is coming to London’s Peacock Theatre in 2017.

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https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/djwpodcasts/1wwwod/NoluyandaMqulwana.mp3

The spectacular BalletBoyz new production Life showcases the work of two choreographers taking the company of 10 male dancers from classical ballet to dance theatre all in one night.

BalletBoyz dancer Bradley Waller talks about Life, taking up dancing at 16 and working with acclaimed choreographers.

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https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/djwpodcasts/1wwwod/masterballetboys.mp3

Hip hop is one of the fastest growing dance styles in the UK, but sometimes it’s given a bad rap.  ZooNation Dance Company is here to show the world that hip hop has a role to play in engaging, motivating and inspiring young people and providing them with positive role models and opportunities.

ZooNation is bringing their latest show Into The Hoods : Remixed to London’s Sadler’s Wells Peacock Theatre. It’s a story set in the ‘Ruff Endz Estate’, where two lost children go on a journey to find an iPhone as white as milk, trainers as pure as gold, a hoodie as red as blood and weave as yellow as corn. This remixed production has been co-created by Associate Director and choreographer Carrie-Anne Ingrouille.

WWOD: Can you tell us about ZooNation Dance Company…

Carrie-Anne: The company has been going since early 2000’s and was set up by the wonderful Kate Prince, who’s the Artistic Director of the company. It started as a group of individuals who all shared the same love of street dance and Kate, who has always had a huge interest in theatre and telling stories, wanted to join the two together to make hip hop dance theatre. ZooNation does just that to create what I call user friendly, hip-hop theatre where everybody from children of 4 yrs to your Grandma can come and see the shows.

WWOD: How would you describe the hip hop dance scene in London?

Carrie-Anne: I think when you say hip hop people are still quite naive about hip hop dance. Sometimes there’s quite negative associations that come with hip hop and ZooNation very much tries to promote the great side of hip hop culture that is fun, fresh and exciting along with the knowledge of hip hop culture.

Hip hop is one of the fastest growing dance styles in Europe and there’s also major influence from America. Hip hop is a really great outlet for a lot of young people who might find it hard to express themselves in other ways. It’s something that they can relate to, whether it’s the music, the movement, or something to enjoy and watch. Hip hop is something that is very special and can be shared with everybody.

WWOD: As a dancer and choreographer, how do you approach choreographing new works?

Carrie-Anne: It depends on the work and who it is for, with ZooNation there’s always a very clear story. There’s always clear direction from Kate Prince about what she wants from a scene, or parts of the story we might be working on and what is needed to be expressed.

I get a lot of inspiration from the music and with ZooNation that’s something that is discussed very early on in terms of what the scene needs, the sounds, how it might look, so that all of the elements – the movement, the music and the direction – all comes together and marries up completely. That gives me a very clear line of how the choreography needs to come out.

When I’m choreographing my own work I’m more led by the music. I’ll have the music on shuffle and something will pop out for me – it might be the story that’s within a certain song, or it might be the way I’m feeling or I feel like the song has amplified that for me. That’s what starts the cogs turning and what makes me freestyle and what makes me create the piece.

WWOD: Can you tell us about the Into The Hoods : Remixed…

Carrie-Anne: Into The Hoods was originally created in 2005 and everybody absolutely loved it. And after touring the show for a few years Kate Prince decided to remix the hits, update it, and change some of the music and choreography. 

Into The Hoods premiered in London last November and ZooNation just finished a UK tour which finished off in Manchester, so they’ve had a little bit of a break but we’re back 4–21 May at the Peacock theatre. And it will basically be the last run of it for now so if anybody wants to catch it then they’ve got those three weeks in May before we take a slightly longer break from it.

WWOD: After Into The Hoods, what are you working on next?   

Carrie-Anne: With ZooNation there’s always something bubbling away, and we’re hopefully going to do some more works in the summer. We’ve got the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party coming back at the end of year which is really exciting because I performed in that show and was one of the choreographers. We’ve only performed it once before so I’m dying to get back to that as it’s such a fun show, really hard, but really fun.

For me personally, it’s just seeing what I would like to do creatively in the future. I’ve got a few ideas in my head that I’d like to thrash out, which I try to do whenever I get any free time because as much as I love working with ZooNation and colleges and other companies, I very much also want to be able to do something myself. I’ve got support from Kate Prince and ZooNation, my friends and family to do that, so it’s just deciding on an idea that I would like to take forward.

Into The Hoods : Remixed is showing at Sadler’s Wells Peacock Theatre for a limited time from 4 – 21 May.

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