<img src="http://ballet-dance.com/200309/images/DU25thlogo.jpg" alt="" />

<big><big>Dance Umbrella 2003 Feedback Forum</big></big>

<img src="http://www.danceumbrella.co.uk/news/le-temp.jpg" alt="" />
<small>Josef Nadj in "Le temps du repli"</small>

Welcome to our forum for news, interviews, reviews and most important your comments, thoughts and whatever about Dance Umbrella 2003. We're delighted to be working with Dance Umbrella for the third consecutive year, especially as we celebrate the Silver Jubilee of this wonderful festival.

We're going to drip feed introductory material into the forum over the coming weeks, so it will be worth coming back here regularly. Click on this link to go to the Dance Umbrella website where you can find all the latest news and performance details.

As always there is a wealth of riches to be enjoyed this year and the Gala at Sadler's Wells and the Silver Celebration at The Queen Elizabeth Hall will no doubt pump up the feel good factor as well as providing a feast of top quality modern dance.

It's advisable to book early especially for the big names. And remember that the Robin Howard Theatre (The Place as was) rewards early bookers with much cheaper prices.

<big>Enjoy! And Don't forget to POST on Criticaldance.</big> Details of how to do it are in the next posting.

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Press Release



<big>Dance Umbrella 2003 (28 Sept – 8 Nov)



2003 marks the 25th Anniversary of Dance Umbrella</big>

the UK’s leading annual contemporary dance festival



Highlights of the festival include the Dance Umbrella commission of Merce Cunningham Dance Company in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern, Rosas duet and solo performed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and the final UK performances of Ballett Frankfurt under the artistic direction of William Forsythe.



British and international companies and artists featured as part of Dance Umbrella 2003 include:



At Sadler’s Wells (Box Office 020 78638000) premieres by Michael Clark Company (1 - Sat 4 Oct) the return of Trisha Brown Dance Company (6–8 Oct) Saburo Teshigawara’s KARAS (11-12 Oct) Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker performing herself in a sensational Rosas company duet (15–17 Oct) and William Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt (21 –25 Oct)



At the Queen Elizabeth Hall (Box Office 020 79604203) a world premiere programme from Stephen Petronio Company featuring music by Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed (18 –19 Oct) and an evening of Dance Umbrella commissioned work by Russell Maliphant Company (25 Oct)



At The Robin Howard Dance Theatre at The Place (Box Office 020 7387 0031) October sees festival returns for Déjà Donné (9-10) Charles Linehan Company (13-14) Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion (15-17) Vincent Sekwati Koko Mantsoe (26 & 27) and Sara Pearson/Patrik Widrig and Company (29-30) a solo by Rosas artistic director Anne Teresa Keersmaeker (18-19) and first festivals for Josef Nadj (6-7) and New York’s John Jasperse Company (21-22)


Greenwich Dance Agency hosts Laurie Booth’s installation performance with artist Thomas Richards featuring dozens of frozen shirts hung out to thaw (30 Oct – 1 Nov)



At The Barbican (Box Office 020 7638 8891) the UK premiere of Boobies, from Israel’s Inbal Pinto Dance Company (28 - 30 Oct)


At Tate Modern (Box office 020 7888 7888) in the Turbine Hall, New York’s Merce Cunningham Dance Company perform Anniversary Events celebrating both the 25th birthday of Dance Umbrella and the 50th anniversary of MCDC (4 –8 Nov)



“It’s just not possible to feature all the wonderful artists who have participated over a quarter of a century but we have been able to invite a selection, including a couple from the very first Dance Umbrella, alongside first time festival artists”

Val Bourne, DU Artistic Director and founder





Dance Umbrella enquiry line: 020 8741 5881 or visit www.danceumbrella.co.uk



Dance Umbrella 2002 achieved the highest ever attendance of any festival in the company's 25 year history achieving 92% over 59 public performances. The Jerwood Proms were a sell-out success – a unique initiative that allowed over 2,500 people to see performances for just £5 a ticket. They return to Sadler’s Wells this year with Michael Clark Company, Trisha Brown Company and KARAS.

Programme

BIRTHDAY GALA
Sadler’s Wells 28 Sep

MICHAEL CLARK COMPANY UK
Sadler’s Wells 1-4 Oct

TRISHA BROWN DANCE COMPANY USA
Sadler’s Wells 6–8 Oct

JOSEF NADJ FRANCE
The Place 6 & 7 Oct

DEJA DONNE CZECH REPUBLIC / ITALY
The Place 9 & 10 Oct

TESHIGAWARA / KARAS JAPAN
Sadler’s Wells 11 & 12 Oct

CHARLES LINEHAN COMPANY UK
The Place 13 & 14 Oct

JONATHAN BURROWS UK
& MATTEO FARGION
The Place 15–17 Oct

ROSAS BELGIUM
Sadler’s Wells 15–17 Oct

STEPHEN PETRONIO COMPANY USA
Queen Elizabeth Hall 18 & 19 Oct

ROSAS BELGIUM
The Place 18 & 19 Oct

BALLETT FRANKFURT GERMANY
Sadler’s Wells 21–25 Oct

SILVER CELEBRATION
Queen Elizabeth Hall 22 & 23 Oct

JOHN JASPERSE COMPANY USA
The Place 21 & 22 Oct

RUSSELL MALIPHANT COMPANY UK
Queen Elizabeth Hall 25 Oct

VINCENT MANTSOE SOUTH AFRICA
The Place 26 & 27 Oct

LAURIE BOOTH UK
Greenwich Dance Agency 28–30 Oct

SARA PEARSON / USA
PATRIK WIDRIG AND COMPANY
The Place 29 & 30 Oct

INBAL PINTO DANCE COMPANY ISRAEL
Barbican 31 Oct & 1 Nov

MERCE CUNNINGHAM DANCE COMPANY USA
Tate Modern 4–8 Nov

<small>[ 26 September 2003, 09:02 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

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<big>How To Post on CriticalDance</big>

Now it's your turn. We will be delighted if you want to post a comment about Dance Umbrella 2003.

To post a comment you will need to register, which is easy and free. Click here and follow the steps to register, including agreeing to our Rules, Policies and Disclaimers. You must give a valid e-mail address.

When you have registered, you will be sent a password by e-mail, which enables you to log in. Then to make a posting, you need to click on the "Post Reply" button at the top right of this page; type or copy and paste your comments into the posting box; when you are ready, then press the "Add Reply" button. If you want to edit your posting, you can do so by clicking on the "paper and pencil" icon at the right above your post.

For additional practical information about CriticalDance click here.

Don't worry if you've never written about dance before. Just tell us your reaction to any aspects of the evening, whether good or not.

A few words would be great, but if you want to write more you might like to look at our beginners' guide to reviewing.

Any problems or queries, don't hesitate to contact stuart@criticaldance.com

Don't delay - have your say.

<small>[ 26 September 2003, 09:05 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

For dance fans in the UK, there can be few greater excitements than the unveiling of the new Dance Umbrella programme. And this year is very special as the UK's leading dance festival has reached the grand age of 25.

Congratulations to all involved and particularly Val Bourne who kicked the whole thing off and remains at the helm.

So clear your diaries for the five weeks starting 28th September, as there'll be little time for anything else.

Here are some thoughts about Dance Umbrella and Val Bourne from some of the artists who have taken part over the past 25 years.

<img src="http://www.danceumbrella.co.uk/news/merce.jpg" alt="" />
<small>Merce Cunningham
Photo: Annie Leibovitz</small>

“I am delighted to bring my company to London again in Dance Umbrella, and send my congratulations to Val Bourne, who has been so supportive of our work over the years. I think it’s marvellous that companies from both the United States and Europe will perform in this Dance Umbrella season – the Americans and the English fought in 1776 and now we’ve joined. If we were all in London at the same time we could dance a fandango”

Merce Cunningham

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“19 years ago a crazy woman named Val Bourne took a chance and brought me to London. Since then, I've seen Val spread her Umbrella over many artists, all of whom love her and know she loves them. Every performance I've given in England has been with her and because of her. And it's impossible for me to imagine an England without Val, without her beautiful organization. Happily, though, this is an imaginative feat that need not be attempted. Long Live Val Bourne! Hail Dance Umbrella!”

Mark Morris

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“I wouldn’t be where I am today without Dance Umbrella” Michael Clark

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For more information visit www.danceumbrella.co.uk

Dance Umbrella was founded in 1978 with the aim of reflecting and encouraging the burgeoning interest in contemporary dance in Britain. From modest beginnings as a showcase for emerging choreographers, Dance Umbrella’s annual London festival now ranks highly among Europe’s leading international dance festivals and the organisation is recognised as one of Britain’s most adventurous dance promoters presenting a year round programme of work in London and across the UK.

Dance Umbrella 2002 achieved the highest ever attendance of any festival in the company’s history achieving 92% over the 59 public performances. The Jerwood Proms were a sell-out success – a unique initiative that allowed over 2,500 to see performances for just £5 a ticket. They return to Sadler’s Wells this year with Michael Clark, Trisha Brown Dance Company and KARAS

<small>[ 26 September 2003, 09:08 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

<img src="http://www.danceumbrella.co.uk/news/rosas.jpg" alt="" />
<small>Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
Photo: Gérard Uféras</small>




Here is the latest listing, by venue:

Dance Umbrella 2003
28 September to 8 November

SADLER'S WELLS, Rosebery Avenue, London EC1R @ 7.30pm (except where marked)

28 Sept BIRTHDAY GALA (7pm)
inc Mark Morris, Wayne McGregor, Bill T Jones, Agnes Oakes & Thomas Edur, Siobhan Davies Dance Co, Scottish Ballet, Matthew Bourne’s Spitfire and many more

1-4 Oct MICHAEL CLARK (8pm, Sat 4pm & 9pm) New Work (World premiere)

6-8 Oct TRISHA BROWN DANCE COMPANY (USA) Set and Reset, Geometry of Quiet,
Groove and Countermove

11-12 Oct TESHIGAWARA / KARAS (Japan) Luminous

15-17 Oct ROSAS (Belgium) (8pm) Small Hands

22-25 Oct BALLETT FRANKFURT (Germany) (Sat mat 2.30pm) Kammer/Kammer

MATTHEW HAWKINS – READING EVENT Stories that run parallel,as it turns out
2 Oct 7pm, 12 Oct, 24 Oct 6.30pm Kahn Lecture Theatre

THE PLACE: Robin Howard Dance Theatre, 17 Dukes Road, London, WC1 @ 8pm.

6 –7 Oct JOSEF NADJ (France) Le temps du repli

9-10 Oct DEJA DONNE (Czech Rep / Italy) In Bella Copia

13-14 Oct CHARLES LINEHAN COMPANY Grand Junction, Disintegration Loops

15-17Oct JONATHAN BURROWS & MATTEO FARGION Both Sitting Duet

18-19Oct ROSAS (Belgium) Once

21-22 Oct JOHN JASPERSE COMPANY (USA) Giant Empty

26-27 Oct VINCENT SEKWATI KOKO MANTSOE (S. Afr) Bupiro-Mukiti,NDAA

29-30 Oct SARA PEARSON / PATRIK WIDRIG & Co (USA) The Return of Lot’s Wife

MATTHEW HAWKINS – READING EVENT Stories that run parallel,as it turns out
16 Oct 7pm Founders Studio

QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL, South Bank, London, SE1 @ 7.45pm.

18-19 Oct STEPHEN PETRONIO COMPANY (USA) City of Twis, Broken Man,
The Island of Misfit Toys (World Premiere)

22-23 Oct SILVER CELEBRATION
Akram Khan (Film), Sara Rudner, Siobhan Davies Dance Co, David Gordon & Valda Setterfield, Richard Alston Dance Co

25 Oct RUSSELL MALIPHANT COMPANY One Part II, TwoTimes Three, New Work

MATTHEW HAWKINS – READING EVENT Stories that run parallel,as it turns out
25 Oct 6.30pm RFH Voice Box

GREENWICH DANCE AGENCY, The Borough Hall, Royal Hill, London, SE10 @ 7.45pm.

28-30 Oct LAURIE BOOTH Ice/Dreams/Fire

BARBICAN THEATRE, Silk Street, London, EC2 @ 7.45pm.

31 Oct-1 Nov INBAL PINTO DANCE COMPANY (Israel) Boobies

TURBINE HALL, TATE MODERN, Bankside, London SE1 @ 8pm & 9.30pm (Fri & Sat 11pm only)

4-8 Nov MERCE CUNNINGHAM DANCE Co (USA) Anniversary Events

MULTI-BUY FESTIVAL SAVER TICKETLINE 0870 8905500
Buy across the Festival at 2 or more venues and save up to 20%
(subject to availability tickets over £12 only)

SADLER'S WELLS Ticket Office: 020 7863 8000

THE PLACE: Robin Howard Dance Theatre Box Office: 020 7387 0031

QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL Box Office: 020 7960 4242

GREENWICH DANCE AGENCY Box Office: 020 8293 9741

BARBICAN THEATRE Box Office: 020 7638 8891

TURBINE HALL, TATE MODERN Box Office: 020 7887 8888


Join the Dance Umbrella mailing list visit www.danceumbrella.co.uk

Dance Umbrella 2003 is supported by Time Out.

<small>[ 16 September 2003, 04:05 AM: Message edited by: Admin ]</small>

Press Release:


Dance Umbrella presents


Dance Umbrella is celebrating 25 years of successfully presenting and promoting adventurous contemporary dance. This year’s anniversary festival closes with a unique Dance Umbrella commission at Tate Modern for Merce Cunningham and his company, the most accomplished and revered contemporary dance choreographer of our time.

“the world’s greatest living choreographer”

Wall Street Journal






MERCE CUNNINGHAM DANCE COMPANY

Anniversary Events

Tue 4 to Sat 8 November

Tate Modern: Turbine Hall

In a unique commission, Dance Umbrella brings a living legend and major innovator of modern dance Merce Cunningham, with his glorious company of 15 dancers, to the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern for a special week of Anniversary Events.


“The unmissable performances at Tate Modern by one of the world’s greatest companies bring this year’s rich and varied festival to a suitably celebratory close”.

Val Bourne, Founder and Artistic Director of Dance Umbrella


Celebrating both the silver 25th Anniversary of Dance Umbrella and the golden 50th Anniversary of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Anniversary Events continues Cunningham’s Events series, developing performances for non-traditional public spaces. These promenade performances create a singular opportunity for the dancers to move in, around, and through the art installation in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall by Icelandic/Danish artist Olafur Eliasson, while the audience becomes part of the landscape. Eliasson is known for his elemental installations and sculptures using light, steam, water, fire, wind and ice. Drawing on both past choreograhy as well as new works, Merce Cunningham uses the principles of ‘chance’ to choreograph the movements specifically for these special performances of Anniversary Events.

“There are mainly two reasons for the Events. One is to break away from the idea that the only place you could perform is in a theater, which has never been true, because people have done plays for thousands of years outdoors. The other reason is practical because it allows us as performers to do things in places where otherwise we might not be able to do anything at all. Each Event is unique and arranged specifically for the space it will occupy, to allow for, not so much an evening of dances, as the experience of dance”. Merce Cunningham





Over the last 50 years of dance making Merce Cunningham has remained one of the most contemporary and progressive creative artists of our day, consistently expanding audience perception of dance and its relationship to music and the visual arts. The Merce Cunningham Dance Company first appeared in Dance Umbrella in 1989 and has been a regular visitor ever since.

“I am delighted to bring my company to London again in Dance Umbrella, and send my congratulations to Val Bourne, who has been so supportive of our work over the years. I think it’s marvellous that companies from both the United States and Europe will perform in this Dance Umbrella season – the Americans and the English fought in 1776 and now we’ve joined. If we were all in London at the same time we could dance a fandango”

Merce Cunningham




Listings Information:



MERCE CUNNINGHAM DANCE COMPANY Anniversary Events

Tue 4 to Sat 8 November

Tues – Sat 8pm & 9.30pm + Fri & Sat 11pm

Tate Modern: Turbine Hall

Box Office: 020 7887 8888

Tickets £16 concessions £12 (limited availability)





For more information visit www.danceumbrella.co.uk



Visit www.danceumbrella.co.uk



Dance Umbrella 2003 is supported by Time Out.

<small>[ 16 September 2003, 04:07 AM: Message edited by: Admin ]</small>

Press Release

Dance Umbrella presents

Inbal Pinto Dance Company
British premiere & UK Tour of Boobies - 30 Oct to 11 Nov

Presented by Dance Umbrella, Tel Aviv based Inbal Pinto Dance Company
returns to the UK with the British premiere of its brand new work Boobies at
The Barbican in association with BITE:03, and its first UK tour.
Choreographed, designed and directed by Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak,
Boobies takes its name from the blue and red footed Boobies, peculiar birds
unique to the Galapagos Islands.

Over recent years Israel's acclaimed choreographic and design collaborators
Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak have developed a unique and captivating
physical language. Collectively they have steadily built an international
reputation for creating unique dance theatre works that draw upon the
absurdity in everyday life. In Boobies Pinto and Pollack combine the comical
mating ritual of the birds, integrating vaudevillesque and freakish
characters, with an eclectic musical score and magical theatrical effects,
as they continue to make highly accessible and entertaining dance.

The company's eight dancers and two actors inhabit an enchantingly beautiful
yet desolate lunar landscape, full of extraordinary costumes and extravagant
sets. Boobies also boasts an impressive international musical score
featuring traditional Korean folk music; Jewish American jazz pianist
Anthony Coleman; Tan Dun, Beijing's widely acclaimed composor of the
'Oscar-winning Musical Score' for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; and from
Japan, minimalist jazz artist Seigen Ono and Haitian Voodoo inspired
percussionist Teiji Ito.

Boobies (named after Bobo, the Spanish word for clown) are big clumsy birds
with an unusual mating ritual where they dance and pass gifts to each other.
This romantic gesture, however, masks their darker side. Of the two chicks
hatched in the nest, the older will push the younger out to die, often
encouraged by the mother.

With Boobies Inbal Pinto Dance Company makes its third visit to Dance
Umbrella festivals and the UK, following the success of its earlier comic
dance theatre pieces Oyster and Wrapped.

Choreographer Inbal Pinto has received the Award of the Ministry of Culture
for Dance Creators and a 'Bessie', a New York Dance and Performance Award.

"Beautiful and communicative, Boobies creates an exquisite stage, populated
with bizarre yet picturesque creatures"
Jerusalem Post

Inbal Pinto Dance Company UK Tour Schedule

31 Oct & 1 Nov Barbican Theatre, London * 020 7638 8891
5 Nov Concert Hall Dome, Brighton 01273 709709
7 & 8 Nov Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Suffolk 01723 687110
11 Nov Theatre Royal, Glasgow 0141 332 9000

* As part of Dance Umbrella 2003 in association with BITE:03

Join the Dance Umbrella mailing list visit www.danceumbrella.co.uk

Dance Umbrella 2003 is supported by Time Out.

<small>[ 16 September 2003, 04:08 AM: Message edited by: Admin ]</small>

Every year I look at the line up and I'm so incredibly impressed at what's at Dance Umbrella, all the new works and fabulous companies. AND I'm jealous too, because I know it will probably be another five years before we'll get to see any of those works toured over here to the States!

All singing, all dancing
The combination of a former athlete and a postmodern choreographer are transforming a classic melody. And it's making audiences gasp, discovers John O'Mahony for The Guardian

Perhaps the most remarkable moment in baritone Simon Keenlyside and choreographer Trisha Brown's reinterpretation of Schubert's Winterreise comes at the end of the song Rest, when the two dancers who have been coiling sensuously around Keenlyside, rocking him gently from side to side like a pendulum, fall to the ground and twine their limbs into what can only be described as a human cradle. The song had begun with the words: "Now I first notice how weary I am, as I lay down to rest... " In the final bars, as his character reaches his most dissipated point, Keenlyside sinks down into a bed of crooked knees, arched necks and flexing muscles, still singing Schubert's sweetly anguished melody.

click for more

<img src="http://www.jerwood.org.uk/images/jertitle.gif" alt="" />

Jerwood Proms: ‘Stand Up For Dance’ is back!


Dance Umbrella presents the Jerwood Proms as part of Dance Umbrella 2003, London’s 25th annual festival of contemporary dance. Last year, Dance Umbrella’s Stand Up For Dance initiative allowed over 5,000 people to enjoy the world’s best contemporary dance companies at Sadler’s Wells, for just £5 per standing place. They return to Sadler’s Wells this year with Michael Clark, Trisha Brown Dance Company and KARAS, again with the generous support of the Jerwood Charitable Foundation.



“ With football, rock concerts and even ballet, you pretty much know what you’re going to get. We (in the dance industry) are in danger of alienating audiences by overpricing tickets for work which they may not know at all. It’s important for people not to be excluded because of money. Thanks to the Proms, for £5 each you can have a crack at dance from the UK, America and Japan. Even if you like only one of them, at fifteen quid you will still have done well”.



Val Bourne, Founder and Artistic Director of Dance Umbrella




Three of the Best


Jerwood Proms tickets at £5 each are available for three of the world’s most exciting dance companies performing at London’s leading dance house, Sadler’s Wells:



A world premiere by Michael Clark (Wed 1 – Sat 4 Oct) working with his largest group of dancers to date and featuring music ranging from the austerity of Erik Satie to the 1970’s Krautrock group CAN plus the blues punk fusion of PJ Harvey.



Trisha Brown Dance Company (Mon 6 – Wed 8 Oct) returns to Dance Umbrella with a triple bill of contrasting, vibrant work, including the critically acclaimed Set and Reset, first performed at Dance Umbrella in 1983. A renowned maverick spirit, Trisha Brown is an American modern dance legend and a long-time collaborator with visual artists.


Saburo Teshigawara / Karas (Fri 18 – Sat 19 Oct) is at the forefront of Japanese innovation in dance. In his inspirational Luminous he uses luminescent walls and dancers costumes to create a poetic and fantastic world of light, shade, shadows and scattered reflections.


The Jerwood Proms allows unprecedented access to these events for young people, seasoned festival fans and those who may fancy trying something new. Anyone can buy a Jerwood Proms ticket for £5 although advance booking is highly recommended. The standard top price tickets for these events range from £27 to £43. Tickets are now on sale. Call the Sadler’s Wells Box Office on 020 7863 8000 or book online at www.sadlerswells.com (no booking fee applies to Proms tickets).

Dance Umbrella is delighted that the Jerwood Charitable Foundation has again chosen to support this initiative as part of Dance Umbrella 2003 to deliver one of the best arts bargain in Britain.[1]


“The Jerwood Proms has been a completely new way for us to support dance. There was such a buzz after last year. The feedback was particularly exhilarating in that it came not only from members of the audience but also from the dancers and artists. They were so flattered that people would pay to stand and watch them that they felt inspired to perform beyond themselves ”

Roanne Dods, Jerwood Director


The Jerwood Charitable Foundation is dedicated to imaginative and responsible funding and sponsorship of the arts, education, design and other areas of human endeavour and excellence. As well as the Choreographic Awards the Jerwood Charitable Foundation supports a series of other initiatives including the Jerwood Painting Prize, the Jerwood Applied Arts Award and, with its parent foundation, the creation and support of the Jerwood Space in central London, a unique resource housing rehearsal facilities, the Jerwood Gallery and Café 171. In addition to the Jerwood Choreography Awards, it also funds the Jerwood Young Directors Scheme at the Young Vic, Jerwood Artists Platform at the Jerwood Space and Jerwood Proms with the Dance Umbrella Festival at Sadler’s Wells among many initiatives.

Visit www.jerwood.org.uk

Visit www.danceumbrella.co.uk

Dance Umbrella 2003 is supported by Time Out.

<small>[ 16 September 2003, 04:09 AM: Message edited by: Admin ]</small>

Press Release

Dance Umbrella at The Queen Elizabeth Hall

Dance Umbrella is celebrating 25 years of successfully presenting and promoting adventurous contemporary dance. This year’s anniversary festival features a special anniversary season of dance at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.

“Since 1989, when Dance Umbrella first presented Cie. Emile Dubois from France and Britain’s Second Stride at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the South Bank Centre has become a regular and most popular Dance Umbrella venue. Over the last 14 years, the festival’s impressive line-up of international; artists on the South Bank has included Merce Cunningham,. Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, Stephen Petronio, Maguy Marin, Rennie Harris, DV8, Richard Alston, Siobhan Davies, Javier de Frutos and Akram Khan.”

Val Bourne, Founder and Artistic Director of Dance Umbrella


“SBC’s regular autumn collaboration with Dance Umbrella is always one of the highlights of the calendar which we look forward to; high quality, high profile and high energy. The Festival invariably brings in a great audience and lots of lively artists”.

Julia Carruthers, SBC Head of Dance and Performance



STEPHEN PETRONIO COMPANY
Sat 18 & Sun 19 October at 7.45pm

To commemorate its association with Dance Umbrella, which now stretches to 17 years, New York’s Stephen Petronio Company returns to the Queen Elizabeth Hall with a triple bill of new work featuring the world premiere of The Island of Misfit Toys. Part of what Petronio has called his ‘Gotham Suite’, this is the companion piece to the acclaimed City of Twist made last year.

As always, Stephen Petronio's work assaults all the senses with powerfully modern landscapes, combining intensely physical choreography with vivid sound and visual design. Started before but influenced by the tragedy of September 11th, City of Twist paints a series of archetypal portraits in a charged and shifting landscape inspired by life in New York City, with the rhythm of urban humanity is at its heart. City of Twist features an original score by music and live art legend Laurie Anderson and costume design by Tara Subkoff of Imitation of Christ.

Receiving its world premiere, The Island of Misfit Toys is set to music by experimental rock icon Lou Reed with visual design by influentual artist Cindy Sherman. The programme is completed by Broken Man, Petronio’s first solo since 1996, set to music by Blixa Bargeld.

Collaborating with some of the most talented and provocative artists in the world, Stephen Petronio has built an accomplished body of work, integrating new music, visual art and high fashion to great effect. Petronio has collaborated with visual artists Cindy Sherman, Anish Kapoor, Donald Baechler, Stephen Hannock, Justin Terzi, Charles Atlas, Tal Yarden and Trisha Fox; composers Michael Nyman, James Lavelle, Wire, Yoko Ono, Beastie Boys, Diamanda Galás, Sheila Chandra, Lenny Pickett, and on numerous works with David Linton; fashion designers Imitation of Christ, Leigh Bowery, Manolo, Paul Compitus and Tanya Sarne/Ghost; and long time collaborator and lighting designer Ken Tabachnick.

The first male dancer in the Trisha Brown Dance Company, Stephen Petronio danced with Brown from 1979-1986. In addition to choreographing for his own company, which he founded in 1984, Petronio has created dances for Ricochet Dance Company, Ballett Frankfurt, Rotterdam Dance Company, Lyon Opera Ballet and Deutsche Oper. Stephen Petronio first appeared in Dance Umbrella 83 with the Trisha Brown Company and this will be the ninth visit from his own company, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. This season is commissioned by Danceworks UK Ltd, Sheffield.


SILVER CELEBRATION

Wed 23 & Thurs 23 October at 7.30pm


The Queen Elizabeth Hall plays host to Silver Celebration, a unique line-up of distinguished British and international Dance Umbrella artists who have a long association with the festival. It features a dance film from Akram Khan, Sara Rudner, David Gordon and Valda Setterfield, a solo for Henry Montes by Siobhan Davies, and a company work from Richard Alston Dance Company.


Silver Celebration opens with the UK premiere film screening by Akram Khan with live accompaniment by cellist Philip Sheppard. If Not, Why Not is based on material from his company’s solo and group works including Kaash. Akram Khan is an associate artist at the South Bank Centre.


American dancer and choreographer Sara Rudner, formerly a leading dancer with Twyla Tharp’s Company, appeared in the first festival in 1978. HeartBeat, conceived and scored by sound artist Christopher Janney in 1983, was choreographed by Sara and danced as a solo. HeartBeat explores the heart as both a sophisticated machine for pumping blood and the “seat of the soul”. Using wireless telemetry and custom audio filters, the system amplifies the electrical impulses to Rudner’s heart and surrounding muscles to create an extraordinary percussion soundtrack. New York choreographer/director David Gordon and his long time partner dancer/actress Valda Setterfield appeared together in Dance Umbrella 80. Gordon's Pick Up Performance Company was last seen at Dance Umbrella 2001. For the Silver Celebration, Setterfield and Gordon will perform a talking/walking excerpt from Private Lives of Dancers (2002).

Siobhan Davies, who herself appeared in a Richard Alston solo also in Dance Umbrella 80 will bring a solo for Henry Montes from a new work Bird Song. Inspired by hearing and the affecting nature of sounds, it uses birdsong as a reservoir to collect images, ideas, stories and forms. Made for her acclaimed company, this year celebrating its 15th anniversary, Bird Song is to be premiered in its entirety in 2004. Richard Alston himself appeared in the very first Dance Umbrella and has become one of the most inspiring and influential figures in British Dance, much acclaimed for the musicality of his work. The Richard Alston Dance Company has regularly performed in the festival and will provide the grand finale to Silver Celebration with an extract of the 1990 piece Roughcut which was originally dedicated to Val Bourne.


RUSSELL MALIPHANT COMPANY

Saturday 25 October 7.45pm


An expanded Russell Maliphant Company makes its Queen Elizabeth Hall debut with a new commission, a solo by Maliphant himself and a reworking of what many consider to be his signature work. Collaborating with lighting designer Michael Hulls, whose work plays a pivotal role in Maliphant’s award winning style, the new work for five dancers, specially commissioned by Dance Umbrella as part of its 25th anniversary celebrations.


The award winning choreographer also revisits a piece commissioned by Dance Umbrella in 1998 titled One, in which he performs to a soundscore by Andy Cowton. That piece is now developed further as One Part II. Also on the bill is Two Times Three, an expanded version of the much acclaimed solo, Two. Instead of one dancer seemingly trapped in a box of light, the piece is now redeveloped for the three female performers, whose movements are an abstraction of the original in different perspectives. The specially commissioned sound score by Andy Cowton is also re-worked and extended.

Russell Maliphant was a member of The Royal Ballet for seven years before dancing with DV8 and Laurie Booth. He has choreographed for Lyon Opera Ballet, George Piper Dances, Ricochet Dance Company and Nurnberg Ballet. In 2002 Russell Maliphant Company received the Time Out Live Award for ‘Outstanding Collaboration’ for the work Sheer, and also the 'Peoples Choice Award' from the Festival De La Nouvelle Danse, in Montreal.



Dance Umbrella on the Southbank

Queen Elizabeth Hall

Southbank Centre

London SE1



Tickets for the Dance Umbrella season at the QEH: £11 - £17.50 Box Office: 020 7960 4242



In additional to these three dance seasons, Dance Umbrella also presents:



Matthews Hawkins Stories that Run Parrellel, as it turns out. (Sat 25 Oct at 6.30pm. Royal Festival Hall: Voicebox)

In a new initiative, Jerwood Choreography Award winning choreographer/dancer Matthew Hawkins reads fragments from his dance diary as part of Dance Umbrella's 25th Anniversary Festival. In 2001 Hawkins was awarded the Chris de Marigny Dance Writers Award.



Umbrella Unfurled.

To celebrate Dance Umbrella’s 25th anniversary, famous, infamous and never seen before historical and documentary footage of the Dance Umbrella festival will slowly reveal itself through the month of October in a growing video installation throughout the Royal Festival Hall foyers. Umbrella Unfurled is free of charge.





For more information visit www.danceumbrella.co.uk and www.sbc.org.uk

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Dance Umbrella Turns 25-The preview to the festival season
By Sanjoy Roy for The Dancing Times

This year marks 25 years of Dance Umbrella, a festival that has grown from small beginnings to become a landmark event on the world stage. Directed since its inception by the incomparable Val Bourne, Umbrella celebrates its Silver Jubilee with an exceptional season that, like a well-made novel, has a clear beginning, middle and end – and not a few twists and flashbacks along the way

The festival opens with a bang, a special Gala on September 28 at Sadler’s Wells Theatre featuring some of the artists who have appeared in and been associated with Umbrella over the years. Guests include Bill T. Jones, Mark Morris, Wayne McGregor, Rambert Dance Company, Agnes Oakes and Thomas Edur; more guests are still to be confirmed.

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Just a reminder that with all the publicity that Dance Umbrella is likely to get in its Silver Jubilee year, you will need to book early for the big names, especially in small venues. A few names that spring to mind are Rosas(both at The Place and Sadler's with far fewer seats than usual), Merce Cunningham and Ballett Frankfurt etc etc.

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No tutus allowed
After 25 years, Dance Umbrella is as puzzling, provocative and arresting as ever. Judith Mackrell looks back for The Guardian


When the British media dubbed 1978 the year of the dance explosion, they were mostly reporting the outbreak of neon Lycra and legwarmers on the high street and the queues of body-beautiful wannabes signing up for dance classes. What few journalists noticed was the launch of a small festival in London that, within a decade, would put Britain's dance scene on the world map.

Most of the artists performing in that first Dance Umbrella wouldn't have let Lycra near their wardrobes. The look of choice was high-minded and scruffy: baggy sweat pants and sneakers with a sprinkling of surreal junk costumes for the performance-art types. Umbrella that year was a largely avant-garde event in which the favoured choreographic modes were minimalist or wacky.

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Viewfinder special: twenty-five years of the Dance Umbrella festival

From modest beginnings, the annual celebration of contemporary dance has become pivotal to our cultural identity. Ismene Brown looks back on a quarter-century of dance history

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A star is Bourne
Dance Umbrella is 25 years old this month. Founder Val Bourne has always taken pride in pushing the boundaries of contemporary dance and, below, dancers from over the years pay tribute to her. By Liz Hoggard for The Observer


Remember DV8's extraordinary ballet, Dead Dreams of Monochrome Men, inspired by gay serial killer Dennis Nielsen? Or Michael Clark collaborating on the ballet I Am Curious, Orange with Mark E. Smith of the Fall? Arguably these cutting-edge moments in modern dance would never have happened without Dance Umbrella, which this month celebrates its twenty-fifth birthday.
Founded in 1978 as an experimental showcase for emerging choreographers, it has blossomed into one of the most prestigious contemporary dance festivals in the world.

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