Press release:
RAMBERT WORKSHOP SEASON 2005
WITH THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC The Rambert Workshop Season 2005
Robin Howard Dance Theatre, The Place
Tuesday 25 and Wednesday 26 January at 8pm
Tickets £5 to £15 from The Place Box Office on 020 7387 0031 or
www.theplace.org.uk Rambert Dance Company is delighted to announce the return of the Rambert Workshop Season in 2005, which will be held in the Robin Howard Dance Theatre at The Place on 25 and 26 January. This event provides an exciting opportunity to see new choreography created by some of Rambert’s versatile dancers. Unique to this Season is the exciting collaboration with the Royal Academy of Music, who will be creating original scores for three of the works.
Rambert has an established track record for nurturing choreographers from within its ranks. Its founder, Marie Rambert, was famed for her ability to spot and develop new talent, including such dance luminaries as Frederick Ashton, Antony Tudor and Christopher Bruce among others. Mark Baldwin, Rambert’s current Artistic Director, cut his choreographic teeth producing works for the Rambert Workshop Seasons and is passionate about continuing the tradition.
“I believe that our policy of developing choreographers from within the Company has been the foundation of the Rambert’s ongoing creative renewal and the root of its longevity. The Workshop Season provides an invaluable opportunity for our dancers to test and develop their choreographic skills in a professional and supportive environment. This year’s partnership with the Royal Academy of Music is a really exciting chance for the dancers to take an adventurous involvement with music and explore the creative potential available through the partnership of these two art forms.”
Mark Baldwin, Artistic Director of Rambert Dance Company The 2005 programme reflects the diversity of Rambert’s dancers, who come from all over the world, from both contemporary and classical dance backgrounds. The three dancers who will be collaborating with the Royal Academy of Music are Ana Luján Sanchez, Mikaela Polley and Alexander Whitley. The Workshop Season also includes works by Cameron McMillan, Melanie Teal, Lucila Alves, Martin Joyce and Amy Hollingsworth.
The most recent success to come out of the Workshop Season is Rambert’s Associate Choreographer Rafael Bonachela, whose choreographic career was launched by the workshop initiative. Rafael’s first choreographic work, Three Gone, Four Left Standing, was produced for the Rambert Workshop Season in 1999, and the piece was later promoted to the Company’s programme at Sadler’s Wells in May that year. Rafael has gone on to produce numerous works for Rambert dancers; win the 2004 Place Prize for Dance and has worked extensively with Kylie Minogue on a number of her high-profile performances.
This year’s unique collaboration with the Royal Academy of Music reinforces Rambert’s long-standing commitment to the importance that live music plays alongside dance. Since the Company’s early days under Marie Rambert’s leadership, music has been an essential aspect of Rambert’s repertoire, with the live performances considered an integral part of the Company’s character. In 1978, Marie Rambert received the Composer’s Guild Award for Services to British Music.
Rambert’s Associate Orchestra London Musici has accompanied Rambert on tour since 1994, providing live music at each venue. In February 2004 the Company’s Music Director Paul Hoskins and London Musici won the Time Out Live Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance.
The three composers selected from the Royal Academy of Music are Philip Venables, Naomi Pinnock and Patrick Nunn. They will be creating original scores to accompany three of the works. Musicians from the Academy will also be performing the scores live.
“This project with Rambert is very much in the philosophy of our department – encouraging students to develop collaborations with other art forms in order to expand their knowledge and application of the compositional craft. Although we have worked with many other creative disciplines in the past, this partnership with Rambert will be our first collaboration with a professional dance company, and we hope it will be the birth of a very exciting and fruitful relationship.”
Simon Bainbridge, Head of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music NOTES
RAMBERT & THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC Rambert Dance Company is Britain’s oldest dance company, founded in 1926 and transformed into a contemporary dance company in 1968. It is also Britain’s flagship contemporary dance company, employing more artists than any other in the UK. Under its Artistic Director Mark Baldwin, Rambert tours throughout the United Kingdom and internationally with a wide spectrum of large-scale repertoire, including both new commissions and works from the Company’s heritage. Rambert Dance Company performs to over 50,000 people each year and reaches over 6,000 individuals through its extensive education programme.
The Royal Academy of Music is Britain’s senior conservatoire, and since 1822 has been highly successful in its mission to prepare students for successful careers in music according to the constantly evolving demands of the profession. Students study varied programmes including instrumental performance, composition, jazz, media, musical theatre and opera, gaining University of London degrees from undergraduate (BMus) to PhD level. The Academy’s student community is truly international, with over 50 countries represented.
Ana Luján Sanchez (Rambert) and Philip Venables (RAM):
Born in Valencia, Spain, Ana danced with Ballet Clasico De Valencia before joining Rambert in 1996. She choreographed What Follows for Resolution! 2001 at The Place, and this is her fourth piece for a Rambert Workshop Season. Ana received the award for Outstanding Female Artist (Modern) at the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards 2003.
Philip studied at the Royal Academy of Music where he was awarded the Howard Carr, William Elkin and Pullen Memorial prizes and the Battison Haynes prize in composition, and the prestigious DipRAM award for outstanding performance. Philip currently holds the Manson Fellowship in Composition at the Royal Academy of Music.
Mikaela Polley (Rambert) and Patrick Nunn (RAM):
Mikaela has been a dancer with Rambert since 2001 and this will be her third work for a Rambert Workshop Season. During her career at Birmingham Royal Ballet she produced choreography for several summer schools and created sections of The Four Season, which entered the BRB repertoire.
Patrick is in his first year of a doctoral course at the Royal Academy of Music. His music is extremely diverse and has received commissions from a wide range of musicians and ensembles. Visual art has always been the strongest source of inspiration for Patrick, but he has also worked extensively with other disciplines including film, theatre, dance and performance art. He has been described as “one of the most talented composers to have emerged in recent years” (Peter Reynolds, PM Ensemble)
Alexander Whitley (Rambert) and Naomi Pinnock (RAM):
Alexander joined Rambert in 2004 after working with Birmingham Royal Ballet, where he reached the position of First Artist in 2002. While at BRB he worked with the education department on a number of projects. This will be his first creation for the Rambert Workshop Season.
Naomi completed her postgraduate course in composition at the Royal Academy of Music in 2004. With particular interest in music composition teaching, Naomi has attained the LRAM music teaching diploma at the Academy and will be an Assistant Composer for the SPNM Sound Inventors project during 2004/5. Naomi was awarded the Alan Bush Prize in 2003 and the Howard Carr Memorial Prize in June 2004.
<small>[ 11 December 2004, 01:30 PM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>
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