PRESS RELEASE
Union Dance internationally tours two compelling and
distinctly contrasting productions for the autumn of 2003. Urban Classics II and Permanent Revolution V2R
September 19 to December 3
With its eclectic mix of hip-hop, martial arts and streetwise wit Union Dance internationally tours two compelling and distinctly contrasting productions this autumn, Urban Classics II and Permanent Revolution V2R, featuring choreography from South Africa's Vincent Mantsoe and New Yorker Doug Elkins. Union Dance will make its Austrian debut at the Black Dance Festival, Museums Quartier, Vienna performing Urban Classics II.
Union Dance has evolved as a culturally diverse company whose virtuoso command of contemporary dance, martial arts and street dance redefine the links between style and movement. Union Dance's philosophy is to create innovative work by using sources outside European mainstream dance traditions and to communicate through dance the concept of cultural diversity. Union's last four productions, Dance Tek Warriors, LifeForms, Dance in House and Imaging the Invisible effectively combined contemporary techniques with street dance, martial arts and capoeira.
Urban Classics II Urban Classics II, in essence 'A Taste of Union' from the last 8 years, features the creative talents of Artistic Director Corrine Bougaard, Associate Choreographer Doug Elkins, and Union artists Garry Benjamin and Michael Joseph. Urban Classics II is crammed full with favourite vignettes of the Union Dance repertoire that illustrate the company's philosophy to the max, with energetic solos and vibrant ensemble pieces performed to the sounds of Sitar Funk and Talvin Singh, all rich in the musical traditions of the Asian and African sub-continents.
Permanent Revolution V2R Inspired by the experience of migration and cultural enrichment, Permanent Revolution V2R stretches Union Dance into unknown territory. Vincent Mantsoe (South Africa) Bawren Tavazia (Zimbabwe) and Doug Elkins (New York) are international choreographers with distinct and separate cultural experiences. Their vastly different ways of working with choreography and music are given full licence in Permanent Revolution V2R, where collectively these differences are celebrated and at the same time fused. Within a culture informed by a multitude of real and virtual migrations, Mantsoe, Tavazia and Elkins create a rich, sensory world in which memory and place collide to challenge notions of identity. These artists clearly articulate transition and evoke this mapping in live dance performance, through movement, visuals, music, sound, computer graphics and video.
NOTES:
Born in South Africa, Union Dance Company Artistic Director Corrine Bougaard trained at the London Contemporary Dance School and at Alvin Ailey in New York. A solo career at Ballet Rambert preceded her role as founder member, choreographer and Associate Director of Extemporary Dance Theatre. Awarded the first Arts Council bursary for an Artistic Director of Dance, she set up Union Dance in 1985 with a mission to explore and express an identity through dance with reflects the growing cultural fusion of contemporary British society.
Hip-hop, ballet capoeira and break-dance meet head on in the world of New York's Doug Elkins, the former break-dancer and club-kid turned choreographer. Associate Choreographer of Union Dance, Elkins has created work for Pennsylvania Ballet, Pittsburgh Dance Alloy and Candoco. He has been the recipient of a Bessie, recognised for " walking the walk as well as talking the talk, not to mention utterly tanking what's left of post-modernist pretension, all the while fashioning a singular provocative poetics of dance".
Having completed commissions for Dance Theater of Harlem, Soweto-born Vincent Mantsoe has developed into one of Africa¹s most prominent dancer/choreographers. Vincent Mantsoe has received numerous accolades, the FNB VITA Awards for Choreographer of The Year and Most Outstanding Performance by a Male Dancer in 1999 as well as the Prix de Peuple at the Festival International de Nouvelle Danse, Montreal in the same year. He was the recipient of the 2001 FNB Vita Choreographer of the Year and Best Male Dancer in the Contemporary Style for his solo Barena, which also received critical acclaim as part of Dance Umbrella 2001. Vincent Mantsoe is currently Resident Choreographer and Associate Artistic Director of South Africa's Moving into Dance company.
Born and trained in Zimbabwe, Bawren Tavazia joined Tumbuka Dance Company and toured Africa and Europe from 1993-7, under the direction of Neville Campbell, former Artistic Director of Phoenix Dance Company. Bawren had also performed as a guest artist with the National Ballet of Zimbabwe. He joined Union Dance as a soloist in January 1999, and then toured with Phoenix Dance Company in 2000, returning to Union for its 2001 & 2002 seasons. Bawren choreographed for The Mission in 2001 and Permanent Revolution V2R marks his first choreographic work for Union Dance.
Union Dance Tour dates 2003 19 Sept Playhouse Theatre, Weston Super Mare 01934 645544 Rep A
20 Sept Bristol Dance Centre 0117 9292118 Rep A
23 Sept Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield 01484 430528 Rep A
27 Sept The Brewhouse Theatre, Taunton 01823 283 344 Rep A
30 Sept Trinity Arts Centre, Tunbridge Wells 01892 678673 Rep A
1 Oct Millfield Theatre, Edmonton, London 020 8807 6680 Rep B
10 Oct Stanwix Arts Centre, Carlisle 01228 534781 Rep A
14 Oct Civic Hall, Stratford 01789 414513 Rep A
17 Oct Linbury Studio, ROH, London 020 7304 4000 Rep A
18 Oct Linbury Studio, ROH, London 020 7304 4000 Rep B
23 Oct The Landmark Theatre, Ilfracombe 01271 865655 Rep A
24 Oct South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell 01344 484123 Rep B
1 Nov Hampton Court CC, Richmond 020 8883 1600 Rep A
4 Nov King Edward VI Community College 01803 866021 Rep A
6-9 Nov Black Dance Festival, Vienna
www.blackdancefestival.com 11 Nov Gardner Arts Centre, Brighton 01273 685861 Rep B
13 Nov Portsmouth Studio Theatre 02392 667521 Rep A
25 Nov Theatre by the Lake, Keswick 01768 774411 Rep B
28 Nov Forum 28, Barrow-in-Furness 01229 820000 Rep A
Rep A Urban Classics II Rep B Permanent Revolution V2R