Is it dance or theatre? New collaboration between The Place and Battersea Arts Club refuses to be defined
UK’s national centre for contemporary dance, The Place, and London’s Battersea Arts Club are teaming up to present a two week exchange of genre-busting shows that refuse to be categorised as dance or theatre. Both London venues support artists who take risks and delight in playing with what you expect to encounter in a theatre space.
At The Place you’ll find theatre and spoken word artists who are exploring how movement can help them articulate big ideas; and at Battersea Arts Centre there are dance artists who are discovering new ways to converse with their audience. The venues are co-commissioning a new piece by Tony Adigun of AvantGarde Dance and Inua Ellams whose recent work The Spalding Suite is on tour at the moment, and you can see the first fruits of this collaboration at both venues over the fortnight.
Starting at Battersea Arts Centre (Tue 26- Sat 30 May) the programme then moves North across the river to The Place (Tue 5-Fri 5 Jun).
FULL PROGRAMME LISTINGS
LOST DOG Paradise Lost (Lies Unopened Beside Me)
Tue 26 & Wed 27 May 7.30pm. £12 (£9 conc.) Venue: Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, SW11 5TN
A re-telling of the story of the beginning of everything, inspired by Milton’s Paradise Lost – told through words, music and the easily misunderstood medium of dance. This performance is part of The Place at Battersea Arts Centre – an exchange of genre-busting shows that refuse to be categorised as dance or theatre. Commissioned by The Place and Battersea Arts Centre with further commissioning support from ICIA Bath University. Developed with support from The Point, Eastleigh and South East Dance. Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
ROBERT CLARK Promises Of Happiness / IGOR & MORENO Idiot-Syncrasy
Fri 29 May 7.30pm. £15 (£12 conc.) Venue: Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, SW11 5TN
This double bill is part of The Place at Battersea Arts Centre – an exchange of genre-busting shows that refuse to be categorised as dance or theatre. In Promises of Happiness by Robert Clark, exploring happiness is more important than ever actually finding it. Whilst making Idiot-Syncrasy, Igor & Moreno started wanting to change the world, then felt like idiots, danced a lot and called on folk traditions.
TONY ADIGUN & INUA ELLAMS Scratch Performance / VERA TUSSING T-Dance
Sat 30 May 7.30pm. £12 (£9 conc.) Venue: Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, SW11 5TN
This double bill is part of The Place at Battersea Arts Centre – an exchange of genre-busting shows that refuse to be categorised as dance or theatre. In the Scratch Performance Inua Ellams (writer and performer) and Tony Tussing (choreographer) team up to explore the power of performance to entertain and provoke. T-Dance questions the limits of the body, and the mind’s connections, immersing the audience in the imaginative space of the performers.
HANNAH SULLIVAN Echo Beach / NIC GREEN Fatherland
Tue 2 Jun 8pm. £15 (£12 conc.) Venue: The Place, 17 Duke’s Road, London. WC1H 9PY
www.theplace.org.uk/battersea-arts-centre-place
This double bill is part of Battersea Arts Centre at The Place – an exchange of genre-busting shows that refuse to be categorised as dance or theatre. Echo Beach is dance theatre that revels in the casual social dancing that is unique to everyone. It uncovers the delicacies of family life, unveils memory through music and movement, and touches upon the fragility of what is seen and what is felt. “An exceptional voice in the South West” Emma Bettridge, Bristol Ferment Producer. Born to a Scottish father whom she met only once, in Fatherland Nic Green follows the mystery of her paternal line. Accompanied by an ensemble of musicians, Fatherland draws on the energies and archetypes of a bloodline: Fatherland was created by Nic Green, Tim Harbinson and Alasdair Campbell, with dramaturgical support from Deborah Richardson-Webb. Nic was nominated for Best Female Performer at Dublin Fringe Festival for her role in this work. “Elemental, eerie, affirmative, harrowingly beautiful…another triumph for Green, a joy for the rest of us.” (****) Mary Brennan for The Herald
SEAN MAHONEY Until You Hear That Bell / NIC GREEN Fatherland
Wed 3 Jun 8pm. £15 (£12 conc.) Venue: The Place, 17 Duke’s Road, London. WC1H 9PY
A double bill as part of the Battersea Arts Centre at The Place
www.theplace.org.uk/battersea-arts-centre-place-0
This double bill is part of Battersea Arts Centre at The Place – an exchange of genre-busting shows that refuse to be categorised as dance or theatre. Told through spoken word and within timed boxing rounds, Until You Hear That Bell is a story about amateur boxing and family that spans ten years by North Londoner Sean Mahoney, former boxer, stand-up comedian, now poet.
Born to a Scottish father whom she met only once, in Fatherland Nic Green follows the mystery of her paternal line. Accompanied by an ensemble of musicians, Fatherland draws on the energies and archetypes of a bloodline: Fatherland was created by Nic Green, Tim Harbinson and Alasdair Campbell, with dramaturgical support from Deborah Richardson-Webb. Nic was nominated for Best Female Performer at Dublin Fringe Festival for her role in this work. “Elemental, eerie, affirmative, harrowingly beautiful…another triumph for Green, a joy for the rest of us.” (****) Mary Brennan for The Herald
TONY ADIGUN AND INUA ELLAMS Scratch Performance / IAN JOHNSTON, GARY GARDINER AND ADRIAN HOWELLS Dancer
Fri 5 Jun 8pm. £12 (£9 conc.) Venue: The Place, 17 Duke’s Road, London. WC1H 9PY
www.theplace.org.uk/battersea-arts-centre-place-1
This double bill is part of Battersea Arts Centre at The Place – an exchange of genre-busting shows that refuse to be categorised as dance or theatre. In the Scratch Performance Inua Ellams (writer and performer) and Tony Adigun (choreographer, dancer) team up to explore the power of performance to entertain and provoke. Dancer is a performance a performance created by learning disabled artist Ian Johnston, Gary Gardiner and the late Adrian Howells. It’s a gentle provocation on what it is to be a ‘dancer’, questioning visibility, opportunity and experience. “This is such a lovely piece of work: simple, generous-spirited, vulnerable and entirely without side.” **** Lyn Gardner (Guardian)