Open Call for Choreographers for National Centre for Choreography’s 1st LAB

DanceEast is seeking four choreographers for its first residential LAB to be held at the Jerwood DanceHouse, Ipswich.

The first residential LAB will take place from 1-15 April 2012 at the Jerwood DanceHouse in Ipswich, Suffolk. The LAB will be under the artistic direction of internationally acclaimed director and choreographer Jonathan Lunn. There will also be guests from a range of disciplines and backgrounds, including film, theatre, design, music and visual arts. Guests will visit over the course of the two weeks for talks, workshops, meals, feedback and discussion.

The aim of the National Centre for Choreography (NCC) is to offer themed, cross arts research and development LABS for choreographers wishing to explore focused areas of development over an intensive two week period, without the pressures of presenting or producing new work. This new initiative will host three initial pilot LABS each with its own theme. The LAB environment aims to stimulate choreographic experimentation, dialogue and cross art form partnerships and perspectives.
 
12-16 dancers will be available to work with the choreographers over the two week period, a number of whom are from English National Ballet. Other dancers are still to be confirmed, but will be a mix of ballet and contemporary dancers of a high standard.

Full details and application criteria »

Notes to Editors

National Centre for Choreography (NCC) at DanceEast

Steering Group	Artistic Advisors
Assis Carreiro	Reid Anderson
Susannah Burke	Kathryn Bennetts
Brendan Keaney	William Forsythe
Amanda Britton	Wayne McGregor
Theresa Beattie	Mikko Nissinen
Kim Brandstrup	Michael Trent
Craig Hassell
Julia Carruthers

Context
The aim of the National Centre for Choreography (NCC) is to offer themed, cross arts research and development LABS for choreographers wishing to explore focused areas of development over an intensive two week period, without the pressures of presenting or producing new work.

The National Centre for Choreography will host three initial pilot LABS each with its own theme. The LAB environment aims to stimulate choreographic experimentation, dialogue and cross art form partnerships and perspectives.

Each LAB will be led by an artistic director, in this instance, Jonathan Lunn, who will develop a structured programme whereby four participating choreographers, 12-16 dancers and a range of guests from other art forms and fields will offer insights and perspectives into the LAB theme, and contribute to discussions and tasks throughout the two weeks.

The LABS offer choreographers a rigorous yet supportive environment to challenge and develop their practice. The intensive two week residency offers an opportunity to:

• Investigate the process of discovering new ways of working;
• Experiment and challenge their own thinking and working methods; 
• Raise questions and debate; 
• Forge new partnerships from other art forms; 
• Explore new unchartered territory.

Narrative/Storytelling in Dance
To many, storytelling in dance is often associated with the classical ballet repertoire. Contemporary dance tends to shy away from storytelling, and contemporary choreographers have tended to work in the ‘abstract’ or with ‘themes’ with loose narratives.

The Giselle’s of Mats Ek, Lulu of Christian Spuck and Swan Lake of Matthew Bourne are few and far between, as are new stories and narratives. Cost is a factor as is time and finding the perfect formula to hold an audience.

During the two week LAB choreographers will explore a variety of approaches to communicating stories and narrative through dance.  They will examine how and whether, their work can maintain emotional engagement and communicate clearly its ideas, concepts, and feelings, without necessarily adhering to a linear narrative structure.  The approaches of artists from other disciplines (David Lynch, Simon McBurney and Robert Lepage, for example) will be investigated in order to gain a wider appreciation of the wealth of ways in which a story can be told.  

This first LAB is therefore an opportunity to explore an area of dance that has received little research and development, with no strings attached and no expectations of a finished product. Rather, it is an opportunity to rethink narrative in ballet/dance; how we can reinvent, experiment, talk, debate and play with narrative with like minded individuals from across the arts and beyond who share a passion for narrative and storytelling.