It’s that time of year again where we get to announce the choreographers that our DanceEast Centre for Advanced Training students will be working with during their Spring and Summer Intensives!
During the Spring and Summer term, the students take part in intensives, spending a focussed week working with professional companies and choreographers to develop pieces for the CAT End of Year Show.
Next week, the students will take part in their Spring intensive, working with professional artists to create or restage pieces. This year’s choreographers are:
• Jasmin Vardimon Company
• Alleyne Dance
• Southpaw Dance Company
• Night People
• Lîla Dance
• BirdGang Ltd
• 2Faced Dance Company
Get to know this year’s artists below…
JASMIN VARDIMON COMPANY
This year, we are excited that the graduating CAT students will be working with Jasmin Vardimon Company to create a restaging of the company’s piece Medusa, which was performed at DanceEast in 2018.
Founded in 1998 and a leading force in British dance theatre for over twenty years, the Jasmin Vardimon Company has built a reputation for challenging and visually arresting dance productions infused with social and political commentary.
Having developed a uniquely individual choreographic voice, distinguished by beautifully detailed movement, insightful humour, and engaging drama, Vardimon is renowned for her physical and theatrical style.
Students will be working with artist Andre Rebelo to develop the piece.
ALLEYNE DANCE
Alleyne Dance (AD) is a UK-based company with an international reach, founded in 2014 by award-winning dancers and twin sisters Kristina and Sadé Alleyne. The choreographic aesthetic reflects the sisters’ diverse backgrounds in athleticism and dance training.
Within their abstract contemporary construct, Alleyne Dance blend West African, Caribbean, Hip Hop, Kathak and Circus Skills, delivered as a fast-paced and dynamic movement. They infuse lyrical and fluid motion, layered with rhythm and textures in physically powerful, yet graceful performances.
Students will work Alleyne Dance to create a new piece of original work.
SOUTHPAW DANCE COMPANY
Since 2013, multi award-winning Southpaw Dance Company have created powerful, joyous performances, from small scale solo work to large scale outdoor spectaculars, combining absolute artistic integrity with engaging narratives which inspire and excite audiences. Infinitely versatile and virtuosic, Southpaw’s work is inspiring, thought-provoking, engaging, and full of joie de danse.
Southpaw Dance Company works under the artistic direction and unique vision of award-winning Choreographer and Director Robby Graham. Robby creates epic visual spectacle and dynamic physical storytelling sequences in which movement, music, and dialogue are seamlessly integrated.
Robby Graham will work with the CAT students to create a piece inspired by Southpaw’s performance, Speakeasy, a reinterpretation of the classic tale of Faust.
NIGHT PEOPLE
Night People is all about power, physicality and people. Co-directed by Daisy Howell and Aaron Howell, the company is based in the North West, Night People is a cross-art collaboration company that blends the realms of dance theatre, audio-visual performance, and electronic dance music.
They specialise in creating performance installations, interactive shows and digital creations through film and online platforms, delving into how movement and creative technology can profoundly transform spaces and bring people together. Night People curate work for alternative platforms and audiences, enabling those new to art, the chance to connect with sociable, transformative and joyous experiences that hold party and celebration at its core.
You will recognise Aaron’s digital work around the Jerwood DanceHouse – he created our projections and CAT logo!
The CAT students will work with Aaron and Daisy to create new piece of original work featuring digital technologies and projection mapping.
LILA DANCE
Lîla Dance create dynamic dance productions for national and international touring. Making theatrical dance for everyone and performing in both traditional and non-traditional spaces, integrating music, dance and visual design to cinematic levels.
Lîla Dance came to DanceEast in March, with their performance Fault Lines, which pulls at the tension in our relationship with nature. Our constant pursuit of progress increasing the speed of life has left us out of sync with the natural world.
The CAT students will work with Carrie Whitaker and Madison Burgess to develop a piece of work inspired by Fault Lines.
BIRDGANG LTD
BirdGang Ltd is an award-winning collective of hip hop movement architects with a global reputation. Former associate dance company to the Young Vic, now resident at Stanley Arts, the company delivers inspiring performance projects, teaching and artist development initiatives.
Luxembourg-born, London-based Kendra Horsburgh is an independent Movement architect, co-Founder and managing director of BirdGang Ltd. Kendra has worked globally since 2005, with the mission to tell thought provoking stories through striking interactive experiences. She specialises in dance and immersive technology and is best known for her accessible work for stage, theatre and film.
The CAT students will work with Kendra Horsbrough to create a new original piece of work.
2FACED DANCE COMPANY
2Faced Dance Company is an all-male professional dance company based in Hereford. Working with the Artistic Director and guest choreographers, dancers develop performances to tour theatres and festivals across the UK and internationally. Since its early formation in 1999, 2Faced Dance Company has grown into one of the UK’s most toured contemporary dance companies touring extensively across the UK and the globe telling new and original stories, working with culturally diverse artists, advocating on behalf of the wider dance sector and challenging and inspiring the different communities we meet.The CAT students will be working with 2Faced Dance Company Artistic Director, Tamsin Fitzgerald to create a new piece of original work.
If working with world-class professional dance artists sounds like something you’d like to experience, we are currently recruiting for new students to join the DanceEast CAT in September 2024. If you’d like to find out more about training on the CAT programme and to apply, visit our webpage here.
