Felt like it’s been a while since you went to the theatre? Well, Leeds has a treat in store for you with six wonderful dance shows across the city!
FRIDAY 21ST APRIL
Mother Load, Transform Festival 17 (6pm)
Location: Yorkshire Dance, 3 St Peter’s Buildings, St Peter’s Square Leeds, LS9 8AH
Tickets: £10 to £12.50. Tickets available through West Yorkshire Playhouse:
“Mother Load is an uplifting and powerful choreographic work in two parts, reflecting upon relationships between parent and child.
In part one, Performance With Hope, Grace and her 9-year old daughter share the stage, making decisions together; Grace is trying her best to raise a woman in front of you. Part two, Things Stack Up, is a solo performance, using the subject of education to explore notions of play, agency, risk and physicality.
Yorkshire based Grace Surman dallies around the terms performance (art), live art, theatre and choreography; in Mother Load she invites you to question her as an artist, a woman and a mother.”
SATURDAY 22ND APRIL
Flamenco at Seven: Natalia Garcia – Huibrodo (7:30pm)
Location: Seven Arts, Harrogate Road, Chapel Allerton, LS7 3PD
Tickets: £15 Advance, £17 on the door. Tickets available through Seven Arts:
“Sensational Chilean flamenco dancer Natalia Garcia-Huibrodo brings her unique company La Tipica to Leeds to perform a breathtaking set.”
MONDAY 24TH APRIL
Encore Dance Company (7:30pm)
Location: Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre, Quarry Hill, Leeds LS2 7PA
Tickets: £10 & £12. Tickets available through Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre:
“Under the direction of Antony Dowson (former Royal Ballet Principal), Encore Dance Company allows young dancers to further develop their skills, enhanced through a wide range of performance opportunities.
The 2017 Encore Dance Company tour travels the length and breadth of England and Wales. The 17 strong cast perform a range of diverse dance works and features Elite Syncopations choreographed by Sir Kenneth MacMillan with the music of Scott Joplin and an extract from the ballet Traces by Cathy Marston (former Director of the Bern Ballet in Switzerland). Other notable choreographers include Egor Menshikov and Christian Alozie (Flawless).”
WEDNESDAY 26TH APRIL
Umanoove, The Happiness Project (7:30pm)
Location: Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre, Quarry Hill, Leeds LS2 7PA
Tickets: £12.50. Tickets available through Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre:
“Best known in the UK for her productions for Rambert and Northern Ballet (Carmen, A Street Car Named Desire), international dance artist Didy Veldman launches her own company Umanoove with The Happiness Project.
Focusing on our society’s endless search for fulfilment, this full-length work is an intricate, physical and theatrical piece of dance. The production has been made in collaboration with celebrated violinist and composer Alexander Balanescu, who will perform live alongside the company’s four dancers.”
THURSDAY 27TH APRIL
Northern Connections (7:30pm)
Location: The Riley Theatre, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, 98 Chapeltown Road, LS7 4BH
Tickets: £9 & £5. Tickets available through Northern School of Contemporary Dance:
“A triple bill of dance by some of the most promising emerging choreographers based in the North of England. The first of two such events this year.
To find out more about Connections, visit: www.connectionsnscd.com
Windows in Displacement, choreographed and performed by Akeim Toussaint Buck. An autobiographically sourced solo blending dance, song and spoken word to explore personal narratives, ancestral memory and the shifting (and increasingly urgent) politics surrounding the movement of people.
Good Blood, by Keira Martin. Performed by the choreographer and her sister, Sioda Martin, this duo looks closely at the relationship between two siblings. Entertaining and familiar scenarios are refreshed and brought into focus to shed new light on family ties; the bonds that hold us together and the people that make us.
Depart, by Daniel Phung Dance. A work exploring loss in all its forms, and performed by Phung and dancers. A compelling depiction of endings and relived sorrows, fusing contemporary and urban dance theatre styles.”
FRIDAY 28TH APRIL
Ballet Central (7:30pm)
Location: Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre, Quarry Hill, Leeds LS2 7PA
Tickets: £12.50 & £10. Tickets available through Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre:
“See the company’s young and dynamic dancers on the cusp of their professional careers showcasing newly commissioned works and celebrated masterpieces.
The repertoire for this year’s tour features work by Sir Matthew Bourne, Indigo Children by The Royal Ballet’s Artist in Residence Liam Scarlett, and a new version of the ballroom scene from Romeo and Juliet by former English National Ballet’s Jenna Lee, and a scene from Dracula choreographed by Michael Pink in 1987. It also includes a specially created work by Christopher Bruce, as well as excerpts from Petipa’s La Bayadere and The Nutcracker.
This family-friendly show is ideal for dance enthusiasts as well as those new to ballet. Don’t miss this opportunity to see these highly talented dancers at the peak of their training as they launch their professional careers.”
SATURDAY 29TH APRIL
Rosalind: James Cousins Company (7:30pm)
Location: The Riley Theatre, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, 98 Chapeltown Road, LS7 4BH
Tickets: £12 & £7. Tickets available through Northern School of Contemporary Dance:
“Venture deeper into the modern metropolis, where conservative days turn into wondrous nights. Follow the curious and courageous Rosalind as she embarks on a pursuit of enlightenment, fuelled by love and oppression.
400 years on since Shakespeare wrote his iconic play As You Like It, what has changed in society? In this unique production, created in collaboration with rising stars of the British and Korean dance scenes, Cousins asks if a woman still needs to adopt a stereotypical masculinity in order to find equality in our modern world?
In the space of a few years Cousins has achieved more than many choreographers manage in a lifetime. He has created works for dance companies across the globe including Scottish Ballet and the National Ballet of Chile, choreographed on rising pop sensation Anne-Marie and been hailed as the future of British Dance by Time Out magazine and Matthew Bourne.”