Five exciting and innovative dance-makers are heading for Wales with a fistful of punchy new works. The choreographers from Wales, France, Italy, The Netherlands and Romania have created short new works that together meld into an evening of quality contemporary dance under the Dance Roads programme.
Each presents their small-scale work in an evening performance in the five countries. The diverse programme from the Dance Roads artists is at Cardiff’s Chapter in June 7 and 8 and is ideal for both regular contemporary dance attenders and those yet to take a taste of this emotional and exciting entertainment. The tour opened in Bordeaux on May 19 and 20 with sell-out performances and ends with the two nights at Cardiff’s Chapter after performances in Turin, Bucharest and Arnhem.
If familiar with the work of Wales’ participant, performer and choreographer Gwyn Emberton, you know what a treat is in store as he brings back to the Welsh stage his pulse-racing regular dance collaborator Albert Garcia. The four other cutting-edge choreographers are Jasper van Luijk (Netherlands), Cristina Lilienfeld (Romania), Claudia Catarzi (Italy), and Cie Adequate (France). Jasper van Lujik’s work is already making its mark, his work Quite Discontinuous having been selected by Cascade Dance Company for in its inaugural November 2016 tour of Wales.
Dance Roads is a European partnership programme supporting the development of innovative choreographers. The Wales partner is Coreo Cymru/Chapter. Coreo Cymru’s Creative Producer, Carole Blade said, “Wales, supported through the Arts Council of Wales and Welsh Government, has been a leading partner in the Dance Roads network since 2002. Now celebrating its 27th anniversary this year, this unique programme not only provides much needed opportunities for the rising stars of the contemporary dance scene in each of the network countries but also offers a chance to see quality dance from five choreographers in one condensed evening.”
The Wednesday evening performance will be followed by a discussion session with Gwyn Emberton and his Dance Road colleagues about their experiences of touring together in each of the partner countries.
Book tickets £12/£10 at Chapter’s box office on 029 2030 4400 or visit www.chapter.org
For more information about Dance Roads visit: www.danceroads.eu
What can we expect from each of the five dances?
Gwyn Emberton – Wales
Gwyn’s solo was inspired by Dylan Thomas’s Fern Hill. He took the idea of looking back at time, particularly from his perspective as a dancer and how much time impacts how much effort it takes to dance now. He aims to keep pushing beyond the limit of effort whilst maintaining form, technique and style.
Claudia Catarzi – Italy
Claudia examines how the body reacts on stage in relation to the space, costumes, sounds and the proximity of the audience. All of these aspects create that given moment – the “here and now”, “qui, ora” – the form of gesture and rhythm, each step and movement of this intimate journey.
Compagnie Adéquate – France
Multi award winning comical and touching Nœuds (Knots) looks at the evergreen subject of gender relationships – sometimes complex, sometimes twisted. Compagnie Adéquate’s dance is a revealing man-woman duet that materialises from an embrace and develops movement both fluid and violent, incorporating humour and mime.
Jasper Van Luijk – The Netherlands
‘Yonder’ is a solo dance and a light-installation looking at the relationship between man(kind) and time. Many people dream about traveling in time but isn’t our whole existence one long journey through time? Yonder is a search for the beginning and the end of time within the lifecycle of one man.
Cristina Lilienfeld – Romania
Cristina’s starting point for Lay(ers) was an image of the human skin and how it changes with time, how it peels off and always regenerates. Her dance explores the relationship between sound, tactile sense and movement with the skin offering a very expressive view of life, movement and death.