HERE & NOW – RAMBERT PRESENTS THREE DANCES INSPIRED BY OUR TIMES
Britain’s leading contemporary dance company returns to Theatre Royal Brighton with a programme of dance works created in the past year that have been inspired by the world around us today.
Goat is a dance theatre piece from Lewes based choreographer and performer Ben Duke, which premiered in October and has already been hailed as ‘a goddam masterpiece’ (The Stage). Darkly funny and deeply moving, Goat is inspired by the music of Nina Simone and her belief that an artist’s duty is to reflect the times, with a selection of her best loved songs performed live onstage.
The piece was created during turbulent times in London in summer 2017, during which Duke looked back to his own childhood growing up in Sussex: “I grew up in a village near Chichester called Westbourne. There was a tradition there on New Year’s Eve of writing on a piece of paper two things you wanted to rid yourself of – it could be something bad that had happened to you, or something bad that you had done. The pieces of paper were placed inside a can which was tied to the tail of a goat. The goat was supposed to disappear over the horizon and take our sins with it. Usually it ran for five seconds or so then stopped to eat some grass. Some years it came running back towards us…”
Rambert associate company, the Julie Cunningham Company, make a guest appearance with choreographer Julie Cunningham in To Be Me, in which she draws on her own experience of the world and explores ideas around identity and gender. To Be Me is set to Kate Tempest’s rhythmic, hip-hop influenced reworking of the ancient myth of Tiresias, whom the gods turned from male to female for seven years.
Known for his technically detailed dance works full of energy and power, Greek choreographer Andonis Foniadakis brings us Symbiosis, a high velocity work inspired by the energy created in cities each day in an era fuelled by digital technology. Foniadakis’s piece celebrates the Rambert dancer’s extraordinary skills and virtuosity and is set to a specially-commissioned score by Ilan Eshkeri, a British neo-classical composer known for his film scores, concert music and artistic collaborations.
Rambert is Britain’s leading contemporary dance company. It presents new and historic dance works to audiences in all parts of the country, performed by world-class dancers. Rambert has the most extensive national touring programme of any UK contemporary dance company and, through partnerships with theatres in England, Scotland and Wales, develops new audiences for dance in all parts of the country.
Andonis Foniadakis is resident choreographer for Greek National Ballet and director of the Lyon-based Apotosoma Dance Company which he founded in 2003. He has collaborated with ballet companies worldwide as both a dancer and choreographer including, Tanz Luzerner Theatre, Sydney Dance Company, Ballet de Lorraine, Martha Graham Dance Company, Ballet de l’Opera de Lyon and most recently, Royal New Zealand Ballet. He was movement coordinator for Darren Aronofsky’s Noah and his awards include the Danza e Danza Award for Best Choreography in 2002.
Ben Duke is Co-Founder and Artistic Director of dance theatre company Lost Dog. He trained at the Guildford School of Acting, London Contemporary Dance School and has a first class degree in English Literature from Newcastle University. As well as his work for Lost Dog, Ben has directed and choreographed works for companies including Scottish Dance Theatre, Dance Umbrella, The National Theatre of Scotland and the Gate Theatre, London. As a performer he has worked with Probe, Hofesh Shechter Company, Tilted Productions, The Gate Theatre, The National Theatre of Scotland, Glyndebourne Opera and Punchdrunk.
Julie Cunningham has worked professionally as a dance artist for fifteen years performing both nationally and internationally. After training at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance Julie worked with Ballett der Stadt Theater Koblenz, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, and the Michael Clark Company. Julie was Leverhulme Choreography Fellow at Rambert and her company is now a Rambert associate. Julie has created new work that has been performed at The Place, Dance Base Edinburgh, Tramway Glasgow, Siobhan Davies Studios, Wilderness Festival and the National Theatre River Stage. She was nominated for the Critics Circle National Dance Awards 2016 as emerging artist for choreography. Julie launched her company in 2017 with an expressive double bill about gender and identity at the Barbican. Since then, new works have been presented at the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Southbank Centre and Dance.
Live music provided by the Rambert Orchestra.
Wed 21st – Sat 24th March
Tickets are available at: www.atgtickets.com/brighton
Alternatively call the box office on: 0844 871 7650
