After a very successful pilot festival in 2014, Wilton’s Strike! Dance Festival returns in 2016, to premier six new works by emerging artists. Whether you are a dance professional or an enthusiastic fan of the genre, this is a perfect opportunity to see tomorrow's star performers and choreographers at the outset of their artistic careers.
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PROGRAMME:
Tuesday 3rd May
The Reservoir
Choreographed by: Estela Merlos and Thomasin Gulgec
Performed by: Merlos and Gulgec
Music in collaboration with: Oliver Coates
The Reservoir is inspired by Jean-Dominque Bauby’s book The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and his experience of waking up with locked-in syndrome. Bauby soon realised that the only way he could pass the days was through surrendering to his memories and imagination: “Now I cultivate the art of simmering memories”. This duet will include a collaboration with renowned solo cellist and producer Oliver Coates. Estela and Thomasin perform internationally as freelance dance artists. They have worked with Rambert 2003-2014 collectively, and independently have toured with dance and theatre makers such as Russell Maliphant, Akram Khan, Shobana Jeyasingh, Didy Veldman, AVA Dance Company, Company Chameleon, New Movement Collective, Mad Dogs Dance Theatre and Young Vic. Estela has presented her own work in Spain and the UK.
Virtue of Ignorance
Choreographed by: Botis Seva
Performed by: Far From the Norm
Music by: Torben Lars Sylvest
Virtue of Ignorance is a solo piece based upon the concept of different types of memory: sensory, short term, long term, real and false. Is ignorance truly bliss, especially if knowledge of your past would haunt you for the rest of your life? Botis Seva founded Far From The Norm in 2010 and has been building new audiences and networks with what he describes as hip hop theatre ever since. He likes to combine dance with strong visual images and has begun to experiment with text and 3D sound. He has performed at the Lilian Bayliss, Sadlers Wells and British Dance Edition among others and is a Compass Commission Artist with Trinity Laban and Greenwich Dance Agency.
Wednesday 4th May
Roleks
Choreographed by: Nicholas Keegan
Performed by: Nicholas Keegan and Julie-Ann Minaai
How does a 27 year old perceive their past and their future compared to an 87 year old? Nicholas Keegan’s work explores time perception using dynamic and geometric choreography, taking inspiration from clockwork rhythms and orbital patterns from solar time-keeping and the cog movements of a sophisticated clock. Composing a complex timeline of human perception. As a performer and Dance Artist Nicholas has worked with a wide variety of companies and choreographers in the UK and internationally, including:Akram Khan Company, Arcade Fire, Charlotte Spencer Projects, Darshan Singh Bhuller, English National Opera, Errol White, Flexer & Sandiland, Garage Magazine, Gary Clarke, Grand Théâtre de Genève, James Cousins, Janine Harrington, Janusz Orlik, Jorge Crecis, Theo Clinkard, Tomasz Wygoda, Cie Toula Limnaios (Berlin), Welsh National Opera and extensively for Cie Willi Dorner.
The Princess and the Showgirl
Choreographed by: Thick & Tight
Performed by: Thick & Tight (Daniel Hay-Gordon and Eleanor Perry)
Imagine a meeting between Marilyn Monroe and Princess Diana. Thick & Tight examine their lives from within and without; from personal and public memory. The similarities between the lives of these two women, the sadness of their childhood, the vast fame, the hounding by press, the very public love affairs and the mysterious unsolved deaths, will be presented through strong characterisation, intricate choreography, music and recorded text. Thick and Tight are a British based Dance Theatre duo who create avant garde cabaret style shows using contemporary dance, literature, a diverse range of music, lip syncing and drama to present characters who collide on the dance floor. Daniel Hay-Gordon and Eleanor Perry trained at Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. They are both well-established freelance dance artists working internationally with companies and artists such as Rambert Dance Company, Fiona Shaw, Nigel Charnock, English National Ballet, Duckie (Royal Vauxhall Tavern), The Old and Young Vic, English National Opera and many more.
Thursday 5th May
A Vestige
Choreographed by: Wayne Parsons
Performed by: Katie Lusby and Clemmie Sveaas
Please note that this performance contains nudity
Age 16+
Wayne Parson’s work sits on the borders of dance and theatre and takes posthumous fame as its starting point. Through the characters of a portrait artist and a ghost, A Vestige examines the way we reconstruct the lives of the dead by looking at what they left behind and how the memory of the dead lives on in the living. Wayne has danced for companies including: Sydney Dance Company, National Dance Company of Wales, Richard Alston Dance Company, Mark Bruce Company and many more. Katie Lusby’s dance credits include To Dance and Skylark for Richard Alston Dance Company, Swan Lake for Matthew Bourne and The Drowned Man for Punchdrunk. Clemmie Sveaas appears regularly in the Linbury Studio Theatre, with companies including HeadSpaceDance and Bern Ballett and other Royal Opera House roles include Mole for Will Tuckett’s The Wind in the Willows.
Poppy Hotel
Choreographed by: Morgann Runacre-Temple
Performed by: Aaron Vickers, Chihiro Kawasaki
Music by: Tom Waits
Poor Edward finds a friend, or is he just remembering? Morgann
Runacre-Temple graduated from Central School of Ballet in 2003 winning the
Central School of Ballet Choreography Award in 2002 and 2003. She has choreographed for, among others,
Ballet Ireland, English National Ballet and The Curve Foundation Dance Company. She
has performed as a dancer for Ballet Ireland, English National Ballet,
Rosie Kay Dance Company and the Curve Foundation Dance CompanyAbout Wilton's Strike!
Our theme this year is memory and the six selected choreographers have been commissioned to develop their work to performance level, with mentoring from professionals. Submissions were judged by our illustrious panel: Viviana Durante, former Principal Dancer with the Royal Ballet and Guest and Principal the world over; Critics Choice award winner, Jonathan Goddard, who has performed with Rambert, Scottish Dance Theatre and English National Ballet and founded the Dancespinner education project; and Lee Smikle, teacher, choreographer, producer and artistic director as well as Resident Artist with Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures and Re:Bourne. The six works will be showcased in front of a live audience as well as being live-streamed worldwide and an open Q&A session will follow the performances on each of the three nights.
Youth Strike!
We have extended this second festival to include Youth Strike! for which a group of East London secondary school pupils will choreograph and perform their own work on the theme of memory. They will be led by Jo Meredith and Sean Bruno who created one of the pieces for 2014 and their performance will be our curtain raiser on the first night of this year’s festival. In partnership with Eastside Educational Trust, a second school group will film rehearsals and development to create introductory videos for each piece of work as well as working with ArtStreaming TV at the dress rehearsal to learn about live broadcasting.
Tickets & Live Stream
Tickets are now available and we anticipate demand will be high so booking is strongly recommended. Anyone unable to make it to the performance will be able to watch live online via our news page and artstreamingtv.com.
