Posts Tagged ‘hereford’

South Asian dance at the festival

Dance from Southern Asia plays a more prominent role in this year’s festival, with performances and workshops from that part of the world featuring every week.

The dancers of Javanak performed in Hereford on the opening day and are involved in Utopia, the international folk dance spectacular dominating Victoria Square over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Akram Khan Company’s ‘Gnosis‘ brought Kathak to Town Hall this week. We recorded an interview with Akram Khan while he was in Birmingham earlier this year for British Dance Edition.

This year sampad are celebrating their twentieth anniversary as well as the 60th anniversary of the Indian Republic. They’ve brought two shows to International Dance Festival Birmingham, the first from New York, the other from Delhi:

Of these shows, sampad’s Piali Ray OBE says that they:

have toured the world winning countless accolades, and represent the next generation of bright talent coming from the South Asian diaspora

The Hindu has an interview with Abhimanyu and Vidha Lal and you can see some excerpts from The Absent Lover here:

To find out more about the performances and to buy tickets, please go to www.idfb.co.uk.

What’s on in week 1

The waiting is finally over! Here’s a round-up of what’s happening this week (19-25 April) at International Dance Festival Birmingham.

The big launch

Festival proceedings get underway today (Monday) with Dancing on the Waterways at Brindleyplace. Elsewhere in the region on Monday, there are free traditional dance performances to get the festival going in United Colours of Dance Out & About. You can see them in Coventry, Stoke-on-Trent, Hereford, and Stratford-upon-Avon throughout the afternoon.

The performances

We’ve got Mark Morris Dance Group’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato at Birmingham Hippodrome, with performances from Thursday through to Saturday.

L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato | International Dance Festival Birmingham

The show has been at the Coliseum in London recently, earning five stars reviews from both The Times and Guardian, Londondance.com and ballet.co.uk have rounded up the reviews.

There are two further shows on Friday and Saturday:

The debate

Tomorrow (Tuesday) there’s also a debate on the future of public investment in the arts with Ed Vaizey and Sion Simon at The Patrick Centre. We’ll be liveblogging that event so if you can’t make it in person you’ll still be able to follow along and contribute.

And there’s even more besides:

Keep up to date with what’s happening – follow IDFB on Twitter and sign up to the Facebook page. We’ll see you around!

Free events – some dates for your diary

Dancing the Waterways, Monday 19 April – Saturday 8 May (various locations)

The route will take in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Brewood before returning through Wolverhampton finishing back in Birmingham on 8 May.

United Colours of Dance Out & About, Stoke-on-Trent | International Dance Festival Birmingham

United Colours of Dance, Monday 19 April (various locations)

Billed as ‘an extravaganza of folk dance coming to a town near you!’ Performances and workshops will be taking place around the West Midlands featuring dance from Russia, India, Spain and Africa:

idfb-election-debate

Election Debate: Dancing on Thin Ice, Tuesday 20 April (The Patrick Centre)

Ed Vaizey and Sion Simon will be amongst the panelists discussing the future of public investment in the creative industries.

Waves | International Dance Festival Birmingham

Waves, Thursday 22 April – Wednesday 5 May, outside Birmingham Hippodrome

A kinetic light installation that you can come and play with when the sun goes down. There’s a video of it in action here to give you an idea of what’s involved.

Outdoor Tai Chi, Monday 26 April at 2pm (The Arcadian)

Take a break from work and enjoy 40 minutes of mental and physical tranquillity using a series of slow, controlled movements, building up strength, balance, posture and calm. This will led by Sifu Yan Long Jiang (assisted by James Lanyon).

Dancing Under Crossfire | International Dance Festival Birmingham

Dancing Under Crossfire, Thursday 29 April 6pm-6.20pm (Birmingham Hippodrome, Pinsent Masons Suite)

This film portrays the birth of the dance group Iraqi Bodies and its humanistic ambitions in times of war and sectarian strife.

UTOPIA | International Dance Festival Birmingham

UTOPIA, Saturday 1 May – Monday 3 May (Victoria Square)

This is a big one. Directed by Arthur Pita and described as “a global multi-stage dance spectacular”, contemporary dancers will form a brand new dance company collective alongside Russian, Spanish, Indian and African folk dance groups, all moving to the turbo-folk Gypsy and Balkan beats of Birmingham’s very own band The Destroyers.

There’ll be five chances to catch it so make sure you do!

Put Your Foot Down | International Dance Festival Birmingham

Put Your Foot Down, Saturday 15 May (St Martin’s Square, Bullring)

Celebrating the last day of IDFB 2010 and bringing the iconic Bullring to life with a hip hop groove, enjoy this afternoon of free performances and dance demos and watch hundreds of people take part in a mass synchronised hip hop/street dance routine lead by acclaimed French hip-hop artist Salah.