The return of Sylvie Guillem and Russell Maliphant’s Olivier Award-winning show Push, a string of works celebrating Nordic dance culture and the world premiere of BalletBoyz’s Young Men are among the shows that audiences can look forward to as part of Sadler’s Wells’ 2014/15 season.
Kicking off the season away from the acclaimed dance venue’s home, Push will play from 29 July to 3 August at the London Coliseum. It follows the production’s acclaimed premiere in 2005 when it picked up a string of awards including the Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production.
At the Islington venue itself, the season will commence with the Elixir Festival (12 to 15 September), a mixed programme of work celebrating lifelong creativity and the contribution of older artists, and INALA (17 to 20 September), Mark Baldwin and Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s exhilarating fusion of South African and Western Cultures.
The Northern Light Season, a series of six works exploring dance in Northern Europe, will play from September to November and includes four UK premieres including Mats Ek’s Juliet & Romeo and Cullberg Ballet’s Plateau Effect. The modern take on Shakespeare’s classic love story features a score by Tchaikovsky and will be performed by the Royal Swedish Ballet from 24 to 27 September, while Plateau Effect will take audiences on a journey through disorientating and intriguing environments on 13 and 14 November. Both will play on the Sadler’s Wells main stage.
The Nordic season will also include UK premieres of Margrét Sara Gudjónsdóttir’s Variations On Closer, an investigative piece questioning what it means to be engaged in the act of watching, playing in the Lilian Baylis Studio from 2 to 3 October, and Mette Ingvartsen’s exploration of animate and inanimate worlds The Artificial Nature Project on 18 and 19 September at the Platform Theatre.
Completing the Northern Light Season in the Lilian Baylis Studio are Finnish choreographer Maija Hirvanen’s humorous and playful piece For those who have time (10 and 11 October) and leading Norwegian dance company zero visibility corp’s …it’s only a rehearsal (11 and 12 November).
Alongside more than 10 UK premieres, the autumn season will also include several world premieres. Ballet Boyz’s Young Men, a moving portrayal of love, friendship, loss and survival based on men’s experience of war, will play from 14 to 18 January 2015, while worldwide debuts will also feature within Thomas Adès: See The Music, Hear The Dance, a quadruple bill by Karole Armitage, Wayne McGregor, Crystal Pite and Alexander Whitley playing from 30 October to 1 November.
Among the season’s staggering number of UK premieres are Akram Khan and Israel Galván’s TOROBAKA, which will play on the Sadler’s Wells main stage from 3 to 8 November. Bringing together kathak and flamenco, the production takes its name from a Maori-inspired poem by Tristan Tzara and promises something that defies classification or genre. Olivier Award winner Khan will also bring his 2006 collaboration with Guillem back to the venue. Sacred Monsters explores the dynamics and language of kathak and ballet, and will play from 25 to 29 November.
Other UK premieres feature in the form of double bills from Brazilian dance company Grupo Corpo and Beijing-based company Tao Dance Theatre. The former’s Triz & Parabelo will play from 1 to 4 October, while the latter’s 6 & 7 will run later in the month on 20 and 21 October.
It isn’t just new work on offer at Sadler’s Wells this autumn, the venue will also see the welcome return of Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Beauty And The Beast and Shadows Of War (14 to 18 October) RAMBERT’s Triptych (18 to 22 November), Jasmin Vardimon Company’s PARK (10 to 11 November) and Matthew Bourne’s enchanting production of Edward Scissorhands, which will tell the touching tale of a boy left alone in a strange new world to families over the festive period from 2 December to 11 January.
The dance company’s West End home, the Peacock Theatre, will also see the return of a number of popular shows, including festive favourite The Snowman (2 December to 11 January), explosive dance fusion Ballet Revolución (7 to 25 October) and contemporary circus piece Sequence 8 (16 September to 4 October).
For more details of Sadler’s Wells’ 2014/15 season, including a full list of productions playing in the Lilian Baylis Studio, visit the venue’s website.