Starting on March 2nd the National Dance Network, which used to be ANDA, will kick start a national tour of new dance companies called 'Dance 3'.

We'll spare you the press blurb but essentially the touring programme gives a performance platform, outside of London (for the most part), to several new dance makers all trying to make their mark on the wacky world of dance.

Ok, some of the dance makers aren't that new, in fact they've been making work for ages but let's celebrate the fact that the powers that be decided to do something a little more ambitious for these guys.

The 29 stop tour will feature work by Claire Cunningham & Jose Agudo, Tom Dale, Laïla Diallo, Heather Eddington, Darren Ellis, Mickael Marso Riviere, Freddie Opoku-Addaie, Tanja Råman, Douglas Thorpe and Ben Wright. Many of whom you are probably familiar with.

You can get more details on the Dance 3 website and even watch some video, albeit poorly formatted and in very low quality.

Depending on your take on what is and is not interesting a certain dance publication suggested the National Dance Agencies should try something just like this;

"The National Dance Agency Network would appear to be the best way forward for developing a post-Resolution touring structure for new companies that would enable them to reach a wider audience and tickle the artistic palettes of more than just the London crowd."

The only problem? We said that five years ago!

[ Dance 3 ]
[ 'Resolution Resolution' ]

nb: Keeping our recent piece 'Self Interest' in mind, take a wild guess where you will find no mention of this project at all?

If Javier Du Frutos was annoyed that his work was kicked from BBC4 for being universally offensive to all mankind then his partners in crime, Wayne McGregor, Russell Maliphant and the other guy or going to be spitting teeth because BDE canned the whole show thanks to some male swans!

'In the Spirit of Diaghilev' featuring works by the above mentioned dance makers was set to take to the stage at British Dance Edition on February 6th. The show has been replaced by Mr Maliphant all by himself with a triple bill from his own company and the Cobosmika Company.

The reason given by DanceXchange, the hosts of BDE 2010, are as follows;

In the Spirit of Diaghilev consists of four separate works, with considerable technical requirements, the full extent of which has only emerged fairly recently given the newness of the production.

BDE has been working to establish whether it was possible to stage the production in a way which was acceptable to all parties concerned in the context of limited technical time. This has not proven possible and, as such, we have taken the difficult decision to remove the show from the programme.

As explanations go it seems reasonable enough. If you look at the schedule for the Birmingham Hippodrome there are no shows at all for the 6 days prior to February 6th but AMP and 'Swan Lake' move in 2 days later. That show is full of giant sets so a 24 hour get in does seem implausible.

However, 'In the Spirit of Diaghilev' bowed in London on October 13th last year. It's not really that new so somebody should probably have checked the technical requirements beforehand and how that fitted with the get in time for 'Swan Lake' a show that's been around for several hundred years, or maybe it just seems that way.

Also, the universal disdain for the Du Frutos section of 'In the Spirit of Diaghilev' might have made the decision to can the whole show slightly less difficult than the statement above would have us believe.

We'll probably never know!

Update: 8 January 2010

DanceXchange the organisers of BDE 2010, have elaborated on the reasoning for canning the Diaghilev show. It turns out that prior to the show bowing on February 6th there is another "event" at the Birmingham Hippodrome that is not on general sale. What is this event of such hugely significant artistic importance than it has caused the cancellation of a show by four of Europe's most revered dance makers (if you believe the hype)?

ITV will be shooting a regional segment of 'Britain's Got Talent'.......

Professional dance dealt a near fatal blow to the sternum by Simon Cowell and some folks playing the spoons.

You couldn't make this stuff up!

The weekend of October 9th saw the opening of the latest in a long line of white elephants expensive new dance facilities with the ribbon cutting (and they really did cut a ribbon) on the £8.9million Jerwood Dance Centre in Ipswich the home of Dance East one of the UK's National Dance Agencies.

If you're wondering why articles like this always mention how much money it costs to construct these things it's partly due to the fact that we can't bloody believe how much money it costs to build these things, most of the time anyway!

This particular "dance house" comes equipped with all the things one might expect. Dance studios, a small theatre, a shop, a cafe, some offices and a small team of highly trained assassins hiding in the basement just waiting to pounce on unsuspecting dance administrators.

We might have made one of those things up!

The last hugely expensive NDA to open, Dance City in Newcastle upon Tyne, is currently looking for its third artistic director in as many years and they can barely afford the electric bill.

Let's hope this one doesn't go the same way, although our internal office pool is a little bit cynical on this issue to say the least.

Dancers looking around the industry to see what has changed thanks to the opening of this new building have reportedly been disappointed having realised the status quo is firmly in-place.

Still, nothing like the smell of fresh paint in morning class to get the day off to a good start huh?

[ Dance East ]

File this one under "making a drama out of a mundane non story". Dance City, one of the UK's National Dance Agencies (NDA), based in Newcastle upon Tyne is now sans one Artistic Director and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) following the resignation of Penny Rae after just 18 months (or thereabouts) in the job.

Dance City would provide no reason for Ms Rae's departure beyond citing "personal reasons" in a press release that was never actually released.

When asked if Ms Rae's departure was in any way related to a letter sent to both Dance City and Arts Council England by dance artists located in the region they declined to comment.

The letter, dated January 20th but received by ACE in July, sought clarity concerning Dance City's objectives under the new AD and in particular the fate of the "Dance Connect" program that provided support to professional artists.

When contacted on Thursday 20th of August to confirm the resignation of Ms Rae Dance City's communications people refused to do so citing that such confirmation needed to be "signed off' by the board. A press release was promised the following day. Nothing arrived.

It took a further five days and a bit of sleight of hand to get the resignation confirmed, by Arts Council North East not Dance City, before they finally let the cat out of the bag.

When asked why Ms Rae had not attended the performances of a visiting Japanese dance company more than a month ago Dance City told us at that point Ms Rae had already resigned. Ironically the former AD of Dance City and now Head of Dance Strategy for ACE, Janet Archer, did attend one of the performances.

For their part ACE North East had this to say;

"With reference to the letter received by Arts Council England, North East on 20 July 2009 (RE: Dance Artists Forum North East: request for information). Arts Council Officers are working closely with Dance City at their annual review, (scheduled for September 2009) to consider the points raised in this letter and make a full response.

On 6 August 2009, Arts Council England, North East responded to the letter informing the group that a full response would be generated.

The board of Dance City have appointed Ian McKeown, current Director of Finance and Operations as interim Director of Dance City until a new Artistic Director is appointed. The artistic programme at Dance City is in place and the board members and Ian will ensure the continued development of dance opportunities for communities in the north east."

Currently the DC facility, rebuilt a few years ago for £7.5Million and an ACE Regularly Funded Organsation to the tune of over £300,000 per annum, is without an Artistic Director or General Manager.

The current interim CEO is Ian McKeown, the organisations Finance Manager. Ms Rae's name has already been expunged from DC's website.

A letter, purportedly written by Mr McKeown, was posted on DC's website this past Friday thanking Ms Rae for her efforts. DC suggest it will take some five months to find a replacement who can last slightly longer than a year and a half.

How much sense this particular news bite makes will really depend on how old you are. DV8 Physical Theatre, the long running dance company helmed by Australian Lloyd Newson, will be going somewhere they have never gone before. Back in time!

'Strange Fish', which first bowed in 1992, is being brought back to life for a re-staging in 2010 with touring expected to start in early 2011.

At one time asking DV8 to bring back an old work was like asking the Catholic Church to re-write the bible. So what's changed?

"Lloyd has never wanted to repeat himself. However as he has never remounted an early work, restaging Strange Fish is a new experience for him. I believe he likes the idea of looking at an old work with new eyes."

If you want to know what 'Strange Fish' looks like then no can do. The only video we could find is a ropey looking extract on YouTube. The company are currently looking for dancers to take part in the new production.

As for the new version. Well DV8 are tight lipped at the moment. All they would say is this;

"All Lloyd is prepared to say at this stage is that he is re-visiting the work. Obviously the essential themes, I imagine, will remain, but depending on casting, as always, things will need to change to accommodate the skills and personalities of the people he's working with. "

Curioser and curiouser! 'Strange Fish' bows in 2011. First person to find an image of Mr Newson online wins a special prize. Entries to the usual address.

The programming process for the up and coming British Dance Edition 2010, hosted by DanceXchange in Birmingham, appears to be causing some confusion and/or consternation among applicants to the biennial festival.

Unlike other dance festivals BDE serves as a promotional platform for professional dance companies with the main emphasis on inviting dance promoters from around the world to see an intensive block of dance performances during a four day bun fight.

In an email sent out to "artist/company" applicants, but not intended for general release, DanceXchange explained the process behind choosing the companies that would ultimately present their work.

"David Massingham [Artistic Director of DanceXchange] is leading a BDE programming team, which has responsibility for developing the event and the performances within it. Final decisions for inclusion in the programme of BDE 2010 rest with this team and the curatorial approach as laid out by David."

DanceXchange today sought to clarify and expand on that comment when asked by Article19;

"The BDE programming team is three people..... and we have all been looking at work whether live or on DVD, we've undertaken this process together so there are some companies that David [Massingham] might not have seen but [the others] have seen and we're strongly advocating for them to be in the program or vice-versa. So it's very much a team approach but final decisions obviously rest with David because he's the Director of the NDA (National Dance Agency) that's producing the event.... but it's very much a team approach to the programming of the event."

Another line from the email raised a few eyebrows here in TheLab™;

"Arts Council England has not nominated individual artists or companies. It does however expect English artists and companies to represent a significant element of BDE."

DanceXchange clarified that the reference to "English" companies was not related to the nationality of the dance maker in charge of said company but to the funding area that the company is located within. Since the UK is the confusing place that it is England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have separate funding bodies for the arts.

Both Scottish Arts Council and Arts Council Wales are providing funding to the festival. Arts Council Northern Ireland is not.

DanceXchange was keen to emphasise that there are no quotas in place and the final decision on participation in the festival rests with DanceXchange.

BDE 2010 runs from February 3rd to 6th 2010 in Birmingham.

The New York Times is reporting that dance maker Merce Cunningham died this past Sunday at 90 years of age at his home in Manhattan, New York.

Mr Cunningham was probably one of the best known choreographers in the world with a career spanning six decades, most of that time with his own company. He remained as a dancer with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company up until his 70th birthday. Following his retirement he continued to create work even when he became confined to a wheelchair.

Having originally trained in acting as well as dance he chose movement over all else and joined the, now legendary, Martha Graham Dance Company in 1939 where he remained for several years as a principle dancer.

During the 40's and 50's he began creating his own works and during this time he met the musician John Cage a collaborator and partner until he passed away in 1992.

Dance students were always made very familiar not only with his particular movement technique, taught in schools all over the world, but with his themes of chance, abstraction and his long time collaboration with John Cage. His work was always difficult to watch and listen to, for many, but easy to admire in terms of skill and craft.

Only recently the company launched 'Mondays with Merce' providing video insights into the day to day workings of the company, company class and their creative process.

Mr Cunningham had already made plans for his dance company prior to his death. They will tour around the world for the next two years and when that tour finishes the company and the trust that runs it will disband.

[ Merce Cunningham Company ]
[ New York Times ]

Continuing our search for the bold and the new we find All Play, creators of last years 'It's Rude To Point', back with the even more ambitious 'Push'.

The company's practical reasoning is one of portability. They create work that can be performed inside our outside with or without theatrical lighting or staging of any kind which makes it adaptable to a large range of festivals and venues.

'Push' takes things a step further by introducing a large pyramid type structure into the mix constructed entirely from bamboo. As well as being the staple diet of Panda Bears this material is also incredibly strong, and light, which makes it ideal for the two dancers, Vanessa Cook and Nikki O'Hara, to swing from as and when they please and cart about across the country.

The company say of this work;

"...taking on the rules of the game to look at the game of life. There are things that hold us up, make us miss a go then advance three steps, press pause and watch life fly past. This is how we live our lives. Get on the floor, spin the wheel, roll the dice and please do pass go.

PUSH combines physical dance vocabulary and dramatic aerial work creating a tangle of emotion, insight and passion. Two dancers hang in the air, suspended in a web, working to push through the limitations they face."

The show's next performance is on July 12 at Edwinstowe Arts & Heritage Festival, check the company's website for full details.

We'll have video soon but for now take a look at some rehearsal images.

[ All Play Dance Website ]
[ It's Rude To Point on Article19 ]

disclosure: Article19 was responsible for the company's multi-media

The Guardian is reporting that German choreographer Pina Bausch has died today aged 68 news confirmed by Tanztheater Wuppertal's official website. Ms Bausch was diagnosed with cancer just 5 days ago.

During a choreographic career spanning more than 40 years, 36 of those years as director of Tanztheater Wuppertal, Ms Bausch created 24 full length works many of which were grandiose in scale.

For her 1982 production 'Nelken', re-staged many times over the years, the audience was greeted with a stage covered in thousands of planted flowers to say nothing of the dancers, stuntmen and four German Shepherd dogs that also took part in the performance. The work lasted for two hours with no interval.

Prior to that work, in 1976, and to much acclaim Ms Bausch re-created Igor Stravinsky's 'Rite of Spring', going one step further than most by covering the entire stage in wet dirt for the duration of the performance. That work was later re-created for Paris Opera Ballet in the late 1990's.

Such was the complexity of her work it was often difficult to decipher just what was going on. It was always far deeper than simple choreographic spectacle.

The company itself was located in the most unlikely of places. Wuppertal is a mainly industrial area in north west Germany.

The last performance listed by the company was 'Ein Stück von Pina Bausch' on June 12.

[ Tanztheater Wuppertal ]

A few stories from the latest and greatest press releases that have hit our inbox over the last few days/weeks.

Impulstanz.

The festival that just will not quit is back again kicking off on July 19 for a month (runs until 15 August). Based in Vienna, Austria this event is a little bit different. As well as the usual mix of performances of all stripes from new and old companies alike there are a massive number of workshops to take part in, far too many to list here.

Beginners to professional dancers are catered for but make sure you book an appropriate level otherwise you could be in for a frustrating time.

Most of the workshops take place at an old military base in Vienna city centre. Performances take place in surrounding venues so the whole thing is very compact and easy to access.

For booking information check out their website. Workshop info embedded below.

[ Impulstanz Web Site ]

Yorkshire Dance

Yorkshire Dance (YD), one of the UK's NDAs, has been on the wrong end of some funding cuts by ACE for a while but the tide may be turning with the announcement of a new project called 'Lift'. The project, supported by ACE funding, will allow YD to fund two associate artists over the long term to create new work.

In addition to that there will be the mysteriously monikered "14" who will be mentored through seminars and workshops on the finer points of running a dance company.

To apply just hit up the link below and send them an application. You have until June 29 to comply.

[ Yorkshire Dance Application ]

Dance City

The NDA based in Newcastle upon Tyne is opening up its "Lab" performance space to professional artists for research and development purposes starting in August.

Successful applicants will gain access to the venue, which is basically a theatre space with retractable seating and a lighting rig, for a week plus £100 to cover various expenses. You will also gain access to a technician for one day to help with lighting and other technical issues.

Deadline is June 27. Hit the link below for more details and an application form.

[ DC Application ]