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The Evil Imp

The Union Is A State

If you’re an independent film maker then getting your hands on money to finance your project is hard, if you’re a dance film maker then getting your hands on money to finance your project is almost impossible. Unless of course you are a close personal friend of Anne Beresford or Portland Green but I digress. […]

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Editorial

Yours for a Dollar

by Neil Nisbet If the press hacks are to be believed dance is, once again, undergoing a resurgence of popularity with the advent of numerous ‘reality’ television shows featuring dance as their premise that have appeared on a number of networks, worldwide over the last few years. We have dance shows featuring famous people, dance […]

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The Evil Imp

If Wheeldon Wobbles Will He Fall Down?

Christopher Wheeldon, the current poster boy of ballet, will be launching his company, Morphoses, in London this week at Sadlers Wells Theatre. For the last few months barely a word has been written about the wonder boy choreographer that has not been unrelentingly fawning. Were the press to be believed this is the second coming […]

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The Evil Imp

Do You Feel Lucky, Punk?

Things must be very slow during the summer at Arts Council England (ACE) because the funding monolith has gotten all “FBI” and is “launching an inquiry” into just why there are so many US musicals in the West End of London instead of really boring British ones. Emma Stenning, the unfortunate ACE Special Agent officer […]

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SD Video Video

MK Raw 2007 ‘I’ll Make It’

Youth dance projects can be a bit of a mixed bag. They are heavily dependent on the commitment of the choreographers, the enthusiasm and skill of the participants and the organisational skills of the er………….. organisers! When all of these things come together in a positive way you end up with a project that looks […]

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SD Video Video

MK Raw 2007 ‘Pain Passion Progress’

  Youth dance projects can be a bit of a mixed bag. They are heavily dependent on the commitment of the choreographers, the enthusiasm and skill of the participants and the organisational skills of the er………….. organisers! When all of these things come together in a positive way you end up with a project that […]

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The Evil Imp

Difficult Perspective

The saying goes; “numbers don’t lie”, unless you work for the United States Supreme Court and you want George Bush to be President that is. When we talk about dance the numbers are usually pretty small. Small companies, small audiences, small tours, small budgets. Sometimes the talent is huge but everything else is small, it’s […]

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The Evil Imp

Bend Over!

Far from taking the organising committee of the London Olympics (LOCOG) into the street and beating them down for even thinking of blowing £9.2billion on a 3 week long sports event, Arts Council England has, once again, dropped its trousers and bent over, metaphorically speaking of course. The latest banality comes from ACE’s website where […]

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The Evil Imp

At What Point!

It’s no secret that here in TheLab™ we are not big fans of the Olympic Games. Sure, we enjoyed watching Cathy Freeman win the 400m in Syndney just like everybody else. If running around tracks is your thing then “have at it”. Just explain to us why it has to cost £9.2Billion and everything else […]

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The Evil Imp

Monica Mason, Bat Sh*t Crazy?

It’s tough being the Artistic Director of The Royal Ballet. The company is on autopilot churning out tedium on tap, Wayne McGregor is your resident choreographer but he’s never there and Christopher Wheeldon is trying to poach all your best dancers. So facing all of this stress is probably the single driving factor behind Monica […]