2Faced Dance Company to Embark on New Autumn 2017 Tour OUTLANDS

Faced Dance Company is one of the UK's leading dance organisations and under the artistic directorship of Tamsin Fitzgerald it presents OUTLANDS in autumn 2017. The brand new triple bill of contemporary dance showcases and celebrates some of the best up and coming female choreographers from India and the UK.

OUTLANDS is a unique collaboration and builds on an already strong international relationship between the company and the South Asian dance sector. An outcome of the Arts Council England Reimagine India programme (see notes), OUTLANDS features three world premiere works by choreographers Hemabharathy Palani and Ronita Mookerji from India and Emma Jayne Park from the UK.

At the heart of Yashti, in Hemabharathy Palani's new work, is the 'woman'. Inspired by the story of the Tulasi plant and tales of conflict, confrontation, jealousy, and growth, Yashti is accompanied by the poetry of Andal and Akka Mahadevi and classical Indian music by Miguel Marin.

In Ronita Mookerji's work WHO, the choreographer asks: 'Who am I? What defines me? Where do I belong? I feel this extreme sense of being stuck, confined and imprisoned but what is my true identity? WHO explores what we have lost? What do we come back to? Home, the place where we belong.'

Here Before Now by Emma Jayne Park explores grief, change and our relationship with home. The performance invites the audience on a journey of remembrance and evaluation - where we are in life and exploring why that even matters. We've all 'been here before' asks Park, and 'with hindsight, it is easy to see how history has repeated itself and what happens when life throws you a curve ball of meteoric proportion?' Here Before Now combines movement and text with live music created from everyday objects, composed Nik Paget-Thomlinson.

OUTLANDS showcases physically adventurous contemporary dance, now synonymous with 2Faced Dance. The range of dance styles are performed by an international cast of performers as each choreographer brings their own dancers to the work. The intimate evening of work from two polarised continents, confirms the deep cultural ties between India and the UK as part of UK-India Year of Culture 2017.

All three dance-makers for OUTLANDS are recipients of The BENCH commissions. The BENCH, 2Faced Dance's pioneering training initiative for female choreographers is the brainchild of Tamsin Fitzgerald and developed by the company in response to concerns about the lack of equality within the dance sector.

Palani and Mookerji successfully bid for commissions during the inaugural The BENCH India. Launched in February 2017 at the Attakkalari Biennial in Bangalore, the first conference of its kind in South Asia, welcomed 60 delegates and discussed the role of women in the arts across the region.

Park is one of eight female artists being supported during The BENCH UK, now in its 2nd year. During the programme she is joined by THE BENCH UK choreographic fellows Annie-Lunnette Deakin-Foster, Laila Diallo, Keira Martin, Jo Meredith, Seeta Patel, Sonia Sabri and Catherine Young.

Tamsin Fitzgerald, artistic director of 2Faced Dance Company, said: "As the world and arts sector wake up to the importance of equality across the board, our timely OUTLANDS tour couldn't be more poignant. It celebrates and showcases three young female choreographers and further highlights the need for programmes such as The BENCH here in the UK and across the world. The work of these young choreographers, and their choreographic language, might not have been discovered or seen in the UK without them. There's still more work to do, but OUTLANDS gets us closer to our goal of equality across the contemporary dance sector. We welcome Hemabharathy, Ronita and Emma into the 2Faced Dance fold and thank all our supporters for making these choreographic opportunities come to light."

OUTLANDS is supported by Arts Council England, British Council and Esmee Fairbairn Foundation.

www.2faceddance.co.uk