North West Dance Companies Take Centre Stage As Part Of LEAP

By: Oct. 17, 2018
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North West Dance Companies Take Centre Stage As Part Of LEAP Some of the most exciting and inventive contemporary dance companies and choreographers from the North West will be celebrated as part of this year's LEAP Dance Festival 2018 programme which returns to the city from 2-12 November.

Organised by MDI - Merseyside Dance Initiative - this year's festival celebrates the theme of suffrage, marking the centenary of some women winning the right to vote, and each performance throughout the festival will feature at least one female protagonist.

The festival brings works from far and wide featuring dance companies from the UK and abroad, and 2018's programme will include a diverse selection of performances from some of the regions premier dance artists and organisations.

Gaby Agis reconstructs two of her iconic works from the early 1980s in a special performance at Liverpool Hope University's Great Hall on Monday, November 5.

Shouting Out Loud will be performed by a cast of 13 intergenerational women from Liverpool with a soundtrack by seminal punk band The Raincoats, while Close Streams, a duet, will be performed by Gaby Agis and Eeva-Maria Mutka.

Agis explains: "The 1980s were a period of great social and political unrest. Thatcherism was in full swing. The miners' strike, gay pride, anti-racist, and feminist movements dominated the landscape. This provided the context and backdrop to artists' lives.

"Again, we live in turbulent and uncertain times. By reconstructing Shouting Out Loud and Close Streams I'm interested in discovering to what degree art reflects the times we live in."

Meanwhile Northern Dance Platform is a collection of work by female artists based in Northern Britain. The performances take place at the Capstone Theatre on Wednesday, November 7.

Claricia Parinussa (Edinburgh), Andrea Buckley (Wirral) and taciturn (Liverpool) all approach questions about space and our place in it; identity and the sharing of individual stories. Within their distinct contemporary styles, these three pieces combine original and thought-provoking choreography

About Time Dance Company will perform Walking Watling Street in the theatre foyer at 7.30pm, prior to this triple bill programme.

In North West Seen: Part 1, at The Warehouse Studio Theatre on Friday, November 9, LEAP 2018 presents a selection of new works and work-in-progress from North West artists Kate Jackson, Baba Yaga and Paula Hampson.

Kate Jackson will present a solo work exploring international terrorism and forms of supporting and harnessing the radical ability to survive and recover we have within us. Baba Yaga is a duo of Aline Costa and Martin Shead. Their piece, The Whispers, enacts the awakening of a woman, full of light, beauty and joy, to the objectification of the female body and the pressures of a world dominated by men and oppressed by stereotypes.

And Paula Hampson will close the bill with Holding Light, an improvised dance exploration reflecting moments drawn from her work with Kinship carers in Liverpool.

North West Seen: Part 2 follows on Saturday, November 10. Vicci Riley will share Herring Girls, a piece of contemporary dance theatre in development. The work brings to life the stories, images, physical labour and camaraderie of the herring girls; women who travelled around the coast to gut and salt the fish.

Bridging movement and voice, Riley has created improvised scores for the performers to work together and to include light, sound, visuals and objects evoking broader themes of female interdependence, fishing, migration and food cultures.

Both evenings are supported by The Leche Trust.

This year's LEAP takes place at various venues across Liverpool Hope's Creative Campus in Everton, along with a performance at the Epstein Theatre, and is supported by Liverpool ONE as principal sponsor.

MDI Artistic Director Karen Gallagher MBE said: "We're very proud of the programme we have drawn together for this year's LEAP. As well as bringing some of the most creative contemporary dancers and companies here to Liverpool, a big part of the programme is how we engage and encourage local communities and locally based artists to take centre stage.

"Dance fans, along with those who are new to dance but want to experience something different and exciting, are in for 10 fantastic days of work which promises to be provocative, cutting edge, fierce, fearless and enchanting in equal measure."

LEAP is one of the most anticipated dance festivals, bringing 10 days of exclusive dance to the Liverpool City Region.

LEAP 2018 coincides with the 25th anniversary of Merseyside Dance Initiative, one of the UK's leading strategic dance agencies and which programmes the festival.

LEAP 2018 is also part of the #Liverpool2018 celebrations which mark 10 years since the city received the prestigious 2008 Capital of Culture title. Each production in the festival will be making their Liverpool debut meaning this the perfect opportunity for audiences to experience never-before-seen performances.

For further information visit www.leap2018.co.uk



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