Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre Reveal Unique Christmas Offering and Plans For 2021

Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre today reveal SHINE ON, a 4-part Christmas offering, as well as releasing details of their Spring 2021 programme in response to the coronavirus pandemic. While Dundee Rep Theatre remains closed to the public, the show must go on, as both resident ensembles join forces to deliver a host of special Christmas gifts over the festive period.

PRESENT will see both companies stage a total of four bespoke, socially distanced performances for four deserving local resident Dundonians. The lucky recipients will be nominated by friends, families or colleagues to have a show made just for them. These unique Christmas pop-ups can take place on a doorstep or back garden and will be designed to surprise and delight (while operating within current Government guidelines).

If you would like to nominate someone to receive a PRESENT please email present@dundeereptheatre.co.uk and tell us:

1. Who you would like to receive the performance and why?

2. Where do you think we might perform the PRESENT?

3. What do they most like about Christmas?

4. Are there any seasonal films, stories, shows or songs they particularly love or enjoy?

Nominations are open until Thursday 12 November at 5pm.

PRESENT is just one of a series of seasonal offerings from Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre which will also include a behind-the-scenes SHINE ON documentary following the two ensembles as they adapt, pivot and transform the way they work in response to these challenging times. To keep us all connected throughout the Christmas season, both companies will present ADVENT, a series of 24 digital performance gifts, filmed safely on the Rep stage, and shared on social media each day in December in the run up to Christmas. Finally, the doors of Dundee Rep Theatre may be closed but this year the venue itself becomes the star of the show as we transform the building into a work of sound and visual art. With the help of award-winning designer Karen Tennent, and renowned lighting designer Emma Jones the theatre will come to life bringing a much-needed dose of festive cheer to all passersby.

Spring 2021:

In Spring 2021, six new, interactive micro-commissions will pop up across Dundee as part of our THIS IS FOR YOU DUNDEE programme strand. These exciting, new works will showcase projects by a diverse group of artists and creatives who have been inspired by the lives and experiences of Dundonians. Through theatre, dance, music and visual art, the projects will celebrate Dundee voices, explore the city and our place within it. This festival of pop-up performances includes family show Dundee Delight Dice, a relaxed outdoor family production with a different storyline every time depending on the roll of a set of giant dice, and Taking Space by hidden route and Hayley Blakeman is a site specific performance created in collaboration with young woman in Dundee where the stories of safety in public spaces will be explored. Their project will empower young women to ask 'How can this belong to me?'.

Street dance collective Three60 present their new project Mother Earth. The project showcases a love for nature and the powerful contribution that women make to humankind. Dance artist Yosuke Kusano brings his new project Dundee QR-kun to the city's streets with a unique mix of virtual and live performances. Kusano will become a human QR code, inviting passing audiences to scan him (from a safe two metres distance) allowing them to meet in the space between virtual and live performance.

Working with Alzheimer's Scotland, Fearless Players will tell us the story of Dundee past and present. They will run a series of workshops with people living with dementia and their families to explore their experiences, challenges and most cherished memories of life in Dundee. From these workshops, they will create a performance using scenes and songs that represent the life and loves of a Dundonian, celebrating the memory of Dundee past and the Dundee of the here and now.

Theatre collective Bandwidth would like to restore your 2020 hopes and dreams with recollect, an exciting outdoor event that celebrates and commemorates Dundonians cancelled plans in a striking city centre living room performance space.

Chatbox sees students from Dundee and Angus College hit the streets of Dundee with a brand new piece that asks one audience member at a time to make a face-to-face connection, at a 2 metre distance!

To accompany these Dundee-specific projects, we are delighted to be collaborating with Dance Base Scotland & Tramway Glasgow on the #LoveDanceScotland Commissions, a nation-wide project to support a number of Scottish-based artists to develop and deliver new work of scale. This commissioning opportunity will give artists the time and space to create work that will engage with and respond to Scottish audiences in the new performance landscape in which we find ourselves.

Dundee Rep's and Scottish Dance Theatre's commitment to supporting and amplifying anti-racism continues with the installation of Tilda Williams-Kelly's She is (oil on canvas) in the window of the venue. The painting will be displayed throughout November and during 2021. This large scale painting is part of the Black Lives Matter Mural Trail which is curated by Wezi Mhura and features a range of different artworks by Black and Asian Scottish artists.

Digital Programme:

From stage to screen, Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre's digital offering continues to offer performance, creative projects and opportunities to engage with both companies as they redefine what it means to put on a show.

Scottish Dance Theatre's Every Map Has A Scale is an ongoing live-research and performance project by Artistic Director Joan Clevillé. The work aims to connect the company more deeply with communities in its home-town of Dundee and across Scotland, create opportunities for dialogue and exchange, and make the company's artistic practice more inclusive and responsive.

Chapter One of Every Map Has A Scalea??saw the creation of an outdoor score which was live-streamed from locations across Dundee in October 2020. Informed by field trips into Dundee's neighbourhoods, the work plays with the poetry of movement, language and architecture. Each week in November 2020 we'll be releasing episodes of a film documenting the process of creating Chapter One on our digital channels. Chapter Two of Every Map Has A Scale will see the dancers going back into the streets next Spring and developing the connections they have forged this autumn with community gardens, food banks and community centres.

Six Questions is a new YouTube series curated by Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre that explores how it feels to live, work and create in 2020. Viewers have the opportunity to listen in to thought-provoking conversations as artists and creatives reach out digitally to those they can't be with in person.

We are delighted to say PechaKucha Night Dundee is coming back on the evening of Thursday 12 November 2020. Streamed live from the main stage of Dundee Rep Theatre, to the comfort of your own homes, hosted by Creative Dundee. Each of the 8 speakers will choose a topic - their work, their loves, hates, hobbies or holidays! The night is a great way for people to meet and hear about interesting activities happening across the city and beyond.

On 14 November 2020 at 7pm Dundee Rep will host Tenfold, an online event 'run by young people for young people' which will see 13 to 25 year olds sharing stories and experiences, from the funny to the informative. Showcasing the talents of young people from all around Dundee, the live-streamed evening will be shared by different speakers, each with five minutes to tell their story intertwined with music direct from the Dundee Rep stage.

Scottish Dance Theatre's first ever digital tour took place this autumn, engaging with audiences from venues in Dundee, Scotland and Mexico! Introducing... Antigone, Interrupted is a unique online event combining footage from the original stage production, scenes reimagined for the screen and real-time meet-the-artist conversation. The event gives audiences an opportunity to "meet the characters" and hear from choreographer Joan Clevillé and dancer Solène Weinachter. The company will continue to "tour" this digital hybrid production nationally and internationally in Spring 2021 - dates to be announced soon.

Back in September Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre launched Digital Buzz, a programme of online theatre and dance classes taught via Zoom. These have been hugely successful during the pandemic so we are delighted to announce that Digital Buzz will expand into 2021 to include the first ever Digital Buzz Festival, a programme featuring unique performances created across our online community, by performers aged from 5 to 85. Full details to follow in the new year.

Speaking at the season launch Artistic Director of Dundee Rep Theatre and Joint Chief Executive Officer of Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre, Andrew Panton said:

"I am inspired, heartened and in awe of the creative response not just of the team here at the Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre but of the wider community this year as we come to terms with the Coronavirus pandemic together. We're grateful for the support from both the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland to enable us to create this programme and to the people of Dundee whose response and engagement since lockdown has been overwhelming. Despite all the challenges the pandemic has strengthened our bonds with the community in Dundee and beyond. As people look for a light to guide us through the dark nights ahead we are delighted to share the creative talent, energy and open heartedness of our ensembles and all the freelance talent we collaborate with to enable us to make the work that we do. We hope that our programme will help us all to continue to hang on to our inner light in the months ahead."

Echoing these sentiments Artistic Director of Scottish Dance Theatre, Joan Clevillé said:

"Taking performance out of the theatre and into the streets has changed the way we see the world and hopefully how the world sees us. I'm continually impressed by the openness of both the dancers of Scottish Dance Theatre and the communities across Dundee with whom we have danced for these past few months. The pandemic has highlighted our need for connection and creative expression. While the future remains uncertain this much is clear, dance has a vital role to play in our wellbeing as we move through this together."

For full details of the Christmas programme and the upcoming season please visit: www.dundeereptheatre.co.uk or www.scottishdancetheatre.com

To post a comment, you must register and login.