English National Ballet Collaborates with Royal College of Music for A LETTER TO..., May 3-4

English National Ballet dancers turn choreographers when five of them get a chance to create new works in collaboration with students from the Royal College of Music. In a new partnership, Choreographics, A Letter To ... will bring together aspiring choreographers and composers to create new work which will be performed by English National Ballet dancers at The Place, in London, tonight, May 3-4, 2013.

Director George Williamson has asked the dancers to choose a letter as inspiration for their work. With this as a starting point, the choreographer and composer work together as partners, exploring and building the relationship between dance and music. In his new role as Associate Artist at English National Ballet George aims to nurture talent with great potential and hopes to guide the choreographers and composers into a new way of thinking and working together.

George Williamson commented: "I am thrilled that English National Ballet can offer this opportunity to its dancers and outside artists. Choreography and composition are the life source for ballet companies, new creators and creations evolve and stimulate the art form and the artists with in it. It's not only incredibly important to give the artists mentoring, and extremely talented dancers a platform to get their work seen, it's also vital for new and existing audiences to see this work and inspire them to want more."

The Place is a renowned dance house that has previously launched many high profile choreographers. The following artists have been selected to take part in this exciting project:

The choreographers: Anton Lukovkin, Makoto Nakamura, Stina Quagebeur, Fabian Reimar andTamarin Stott.

The composers: Andrew Baldwin, Ryan Cockerham, Gerardo Gozzi, Laurence Osborn and Raquel Garcia Tomas.

English National Ballet actively encourages its artists to explore all aspects of their creativity, often staging in-house choreographic workshops and performances, however this will be the first time the dancers have a choreographic platform open to the public.

The choreographers and composers will be mentored by Kerry Nicholls who has taught, choreographed, performed and mentored extensively for numerous dance companies and institutions throughout Europe and worldwide. Offering support and feedback to the artists, Kerry will encourage and provoke so as to expand and empower their choreographic thinking and promote the vital dialogue between the two art forms.

The winning choreography from English National Ballet School 's Choreographics competition will also feature in this programme. This opportunity gives young student dancers a chance to perform in a professional setting amongst professional dance works.

A Letter To...
Friday 3 May and Saturday 4 May
The Place

REPERTOIRE AND CREATIVE:

Choreographer: Stina Quagebeur
Composer: Laurence Osborn

Cast:

Nathan Young

Senri Kou

Crystal Costa

Nicola Henshall

Jia Zhang

Choreographer: Makoto Nakamura
Composer: Gerardo Gozzi

Cast:

Anais Chalendard

Juan Rodriguez

Choreographer: Fabian Reimair
Composer: Raquel Garcia Tomas

Cast:

Ken Saruhashi

Erina Takahashi

Nancy Osbaldeston

Jung ah Choi

Laurent Liotardo

Joshua McSherry-Gray

Choreographer: Tamarin Stott
Composer: Ryan Cockerham

Cast:

Stephen Wilson

Shevelle Dynott

Desiree Ballantyne

Araminta Wraith

Choreographer: Anton Lukovkin
Composer: Andrew Baldwin
Costume: Cristiano Casimiro

Cast:

Ksenia Ovsyanick

James Forbat

Alison McWhinney

Teo Dubreuil

Zhanat Atymtayev

The performances will run tonight, 3 May 2013, 7:30pm - (Press Night) and Saturday 4 May 2013, 14:30 and 19:30 at the Robin Howard Dance Theatre. Tickets: £12 (£8).

For further information about English National Ballet 2013 Performance Schedule visit www.ballet.org.uk. You can find English National Ballet on Facebook and Twitter @ENBallet.

English National Ballet aspires to be the world's leading touring classical ballet company, presenting the highest possible quality ballet to new and established audiences nationwide. The Company aims to develop the popular classical repertoire, including repertoire that is entirely individual to English National Ballet, and to present that repertoire to as wide and sustainable an audience as possible.

George Williamson is a British choreographer and graduate of English National Ballet School. George's first major commission was Firebird for English National Ballet. This new role within English National Ballet aims to nurture young talent with great potential. George also works with arts organisations to build collaborative projects and bring the work of English National Ballet to communities across the UK, particularly to the touring venues.

Kerry Nicholls: Regularly teaching for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance, DV8 and Michael Clark companies to name a few, Kerry is widely regarded as one of Britain's leading contemporary technique teachers; she receives many invitations to teach internationally at Ballet Preljocaj (France), Escuela de Danza (Cuba) and the Beijing Dance Academy (China). She is Director of Kerry Nicholls Dance which launched in Autumn 2012. www.kerrynicholls.com

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