LET'S DANCE INTERNATIONAL FRONTIERS Holds Successful Launch

LET'S DANCE INTERNATIONAL FRONTIERS was successfully launched at the Place in London on March 27th to an audience that included dance practitioners, media, funders and performers. Eddie Nixon (left), Director of Theatre and Artist Development at The Place introduced LDIF's Artistic Director Pawlet Brookes (left with Eddie) to talk about this year's festival:

"Let's Dance International Frontiers is Leicester's annual dance festival which I started 8 years ago when I took my daughter to see a performance of a dance company in a nearby city and thought 'why travel to see world-renowned dance when we have the capacity to do this in Leicester!'" said Pawlet Brookes in her opening remarks.

She continued: "LDIF launches each year on April 29th, International Dance Day to reflect the international perspective of the programme. This year we are presenting artists from many parts of the world including the USA, Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, Senegal and of course we'll be staging some fantastic work made by emerging and established UK artists.

We're delighted to be working with the Curve Theatre in Leicester again and some great venues such as the 2Funky Music Café where we'll be presenting the Zimbabwean performance artist Nora Chipaumire's '100% Pop' - her brilliant homage to the legendary Grace Jones - on the opening night. We've got films, workshops, talks and networking opportunities as well as a wonderful programme of performance. And we're delighted that Namron, who is performing here at the Place in May, will be talking about his long and distinguished career as co-founder of London Contemporary Dance. I'd like to thank Eddie Nixon and the Place for hosting us and I look forward to seeing you in Leicester!"

LDIF18 LAUNCH photo below left to right: Performer/choreographer Freddie Opoku-Addaie; Jeanefer Jean-Chalres, director of Mass Movement; Pam Johnson, Arts Council England; Pawlet Brookes, LDIF18; Oluwatoyin Odunsi of One Dance UK; Robert Hylton, former Phoenix Dance performer; and in front Vicki Igbokwe, Uchenna Dance and Maureen Salmon, Freshwaters Consultancy.

LDIF embraces the cosmopolitan nature of Leicester by bringing diversity to the forefront in dance while celebrating the work of dancers at all stages of their careers. Star names include the Senegalese/New York-based Germaine Acogny who brings her autobiographical work, 'Somewhere At The Beginning' to the Curve; the San Francisco-based Antoine Hunter (left), the pioneering deaf dancer/choroegrapher; London-based Namron currently celebrating 50 years in professional dance; Leicester-trained Ella Mesma, fast rising dancer/choreographer whose piece 'Papillon' is being developed in association with the Curve Theatre; and Leicester-trained Hatti Watson whose piece, 'The Fragility of Power', is a contemporary hip hop piece inspired by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui's 'Faun' (2009).

David Mead, editor of SeeingDance.com: "It's unusual to have a festival that includes everything: conference, performance, workshops, films.... LDIF does just that. It's small enough to feel friendly and welcoming but big enough to host important companies from overseas; often making their UK debuts.

British emerging artists are here too in the Signatures and Autograph programmes...'Diversity' as a term is sometimes thrown around a little too liberally but LDIF really does capture the richness of dance in all its forms, across all cultures."