Sadler's Wells to Welcome Back Elixir Festival With ELIXIR EXTRACTS 2022

Sadler's Wells will welcome back the Elixir Festival with Elixir Extracts 2022, taking place on Thursday 16 June and Saturday 18 June in the Lilian Baylis Studio.

Elixir Extracts 2022 is Sadler's Wells' mini festival that celebrates creative ageing with performances by mature artists, where acclaimed professional and non-professional dancers get the opportunity to showcase their work. The festival also includes talks and workshops to widen the conversation around creative ageing today.

This year's edition opens on Thursday 16 June with an evening of solo works from internationally recognized artists who challenge perceptions about dance and age. It includes works by the UK's Liz Aggiss and Charlotta Öfverholm from Sweden.

Charlotta Öfverholm's Lucky is a tragicomic solo about sustainability in the sense that "the grass is not greener on the other side". She sets out to die young, live forever or just in the moment. Dance, circus, text and music create a powerful performance about life and what might follow.

In Crone Alone, Liz Aggiss reflects on the glories and catastrophes of her past. She reinvents herself as a performance poet whilst embracing her inner crone as the ideal incarnation of herself.

On Saturday 18 June, Elixir Extracts 2022 celebrates the joy that dancing brings to people's lives, whatever their age. The show features performances by a range of non-professional groups from the UK and beyond, including Sadler's Wells' Company of Elders, Dance On Lab from Berlin, and Three Score Dance Company.

Sadler's Wells' Company of Elders presents Relive on stage, and in its original form - a short dance film created during lockdown in early 2021. Created by Eleesha Drennan, both the film and performance poignantly look at human connection and isolation. Relive unpacks the theme of memory through stories about what matters most in life: the people we share it with.

Dance On Lab, a group of mature non-professional dancers based in Berlin, presents Tideland. Working together since 2016, they are part of the DANCE ON initiative that values age in dance. This performance reminds us that only very special images remain in us, our bodies and our memories. In Tideland, they seek to discover the common and individual understanding of things.

Linked to the work of psychoanalyst Jessica Benjamin, Alone Together by Three Score Dance Company looks at the motivations of human action; the need for different types of attention and the reaction to the attention we receive. The work utilises Harry Escott's score to create a haunting atmosphere that evokes the human experience.

Sadler's Wells' Director of Learning and Engagement, Joce Giles, comments: "The Elixir Extracts Festival will put a spotlight on dance and age. It will feature powerful performances by incredible artists such as Liz Aggiss and Charlotta Öfverholm, as well as the chance to watch Sadler's Wells' own Company of Elders. We want to actively encourage creative ageing and the festival will include participatory workshops in a range of dance styles including Kathak and Vogueing."

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