Michelle Dorrance and Ephrat 'Bounce' Asherie to Debut THE CENTER WILL NOT HOLD at Sadler's Wells

Recently appointed Sadler's Wells Associate Artist and acclaimed tap dancer and choreographer Michelle Dorrance and Bessie Award-winning choreographer b-girl Ephrat “Bounce” Asherie present the UK premiere of The Center Will Not Hold. This marks the first ever Dorrance Dance Production, moving the company into a new stage of developing and touring original works which deepen the relationship between tap dance and other dance forms. 

The show features original music composed by Dorrance's brother Donovan Dorrance, with live percussion by world class drummer/percussionist, John Angeles.  

The Center Will Not Hold has been expanded from the duet a little room, which was created by Asherie and Michelle Dorrance in 2022. The reimagined work now includes a group of performers rooted in hip hop, street and footwork styles; each performer bringing their niche specialism to the piece, with styles including street, club, and social dances; house, breaking, hip hop, tap dance, Chicago footwork, Detroit jit, litefeet, Memphis jookin, and body percussion.   The production takes its name from the opening of W.B, Yeats' seminal poem The Second Coming.

Michelle Dorrance is the Founder and Artistic Director of the award-winning tap dance company Dorrance Dance which she started in 2011. After 15 years Dorrance Dance's mission has expanded, as a producing entity, the organisation supports the creation of new work that continues to contextualise tap dance's history and its diaspora in a culturally significant way. The company aspires to support the development and touring of new works that continue to deepen the relationship between tap dance and the forms that have a direct relationship to its lineage.

New York City-based Ephrat Asherie is a choreographer, performer and b-girl. A Bessie Award winner for Innovative Achievement in Dance, Asherie creates work for the dynamic group of dancers in her company, Ephrat Asherie Dance (EAD). Dedicated to honouring the ethos of the New York City underground club community, EAD explores the complex and dynamic qualities of Black and Latine vernacular forms, including breaking, hip hop, house, and waacking.