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Birmingham International Dance Festival
Birmingham International Dance Festival, produced by Birmingham-based DanceXchange, explores the themes of imagination, digital art and reflects on the diversity of its dancer’s bodies in its return for its sixth festival, launching this Friday, 1st June.
Highlights from the opening weekend include the opening of Festival Square (the transformed Victoria Square filled with interactive performances, live music and local food favourites) with Morning Gloryville on the morning of June 1st (7 - 10 am). Visitors can also join in with Rosie Kay Dance Company’s Modern Warrior, a fusion of Kung-Fu and dance (June 3rd) or appreciate some true Birmingham talent in a series of new and established works by local artists in Midlands Made (June 4th – 8th).
Other highlights include a series of digital art experiences including performances with 3D glasses in Atomos by Company Wayne McGregor at the New Alexandra Theatre (June 1st), a virtual reality experience in the VR_1 exhibition at The Patrick Studio (June 1st – 4th) or Kira Zhigalina’s sensor-technology powered Symbiosis at Victoria Square (June 1st – 10th).
Celebrating local and international talent with new commissions and internationally-renowned choreographers, the Birmingham International Dance Festival, produced by Birmingham-based DanceXchange, with its rich network of partners and range of events, launches its sixth edition on Friday 1st June. The themes of this year’s festival include imagination, digital art, and a reflection on the diversity of dancers’ bodies.
A key focus of this year’s festival is the new Festival Square, with the BIDF taking over Victoria Square and transforming it into an interactive outdoor festival with interactive performances, live music, local food favourites and even sensory technology such as. Launching Festival Square and the Festival as a whole will be Morning Gloryville, a high-energy, empowering, morning sober rave, featuring their talented dancers, DJs, MC, guided yoga sessions and even Birmingham’s own DJ duo Leftfoot (June 1st, 23rd).
The Square will be host to a wide-range of dancing performances which will encourage the city to jump in and get involved. Birmingham Dances gives a platform to local young and community talent to perform and engage with swing, Northern Soul and disco social dancing, as well as a troop of hula hoop artists (June 2nd-3rd). Meanwhile, Rosie Kay Dance Company’s Modern Warrior will train and pit the audience to dance in a Kung-Fu-meets-dance stand-off (June 3rd, 16th-17th). Midlands Made will carry the festival through the week with lunchtime and early evening performances supported by West Midlands Railway and Dance Hub Birmingham (June 4th-8th). These will feature the best of Midlands dance talent with new works by Andy Ingamells, Rebecca Thomas, and Mickael Marso Riviere contrasting established works by the likes of Becky Namgauds, Johnny Autin and Maya Verlaak.
The theme of digital art is launched by the multi-award winning Company Wayne McGregor’s exploration of movement, film, sound and light in Atomos in the New Alexandra Theatre (June 1st), where the audience will wear 3D glasses as part of the show. In this same vein, Guide by Vera Ondrasikova & Collective premiers in the UK the following week in The Patrick Studio as an absorbing audio-visual experience. Audiences that are eager to experience both of these performances can explore the exhibitions opening this weekend, including VR_1 by Swiss Cie Gilles Jobin & Artanim, and Kira Zhigalina’s Symbiosis, which use VR and sensory technology respectively to develop unique artworks and experiences.
Other highlights from the rest of the festival include the Birmingham Royal Ballet’s performances of Alexander Whitley’s Kin and Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room (June 20th-23rd), the return of renowned dancer and choreographer Rui Horta after a thirty years absence with Wasp (June 15th-16th) and the world premiere of DanceXchange, and is funded by Arts Council England and Birmingham City Council, with additional investment from Dance Hub Birmingham. The Festival Square is sponsored by Colmore BID. BIDF is proud to be part of Birmingham’s Year of Movement.
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