Dance Umbrella’s ‘My Dance DNA’

Dance Umbrella, in partnership with The Space, are to release their digital interview series My Dance DNA in its entirety. My Dance DNA brings together five of the UK’s top choreographers with five leading cultural figures and commentators chosen by each artist to discuss their influences, inspirations and Desert Island Dances. The talks include Siobhan Davies in conversation with Director of Tate Maria Balshaw, Shobana Jeyasingh in conversation with BBC broadcaster Nikki Bedi, Akram Khan in conversation with actor and theatre director Kathryn Hunter, Wayne McGregor in conversation with author, journalist and broadcaster Dame Joan Bakewell and Kate Prince in conversation with actor and broadcaster Karim Zeroual. The interviews will be re-released every week from Friday 26 January 2018 at 5 pm, starting with Kate Prince in conversation with Karim Zeroual. The collection of all five interviews will be available to watch online for a year from the date of their original live-stream on danceumbrella.co.uk, Facebook and YouTube.

Over 48,000 people watched My Dance DNA online when the 60-minute interviews, filmed in front of audiences at art venues around the UK, were live streamed on Facebook during 2017. The conversations took place at the Birmingham Hippodrome; The Curve, Leicester; The Whitworth, Manchester; Dance East, Ipswich and Studio Wayne McGregor, London. From Kate Prince watching Singin’ in the Rain on VHS to Akram Khan on Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Wayne McGregor on John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, the interviews give unique and fascinating personal insight into the minds of some of our greatest choreographic talents.

Each My Dance DNA is split into a 45-minute interview followed by 15 minutes of audience Q+A. After a short introduction and a quick-fire round of questions about the choreographer’s earliest experiences of dance, the heart of each discussion includes clips of dance on film which have had a great impact on the choreographer’s career. Half the clips are the choreographer’s own work, half are external influences, and together they cover the span of the choreographer’s working life.

Emma Gladstone, Artistic Director and Chief Executive, Dance Umbrella said, “We are thrilled that thousands of people around the world watched the live streams of My Dance DNA last year. We hope many more will have the opportunity to enjoy the interviews now the whole series will be available to watch. It’s fascinating to hear what inspired these great choreographers to first start creating their own work and to watch the film clips that have influenced them. Not only does each talk help us understand the art and craft of choreography better, but they also inspire people watching to consider their own creativity and choreographic potential.”

Fiona Morris, the CEO and Creative Director of The Space, said, “The Space is delighted to be partnering with Dance Umbrella and supporting the organisation to build a network of organisations and venues around the UK that have engaged audiences online worldwide in contemporary dance.”

My Dance DNA is part of Dance Umbrella’s ongoing drive to reach new audiences by taking dance farther afield to new and surprising places. By making use of digital channels and platforms they are extending the reach of some of our most visionary choreographers and engaging new generations with dance. Dance Umbrella’s other upcoming digital projects include short film Vertical. Commissioned by The Space and directed by Eddie Frost, Vertical captures the thrillingly inventive work of contemporary ice-skating collective Le Patin Libre whose groundbreaking double-bill Vertical Influences was a huge hit of Dance Umbrella festival 2014. The film will be available to watch online later this year.

MY Dance DNA featured choreographers:

Kate Prince & Karim Zeroual

Prince is the artistic director of hip-hop dance company ZooNation, a resident company at Sadler’s Wells. Her shows included Into the Hoods, which became the longest-running dance show in West End history, and Some Like It Hip Hop.

Akram Khan & Kathryn Hunter

Khan has been choreographing for 15 years and in that time won numerous awards for his imaginative and lyrical productions including DESH, iTMOi and Gnosis. He recently choreographed a new version of Giselle for English National Ballet. His collaborations have been cross-discipline and include work with Juliette Binoche, Kylie Minogue, Anish Kapoor and Antony Gormley. As well as being a choreographer, he is both artistic director and dancer at the Akram Khan Company.

Siobhan Davies & Maria Balshaw

A leading figure in British contemporary dance for several decades, Davies started at the revolutionary London Contemporary Dance Theatre first as a performer then choreographer. In the 1980s, she co-founded the influential group Second Stride with Richard Alston and Ian Spink and later worked as an associate choreographer at Rambert Dance Company. She founded Siobhan Davies Dance in 1988 and her work includes pieces in galleries and site-specific locations as she tests the boundaries of dance and art.

Shobana Jeyasingh & Nikki Bedi

Internationally-recognised choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh is the founder and artistic director of Shobana Jeyasingh Dance established in 1988, creating dynamic, fearless and enigmatic dance works for over 27 years. Her highly individual work has been seen in a variety of venues including theatres, outdoor and indoor sites and on film and her creative collaborators over the years have been drawn across a variety of media. Especially commissioned music has been a significant feature of Jeyasingh’s work and has led to new scores from an array of contemporary composers ranging from Michael Nyman to beatboxer Shlomo.

Wayne McGregor & Joan Bakewell

McGregor is the founder and artistic director of Random Dance as well as being the resident choreographer of the Royal Ballet — the first choreographer from a contemporary dance background to be invited into that role. His work at Covent Garden, including Infra and Woolf Works, has provided a new, contemporary seam of work for the ballet company. McGregor is particularly interested in working science and technology ideas into his work.

The talks will be available to view online at danceumbrella.co.uk/mydancedna/ www.youtube.com/user/danceumbrellauk and www.facebook.com/DanceUmbrella

For further information please contact Hannah Barnett Leveson at The Corner Shop PR on 020 7831 7657 or email [email protected] __________________________________________________________