Sadlers Wells, London – April 18, 2018
English National Ballet presents Dance Journeys Matinee Takeover, showcasing the choreographic voice of young people on the main stage at Sadler’s Wells during the Company’s Voices of America season. Dance Journeys, supported by John Lyon’s Charity, gives young people the opportunity to work as a professional company, gain an in-depth experience of the production process leading to a performance and igniting a passion for dance.
Our special Matinee Takeover programme also features inspiring performances from English National Ballet Youth Company, English National Ballet School, and English National Ballet performing an extract from William Forsythe’s Approximate Sonata 2016.
100 young dancers from west London schools: Copthall School, Friern Barnet School, Hammersmith Academy, Hampstead School join English National Ballet’s ENBYouthCo to work together as one Dance Journeys Company to perform Chrysalis at Sadler’s Wells.
Chrysalis takes its inspiration from Aszure Barton’s Fantastic Beings, is artistically directed by Jo Meredith, and choreographed by Morgann Runacre-Temple and Luke Brown, Katie Cambridge, Lucy Evans, Georgia Heighway and Danielle Teale with input from English National Ballet Youth Company’s Principal Dancer and soloist, Isabelle Evans. The work is set to an original score by composer Thomas Hewitt Jones, recorded by young musicians from the Royal College of Music Junior Department Contemporary Ensemble and conducted by Jacques Cohen.
Tamara Rojo CBE, Artistic Director, English National Ballet said: “By nurturing and encouraging new talent through projects such as English National Ballet’s Dance Journeys, we can further develop our art forms, attracting new audiences and offering the chance to create art and artists of the future.”
Fleur Derbyshire-Fox, Engagement Director, English National Ballet said: “Dance Journeys positively impacts on young people far beyond the project, it raises aspirations, increases confidence and develops greater resilience and life skills.”
Dance Journeys Matinee Takeover also sees ENBYouthCo perform Life of the Party, choreographed by New Adventures company member Tom Jackson-Greves. A playful reaction to Kenneth MacMillan’s Song of the Earth, this piece looks at the ideas of loneliness and memory from the perspective of a group of young people.
English National Ballet School students Vania De Rosas, Victor González Pérez, Lauren Mitchell, Kirica Takahashi, and Valerio Zaffalon, perform their choreography Volts, inspired by the work of William Forsythe.
Completing the programme is English National Ballet, performing an extract from William Forsythe’s Approximate Sonata 2016 from the Company’s Voices of America programme. Originally created in 1996, and recently reworked by Forsythe for Paris Opera Ballet. Approximate Sonata 2016 is a series of pas de deux that deconstruct the classical ballet vocabulary and is accompanied by a new version of the original score by Thom Willems.
