Glasgow’s West End Festival gets a dance component this year – curator Freya Jeffs tells all on the plans…
The Cottier Dance Project
Glasgow, 22-27 June
“…a week of short bursts of artistic excellence in Glasgow’s West End.”
www.cottierchamberproject.com
www.westendfestival.co.uk
The Cottier Dance Project is the new strand to Glasgow’s popular West End Festival and will take place from 22nd to 27th June 2014. It aims to champion Scottish-based choreographers and dancers, to provide a platform for new work and to encourage collaboration across the artistic spectrum. As well as contemporary commissioned work, we revisit inspirational work from the past with archival dance footage.
On 22nd June, The Cottier Dance Project opens with a special screening of the 1975 BBC broadcast of Kenneth MacMillan’s playful ballet ‘Elite Syncopations’, shown in the glorious Grosvenor Cinema, and introduced by Christopher Hampson, the Scottish Ballet Artistic Director. With music by Scott Joplin and virtuoso performances from The Royal Ballet, we recommend that anyone who enjoys Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s work get their tickets and get ready to be inspired! At 5pm the same day, The Grosvenor will be showing the iconic 1937 Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers film, ‘Shall We Dance?’, which will take us back to the golden age of musical cinema. There will be a live dance demonstration before the film to get everyone in the mood, and there is a complimentary drink with every ticket. Definitely not a Sunday to be missed…
© Andy Saunders. (Click image for larger version)
For the first of the live performances (23rd-25th, 6.30pm), resident company High Heart Dance Company are teaming up with multi-award winning Scots’ singer Emily Smith and musician Jamie McClennan and band, to bring a new collaboration of traditional music and contemporary dance to Cottiers Theatre in ‘Footprints’. This joyous and poignant piece explores, through music and contemporary movement, the identities of the performers who have all been influenced by Scottish culture. With equal focus on music and dance, this is an ideal show for fans of both.
For those interested in a diverse evening of dance and discovering new choreographic talent, Watch This Space (26th-27th, 8.30pm) provides a platform for choreographers and dancers to show excerpts of their work, and this year we have five pieces by freelance artists and dancers from Scotland’s national companies; Daniel Davidson, Diana Loosmore, Matthew Hawkins, Tamsyn Russell and Giulia Montalbano. Expect an eclectic mix of brilliance!
The Cottier Dance Project is also joining forces with partner festival, The Cottier Chamber Project, on 14th June at 11am, with High Heart Dance Company collaborating with Daniel’s Beard for their Family show ‘Complete Nonsense and The Lady of Shalott’. This sees ‘The Owl and The Pussycat’, ‘Jabberwocky’ and the ‘Quangle-Wangle’s Hat’ skip into existence, with music by Lenny Sayers and narration by BBC Scotland’s Jamie MacDougall. These brilliant settings were picked for BBC Radio 4’s ‘Round-Up’ show when they premiered, so this is your chance to catch them again in all their glory. MacDougall will then tell the tragic tale of Tennyson’s ‘The Lady of Shalott’, with stunning, specially-commissioned, music by Sayers and gorgeously descriptive movement from High Heart Dance Company. The beautiful setting of St Silas Church provides the backdrop for this Saturday morning of fantastic comedy, music and the world premiere of ‘The Lady of Shalott’; one for all the family.
For those who enjoy dancing, there’s the opportunity to take class with dancer and Cottier Dance Project curator Freya Jeffs on the 26th and 27th at 10.30am in Cottiers Theatre. The class will use a mix of ballet and contemporary techniques to get you warm and strengthened for the day ahead.
Tickets are on sale online at www.cottierchamberproject.com
If you have any questions, or for more information, please email: freya@cottierchamberproject.com
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