FranceDanceUK programme revealed
The Institut français in London presents FranceDance UK – a four-month festival bringing the best in French contemporary dance to venues across the UK. Featuring 50 performances, including several UK premieres, at 16 festivals and theatres in 9 major UK cities, Belfast International Arts Festival is proud to host two stunning productions: To Da Bone by (LA)HORDE and La Spire by Chloé Moglia.
Full press release:
27 June 2019
The Institut français in London today announced a nationwide festival of contemporary dance by French and France-basedartists and choreographers. FranceDance UK has been jointly created with artistic directors of institutions and festivals around the UK, with performances that stretch from Belfast to Bristol; Glasgow to Brighton. It will bring several French artists to the UK for the very first time, including (LA)HORDE, best known for their collaboration with electro-pop sensation Chris (formerly known as Christine and the Queens). Other UK premieres include Chloé Moglia, Dorotheé Munyaneza, Ousmane Sy, Thomas Lebrun, Emanuel Gat and Clémentine Vanlerberghe.
The initiative, which has internationally renowned dancer, choreographer and future Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet Carlos Acosta as its Honorary Patron, aims to strengthen Franco-British relationships and encourage cultural collaboration.
FranceDance UK includes masterclasses and outreach projects in nine major UK cities. It will be an opportunity for local audiences across the country to discover both emerging and well-known French contemporary dance.
Carlos Acosta CBE, international dancer and choreographer and Honorary Patron FranceDance UK, said: “I’m pleased to become Honorary Patron of FranceDance UK because of the festival’s close relationship with Birmingham as I look forward to being Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet. I am so pleasedto give my support to this unique contemporary French dance festival which brings new perspectives and promising talents from French contemporary dance to audiences throughout the UK. With a rich programme honoring diversity and women choreographers, FranceDance UK is bringing contemporary dance to international audiences. More than ever, collaboration between countries is essential to promote artistic expression and create long-term alliances between international institutions and artists.”
Highlights of the festival include:
- The first UK performances by dance collective (LA)HORDE, best known for their collaboration with electro-pop sensation Chris (formerly known as Christine and the Queens). They will bring their production To Da Bone to Sadler’s Wells and the Belfast International Arts Festival
- British-Rwandan choreographer Dorothée Munyaneza performs Unwantedat Bristol’s In Between Time festival – her company’s first UK performances. Her piece gives a voice to the women victims of rape during the Rwandan genocide and the generation born from this atrocity. Munyaneza herself fled Rwanda when she was 12, miraculously surviving the genocide
- Franco-Austrian artist and choreographer Gisèle Vienne’s Crowd,apiece for 15 dancers accompanied by a techno-trance soundtrack, brings club-land to theatre-land and will tour to Sadler’s Wells as part of Dance Umbrella, followed by performances at Dance International Glasgow – her first performances in the UK
- Also bringing work to the UK for the first time is Chloé Moglia, whose circus-inspired choreographic piece La Spire, will be performed at Belfast International Arts Festival in October
- French dance artist Ousmane Sy performs his first UK dates at Sadler’s Wells as part of Dance Élargie – exploring themes of femininity and gender identity
- Acclaimed French choreographer and Director of the Centre Chorégraphique National de Tours Thomas Lebrun comes to The Coronet Theatre, London for three performances with the UK premiere of Another Look at Memory,a retrospective on ten years of Lebrun’s work set to choral music by Philip Glass
- Emanuel Gat has created a new work,The Circle,for Scottish Dance Theatre, which will be performed in Tramway, Glasgow as part of Dance International Glasgow, 2019. Emanuel Gat Dance is also performing WORKS at The Lowry, Salford and Sadler’s Wells and YOOO!!!– a hip-hop inspired work for all ages at the Birmingham Hippodrome, in partnership with Theatre National de Chaillot. During its time in Birmingham, the company will work with the Hippodrome Education Network, and the local dance community
- Opening FranceDance UK is Kalakuta Republik– which channels the spirit of afrobeat pioneer and activist Fela Kuti from Burkina Faso-born choreographer Serge Aimé Coulibaly, in a hypnotic dance work that draws parallels between the African revolution of the 1970s and today. The piece forms part of Edinburgh International Festival’s You Are Here
- Other artists in the festival include François Chaignaud, Ballet Preljocaj, Jennifer Lacey, Clémentine Vanlerberghe & Fabritia D’Intino, Josette Baïz – Groupe and Compagnie Grenade and Amala Dianor
Claudine Ripert-Landler, Cultural Counsellor & Director of Institut français, said: “FranceDance UK has been two years in the making as the Institut français in London has worked with British dance institutions to jointly create a programme that places women artists and female voices at its heart, alongside a diverse spectrum of emerging and established talent. The festival is a brilliant springboard for French artists to build relationships with UK institutions and reach new audiences. I hope this is just a stepping-stone to closer cultural dialogue between our great nations, and that it will inspire many more performances and collaborations to come.”
Dorothée Munyaneza, choreographer and dancer, said: “What an honour to return to the UK, after 11 years of living in France, to show my work in the framework of the FranceDance UK festival.
I spent 14 years of my life in London, the longest I have lived in one place thus far, and I am extremely proud to share Unwanted with audience members from the UK. Performing this piece is crucial for me and my collaborators, especially at a time such as this, when so much is politically uncertain and socially fragile, not only in the UK but also in our world.
Thank you to all from the Institut français in London and the In Between Time festival for allowing us to carry our voices to your shores.”
Emanuel Gat, Artistic Director and choreographer, said: “Being part of FranceDance UK is a wonderful way of finding our place within the current French choreographic landscape, while at the same time doing what dance does so well, cross borders and cultures with ease and fluidity. We are extremely happy and proud to be part of this French season in the UK and to bring our work and vision to the British dance audience.”
Originally launched by the Institut français in Paris in 2007, FranceDance festivals have previously been presented in China, Korea, Italy, Russia, Quebec, Brazil, Spain, Austria and New York. This new 2019 edition will be the first time the festival has been produced in the UK.
Partner venues and festivals include:
- Belfast– Belfast International Arts Festival
- Birmingham– Ace Dance and Music, Birmingham Hippodrome
- Brighton– Brighton Dome
- Bristol– In Between Time
- Edinburgh– Edinburgh International Festival
- Glasgow– Tramway, Dance International Glasgow
- London– Dance Umbrella, Sadler’s Wells, Southbank Centre, The Linbury Theatre at Royal Opera House, The Coronet Theatre, Siobhan Davies Dance
- Nottingham – Nottdance Festival
- Salford (Greater Manchester)– The Lowry
The British Council, the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities, is supporting FranceDance UK in its aim to foster long-term artistic alliances between the two nations.
Sarah Bagshaw, Head of Arts at the British Council France, said: “Supporting cultural cooperation between our two countries has never been more important, particularly in the context of the UK’s changing relationship with Europe. There is increased appetite from French and UK artists and cultural sectors to remain collaborative and strongly connected.
“FranceDance UK will initiate conversations between French and UK arts professionals that will leave a lasting legacy in both countries – for example, in the new association between Birmingham Hippodrome and the Théatre national de la danse de Chaillot in Paris, or the growing links between CCN Grenoble and the Belfast International Arts Festival.
“We at the British Council are proud to support the creative collaborations and new connections resulting from FranceDance UK. Working with our counterparts at the Institut français, we hope that we can stimulate dialogue and reciprocity that will cement links for the future.”
FranceDance UK is supported by the Friends of the French Institute Trust, with particular acknowledgement to Aline Foriel-Destezet and Jacques and Stéphanie Gabillon.
For more information about FranceDance UK, visit: www.institut-francais.org.uk/francedanceuk
#FranceDanceUK
For Press enquiries and images: contact Christopher Calvert and Chiedza Chikanza, Brunswick Arts: francedanceuk@brunswickgroup.com/ +44 (0)20 7343 8203
Full Programme – by artist
Founded in 2011 by Marine Brutti, Jonathan Debrouwer and Arthur Harel, (La) Horde is a collective of three cross-disciplinary artists, producing films, performances and installations as well as dance work. Choreographers of the digital age, they stand out for creating “post-internet” forms of art, traversed by images and information from all over the world.To Da Bone is built around jumpstyle, which grew out the 90’s hardcore techno scene, and features 11 jumpers from around Europe.A hypnotic and exhilarating work, it combines cracked dance dynamics with an Instagram aesthetic.
Venue & Dates:
Sadler’s Wells, London /Friday 11 and Saturday 12 October (As part of Danse Élargie)
Belfast International Arts Festival/ Friday 25 and Saturday 26 October
Talks, Outreach and Education Programme:
Belfast International Arts Festival/ Post-show audience discussion for the first annual, all-island dance conference / Friday 25 October
Belfast International Arts Festival/ Workshop for young people / Saturday 26 October (tbc)
Chloé Moglia / La Spire
Winner of the SACD Prize for circus arts, French artist Chloé Moglia studied ceramics before going on to train in trapeze and martial arts. Today, all three elements inform her extensive choreographic practice. In La Spire, a unique installation and aerial work, five trapeze women artists hang from an immense sculptural steel spiral, both light and monumental, with over six metres in height and eighteen metres in length. A live musician accompanies their ascent, while the audience is absorbed in poetic suspense.
Venue & Dates:
Belfast International Arts Festival/ Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 October
Serge Aimé Coulibaly / Kalakuta Republik
With their critical look at modern Africa, the West, and their shared history, Serge Aimé Coulibaly’s undoubtedly political shows have been called visionary; they question in real time the hopes of the African youth he accompanies in all its endeavours, including its revolutions. Kalakuta Republikis a dizzying fusion of dance, music and African revolution, inspired by the supercharged music and scandalous life of Fela Kuti. Coulibaly takes Kuti’s life and beliefs as inspiration for this visually stunning, hypnotic dance work for seven performers that draws lines from African revolution in the 1970s to today’s political resistance.
Venues & Dates:
Edinburgh International Festival – The Lyceum/ Thursday 8 August to Sunday 11 August
Brighton Dome/ Monday 4 and Tuesday 5 November
The Lowry, Salford (GreaterManchester)/ Friday 8 and Saturday 9 November
Talks, Outreach & Education programme:
The Lowry, Salford (GreaterManchester)/ The presentation of Kalakuta Republikis part of The Lowry hosting One Dance UK’s major international conference of Dance in the Africa Diaspora “Re: Generation” from 7 to 9 November, with 150 national and international delegates and artists attending. Company members will lead workshops and the choreographer may participate in panels and presentations. The conference programme is brought together by One Dance UK.
François Chaignaud / Dumy Moyi (Думимої)
François Chaignaud’s performances can be placed at a crossroads where various influences come together – erotic dance, operetta, hula-hop, drag shows and cabaret. Dumy Moyiis a multilingual recital coloured with Ukrainian, Philippine and Sephardic melodies. In close proximity to the audience and with a sculpture-like garment, François Chaignaud performs dances and songs inspired by the Theyyam rituals from Malabar in India. A dream show, halfway between ceremony, parade and recital, this piece is like an antidote to the rituals of Western theatre, with its frontality, its strict temporality, its relationship to power.
Venue & Date:
Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre/ Thursday 22 August
Ballet Preljocaj/ La Fresque (The painting on the wall)
With La Fresque, world-renowned choreographer Angelin Preljocaj continues his exploration of fairytales. Turning his attention to the traditional tales of Asia, he takes inspiration in the famous eponymous Chinese story in which a traveller takes shelter from the rain in a temple and soon finds himself enchanted by one of the women depicted in a painting on the wall. Preserving the symbolism of the tale, the piece seeks to explore the mysterious relations between representation and reality, places at which the dance creates the bonds that link the fixed image and movement, instantaneity and duration, the live and the inert.
Venue & Dates:
Sadler’s Wells, London/ Monday 30 September, Tuesday 1 and Wednesday 2 October
Gisèle Vienne / Crowd
A Franco-Austrian artist, Gisèle Vienne’s background covers music, philosophy and puppeteering, while her dance work has seen her explore the crimes of a serial killer, place athletes in a forest and ghosts on an ice rink. Crowd, a piece for 15 dancers, delves into the collective euphoria of a committed party crowd and delivers a painstaking dissection of the dark side within us and our need for moments of love, violence and intimacy. It represents a culminating point in Vienne’s trajectory, her healthy disrespect for the different artistic practices and a restoring to the stage its unique cathartic power.
Dates & Venues:
Part of Dance Umbrella 2019 – In partnership with Sadler’s Wells, London/ Tuesday 8 and Wednesday 9 October
Dance International Glasgow – Tramway/Wednesday 16 October
Talks, Outreach and Education programme:
Part of Dance Umbrella 2019 – In partnership with Sadler’s Wells, London/ Post-show artist talk with Gisèle Vienne / Tuesday 8 October
Part of Dance Umbrella 2019 /Workshop with Gisèle Vienne / Wednesday 9 October
Jennifer Lacey / Extended Hermeneutics
Jennifer Lacey is an American choreographer based in Paris since 2000, when she founded the dance company Megagloss with Carole Bodin and began what became a longstanding collaboration with artist Nadia Lauro. She has also been in residence at the Laboratoires d‘Aubervilliers.
Running across 4 days of Nottdance Festival 2019,Extended Hermeneuticsis a one-to-one performance in a public gallery space. Lacey uses elements selected from the exhibition or collection displayed in the galleries as the basis for performing an oracle reading or act of divination, in response to questions that visitors choose to offer as the subject of the reading.
Venue & Dates:
Dance4, part of Nottdance Festival – Nottingham Contemporary/ Wednesday 9 October to Saturday 12 October
Ousmane Sy / Queen blood
Ambassador of the “French Touch” and Afro-house spirit on five continents, choreographer Ousmane Sy is a house dance specialist and winner of many international battles. With Queen Blood, he continues his work channelling women’s energies and gestures. Seven young dancers deploy their technical virtuosities and singularities to reveal or question what femininity can be, assumed or undergone, through dance and movement. Built from the backgrounds and personal experiences of each of them, through very different musical universes (one acoustic, the other electro), Queen Bloodis as intimate as it is vibrant.
Venue & dates:
Sadler’s Wells, London/ Friday 11 and Saturday 12 October(As part of Danse Élargie)
Clémentine Vanlerberghe & Fabritia D’Intino / Plubel
Co-created by Clémentine Vanlerberghe, a dancer-choreographer of Franco-German originbased in Lille, and Fabritia D’Intino, a freelance performer and choreographer based in Italy,Plubel is a journey that questions the labour of the corps de ballet and of feminine figures who were either over-exposed or, conversely, hidden. What do we see in these bodies of women that perfectly execute group movements, or conversely again, reveal moments of discordance or error? Plubel showcases a very precise choreographic approach, one that reveals repetition and emulation to be effective tools in the erasure of spontaneity in (dancing) bodies.
Venue & dates:
Sadler’s Wells, London/ Friday 11 and Saturday 12 October (As part of Danse Élargie)
Danse Élargie
Danse Élargie is a competition co-devised by Boris Charmatz and Emmanuel Demarcy Mota. Artists working in all disciplines, from across the spectrum of the visual and performing arts, were invited to create new work exploring the stage as an arena for experimental encounters between the arts. The only restrictions were the length of the finished work (maximum ten minutes), and the number of performers (minimum three). 460 applications were whittled down to 18 finalists and here we present the three winners alongside three other finalists.
Venue & dates:
Sadler’s Wells, London/ Friday 11 and Saturday 12 October
Featured works
Elsa Chêne / MUR/MER
Kwame Asafo-Adjei / Family Honour
(La) Horde / To Da Bone*
Ousmane Sy / Queen Blood*
Clémentine Vanlerberghe & Fabritia D’Intino/ Plubel*
Jusung Lee / Eye
Pietro Marullo / Wreck
*artists supported by FranceDance UK
Dorothée Munyaneza / Unwanted
Born in Rwanda, Dorothée Munyaneza left Kigali when she was 12 to find refuge in the UK, before later moving to France. Singer, author and choreographer, she has been part of the international contemporary scene since the early 2000s. With Unwanted, she focuses on the stories of the women caught up in the genocide, specifically those who suffered rape. Rapes that gave birth to children traumatised by their own history and ostracised by the taboo of their origins. An intimate counterpoint to history, Unwanteddelves into the heart of the unspeakable. With raw energy, Munyaneza embodies it without pathos or subterfuge.
Venues & Dates:
In Between Time Summit – Circomedia, Bristol/ Friday 11and Saturday 12October
Talks, Outreach and Education programme:
In Between Time – Circomedia, Bristol/ Masterclass with 4 UK artists / Tuesday 8 andWednesday 9October
Emanuel Gat / YOOO!!!
Born in Israel and now based in France, Emanuel Gat is Associate Choreographer at the Théâtre National de Chaillot, where he created YOOO!!!, a new piece for young audiences. This choreography, which can be performed in theatre and non-theatre venues, draws on a variety of street dance styles and incorporates interactive elements with its audience. The music soundtrack builds through video projection, imbuing the dancers’ bodies with percussion, bass and electronic waves. Constantly exploring new territories with his dance, Gat is uncovering his horizon just a little bit more, with this piece for all ages.
Venue & Dates:
Birmingham Hippodrome/ Tuesday 22, Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 October
Talks, Outreach & Education programme:
Workshops in schools with the Emanuel Gat dance company / Monday 21 October
The company will work with the Birmingham Hippodrome will reach a combined audience of 500-600 children/young people and possibly more. The company will work with our Hippodrome Education Network of local schools in diverse and disadvantaged areas, and targeted community groups.
Josette Baïz – Groupe and Compagnie Grenade / Hommage à Trisha Brown
Josette Baïz has been teaching contemporary dance since 1978 in Aix-en-Provence, where she created her first choreography for young dancers. After a decisive residence for a school in the northern districts of Marseille, she set up the Groupe Grenade in 1992, bringing together over thirty young dancers working in a cross-cultural perspective, which later developed into a company of professional interpreters. Hommage à Trisha Brownis an ensemble of three pieces paying tribute to the great postmodernist choreographer Trisha Brown, who greatly marked Josette Baïz’s work. For FranceDanceUK, Josette will collaborate with ACE Dance and Music to make a new transmission of this work with young dancers from across Birmingham’s diverse communities.
Venue & Dates:
BirminghamHippodrome/ Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 October
Talks, Outreach & Education programme:
Birmingham Hippodrome/ Professional dance class with Josette Baïz / Thursday 24 October (10am-11.30am)
Birmingham Hippodrome/ Masterclass with Josette Baïz for dance artists and practitioners, giving an insight into the practice of Compagnie Grenade / Thursday 24 October (11.45am-2pm)
Amala Dianor / Somewhere in the middle of infinity
A young choreographer of Senegalese origin, trained in hip-hop and contemporary dance, Amala Dianor tries to bring together worlds that are theoretically very far apart, in the same choreographic field. Somewhere in the middle of infinityreveals serene yet powerful encounters derived from a 21st-century meeting of African, hip-hop and contemporary styles. In this radiant trio, Dianor relishes the possibility of interaction, mutual assistance and attentiveness between three men, who poetically question their own freedom and test their own borders through this encounter.
Venue & Dates:
Part of Dance Umbrella 2019 – In partnership with the Royal Ballet/ Thursday 24 to Saturday 26 October
Talks, Outreach & Education programme:
Part of Dance Umbrella 2019 – Linbury Theatre, ROH London / Talking Amongst Ourselves Talk / Saturday 25 October
Part of Dance Umbrella 2019 at Siobhan Davies Studios, London/ Public choreography workshop with Amala Dianor /Sunday 27 October
Thomas Lebrun / Another Look at Memory
One of France’s most acclaimed choreographers of recent years, Thomas Lebrun has been the Artistic Director at the Centre Chorégraphique National de Tours since 2012. He has danced with France’s leading companies and developed a theatrical style of his own. For Another Look at Memory, he travels through ten years of choreography to create a new rich memory of the past with some of his most faithful dancers. Together they respond to the powerful choral music of Philip Glass with a dance of rare precision.
Venues & Dates:
The Coronet Theatre, London/ Thursday 24, Friday 25 and Saturday 26 October
Talks, Outreach and Education Programme:
The Coronet Theatre, London/ Post-show talk with Thomas Lebrun / Friday 25 October
Emanuel Gat Dance / The Circle
The renowned Israeli choreographer Emanuel Gat, now based in France, is regularly invited to create new pieces for dance companies around the world, such as the Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris, Sydney Dance Company or Candoco Dance Company, among many others. The Circle, commissioned by the Scottish Dance Theatre, emerges as a piece telling the story of 12 individuals. Focusing on the dancers’ acute relationship with each other, its shifting, alternating energies create an intimate visual and emotional performance. Thus, it celebrates each dancer’s unique language whilst also telling the story of the collective and the relationships contained within it.
Venue & Dates:
Tramway, Glasgow (Dance International Glasgow) / Friday 25 and Saturday 26 October
Emanuel Gat / WORKS
Associate choreographer at the Théâtre National de Chaillot, Emanuel Gat initially trained as a conductor before shifting his attention to dance. Each of the six pieces that make up WORKSis dedicated to a different composer, including Gat himself, but it is the dancers that influence the shape of the performance. Gat moves his ten dancers through the musical landscape in distinct formations and groupings, providing them with the opportunity to show off their differing interpretations, responses, histories and relationships, as he honours and celebrates their idiosyncrasies.
Venues & Dates:
The Lowry, Greater Manchester /Saturday 9 November
Sadler’s Wells, London/ Monday 11 and Tuesday 12 November
Talks, Outreach & Education programme:
Sadler’s Wells, London/ Post-show talk with Emanuel Gat / Monday 11 November
Full FranceDance UK schedule – by date
| Date | Venue | Company/Artist | Performance |
| 8 – 11 August 2019 | Edinburgh International Festival – The Lyceum | Serge Aimé Coulibaly | Kalakuta Republik |
| 23 August 2019 | Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre | François Chaignaud | Dumy Moyi (Думи мої) |
| 30 September – 2 October 2019 | Sadler’s Wells, London | Ballet Preljocaj | La Fresque (The painting on the wall) |
| 8 – 9 October 2019 | Dance Umbrella – Sadler’s Wells, London | Gisèle Vienne | Crowd |
| 9 – 12 October 2019 | Nottdance Festival – Nottingham Contemporary | Jennifer Lacey | Extended Hermeneutics |
| 11 -12 October 2019 | Sadler’s Wells, London | (La) Horde | To Da Bone (As part of Danse Élargie) |
| 11 – 12 October 2019 | Sadler’s Wells, London | Ousmane Sy | Queen blood (As part of Danse Élargie) |
| 11 – 12 October 2019 | Sadler’s Wells, London | Clémentine Vanlerberghe & Fabritia D’Intino | Plubel (As part of Danse Élargie) |
| 11 – 12 October 2019 | In Between Time – Circomedia, Bristol | Dorothée Munyaneza | Unwanted |
| 16 October 2019 | Dance International Glasgow – Tramway | Gisèle Vienne | Crowd |
| 19 – 20 October 2019 | Belfast International Arts Festival | Chloé Moglia | La Spire |
| 22 – 24 October 2019 | Birmingham Hippodrome | Emanuel Gat Dance | YOOO!!! |
| 23 – 24 October 2019 | Birmingham Hippodrome | Josette Baïz – Groupe and Compagnie Grenade | Hommage à Trisha Brown |
| 24 – 26 October 2019 | Dance Umbrella – Linbury Theatre, ROH London | Amala Dianor | Somewhere in the middle of infinity |
| 24 – 26 October 2019 | The Coronet Theatre, London | Thomas Lebrun | Another Look at Memory |
| 25 – 26 October 2019 | Belfast International Arts Festival | (La) Horde | To Da Bone |
| 25 – 26 October 2019 | Dance International Glasgow – Tramway | Emanuel Gat Dance | The Circle |
| 4 – 5 November 2019 | Brighton Dome | Serge Aimé Coulibaly | Kalakuta Republik |
| 8 – 9 November 2019 | The Lowry, Salford | Serge Aimé Coulibaly | Kalakuta Republik |
| 9 November 2019 | The Lowry, Salford | Emanuel Gat Dance | WORKS |
| 11 – 12 November 2019 | Sadler’s Wells, London | Emanuel Gat Dance | WORKS |