The Place

Section A Entries

1. Entries are welcome from UK-based professional dance-makers working within any style in a contemporary idiom.

2. Entries must be in the name of a single person (or two named persons) who identify themselves as the choreographer (or joint-choreographers) of the commissioned work.

3. Entrants, their dancers and their collaborators must all be professional, ie being engaged in making dance as part of their profession.

4. Entrants, their dancers and their collaborators must be resident and legally entitled to work in the UK for the duration of the entry process and competition – between 22 February 2012 and 1 May 2013.

5.The entrant must not be a full or part-time undergraduate or foundation course student in a degree-granting programme or equivalent for the duration of the entry process and competition – between February 2012 and May 2013. Neither the dancers nor other collaborators may be a full or part-time undergraduate or foundation course student in a degree-granting programme or equivalent between 16 July 2012 and 1 May 2013.

6. Entry is made by completing an online entry form and submitting a video of no more than three minutes duration and a still that meets the technical guidelines as described on this website. Entries which do not meet the technical guidelines will not be eligible. Entries which exceed three minutes will be cut and only three minutes of footage will be viewed by the commissioners or they will be deemed not eligible.

7. The Place Prize is a competition for dance for the stage and commissioned pieces must be performed on the stage of the Robin Howard Dance Theatre in its standard, front on set up. While video, film, animation and new technology may be elements within live work, dance created for the screen is ineligible.

8. Only one entry per person is permitted, and multiple entries will be deemed invalid.

9. Unless otherwise stated, entries must be uploaded no later than the entry deadline of Wed 22 February 2012 at 11.59pm. If you do not receive a confirmation email within 72 hours of entering the competition please contact us on 020 7121 1040.

10. Entrants and their dancers/other collaborators as relevant must be available:

If shortlisted:

• to make a studio presentation to the selection panel on one day between Monday 16 and Friday 20 April 2012

If commissioned:

• to attend The Place Prize briefing meeting Monday 14 May 2012
• to rehearse at The Place (London artists) or elsewhere (non – London based artists) between 16 July and 6 September 2012, unless otherwise agreed in writing by The Place
• to complete their technical rehearsal day in the Robin Howard Dance Theatre on one day between Wednesday 8 August and Saturday 1 September 2012
• to give preview and semi-final performances between Thursday 6 September and Saturday 22 September 2012

If selected for final:

• to participate in re-rehearsals from 21 March 2013
• to perform at The Place in April 2013

11. While every effort will be made to accommodate entrants availability, The Place reserves the right to change and allocate dates and times at our convenience.

12. Entrants agree that their entry video and still may be subsequently used by The Place for promotion of The Place Prize, including publication on this website. 

Section B Commissioned Choreographers

13. The Place will meet the cost of hiring rehearsal space between the dates of Monday 16 July and Wednesday 5 September 2012 for a minimum of fifteen days, five hours per day or hourly equivalent for commissioned choreographers based outside London. Hire costs must be agreed in writing with The Place before confirmation of booking.

14. The Place reserves the right to recoup all or part of the commission funds plus other expenditure incurred on the choreographers behalf if the commissioned choreographer does not complete a fully-produced work of between 12 and 20 minutes by the agreed date and under the agreed conditions of their technical rehearsal.

15. The copyright of the work remains with the choreographer. The entrant grants The Place the right of first refusal for any subsequent presentation in London of the work and any longer work that contains elements of the Production, until 1 October 2014. It is the responsibility of the choreographer to seek permission from the commissioners for any such subsequent presentation in London.

16. Commissioned choreographers agree that footage of all or parts of the entry video and the commissioned work, whether filmed by the entrant, The Place or a broadcast media partner, may be filmed, edited and broadcast without payment to or permission from the choreographer involved, for news and promotional purposes.

17. The Place reserves the right to sanction in either financial or other way or to not sanction any entrant or commissioned choreographer who is found to be in breach of these regulations.

18. The Director of Theatre and Artist Development and the Judges decisions are final and no correspondence will be entered into.

19. The idea described in the entry video, presented at the shortlist interview and presented in the competition need to have a clear line of development. Variations from the original ideas must be discussed at the earliest opportunity with the commissioners. The Place reserve the right to change the financial contribution to the commission based on this information.

Section C Technical Regulations

20. Lighting plans and technical details of the piece must be delivered to The Place technical office by 11am on the Monday of the week prior to the commission choreographer’s production day. For example, if the production day is in the week commencing Monday 6 August 2012 we will require your information by Monday 30 July 2012. Failure to comply to this clause will result in the company being restricted to the basic rig only.

20.i. The fixed general rig cannot be moved or refocused.

21. A sufficiently experienced lighting designer must be employed by the commissioned choreographer. Where necessary The Place’s Technical Manager will determine suitability, and his/her decision is final. The Place will contribute up to £750 towards lighting designers’ fees to each commissioned choreographer.

21.i.Should the piece contain any scenic elements which are either heavy, very specialised or will require significant support from the technical team the commissioned choreographer is required to provide an experienced  production manager to ensure appropriate standards of installation/ presentation/ safety and to prepare any relevant risk assessments. This should be factored into the commission fee.

21.ii. Any scenic elements or equipment supplied by the commissioned choreographer must comply with any relevant current legislation and be in full safe working order.

21.iii. Should any performer suspension/aerial work be required for the piece the commissioned choreographer must provide their own experienced and qualified rigger to attend all rigging sessions and additional site visits. The rigger must provide relevant risk assessments. A copy of their liability insurance must be kept on file with the Technical Manager.

22.  It is the responsibility of the commissioned choreographer to provide knowledgeable personnel for any technology provided by them for the realisation of the piece.

22.i. Scenic elements should be able to move easily to storage in the rear of the theatre. No scenic elements may be stored in the theatre during the technical production weeks. It is the commissioned choreographer’s responsibility to ensure no scenic items will damage the fabric of the theatre.

22.ii. No fixings are permitted into the sprung floor of the theatre. There are no flying facilities in the theatre. Any suspended scenic elements must not exceed the safe working load for the relevant fixing points.

22.iii All technical requirements of the piece must be achievable to fully set up safely in the time scale of the production schedule. This includes but is not limited to the focusing of light, sound and video checking, placement of scenic elements etc.

22.iv Any equipment required that is not comparable in both type and/or quantity to that listed in the theatres technical specification must be provided by the commissioned choreographer.

23. Permission to use special effects is only obtainable from Camden Council Licensing. A full risk assessment is required at least four weeks in advance of the performance, and at least two weeks in advance of the production day. If permission is not granted then it will not be possible to use the effect. Specials effects include, but are not limited to, pyrotechnics, smoke, flame, changes to the maintained or emergency lighting of the theatre etc

24. It is the responsibility of the commissioned choreographer to allocate sufficient time for their lighting designer to produce focus notes. A copy of these notes should be sent to the Technical Manager within five working days of the production day.

25. The commissioned choreographer’s lighting designer, and production manager where applicable, must be present at all allotted technical periods and performances up to and including the first night of the finals if successful.

25.i. Should a lighting designer not be able to attend further technical periods after the production day it is the responsibility of the commissioned choreographer and the contracted Lighting Designer to ensure an acceptable and experienced deputy is appointed to attend all of the remaining technical periods and performances. This deputy must attend the production day and be able to make all the decisions of the lighting designer they are deputising for. This is only possible with written agreement between the commissioned choreographer, their lighting designer and the theatres technical manager. This agreement must be made prior to contracting the lighting designer. Failure to comply with this may result in a financial penalty.

25.ii. It will not be possible for The Place technical staff to learn cues for the production prior to the Finals.

26. The technical rehearsal time in the theatre is for technical purposes alone. Creative work or rehearsals should not be undertaken.

27. In the event of a commissioned choreographer believing his/her piece has been compromised by a technical failure the judges will decide if the piece needs to be re-presented. The judges’ decision is final.

28. Changes to the technical requirements between the production day and the preview, and the preview and semi final are only permitted with written agreement between the commissioned Choreographer, their Lighting designer, and the Theatre Technical Manager.

28.i.   No additional time in the theatre is possible outside of the allocated technical periods.

Section D After The Place Prize

29. Commissioned Choreographers agree to undertake promotional activity for The Place Prize throughout 2012 and 2013 and subject to availability, until October 2014. Footage for news and promotional purposes may be filmed and broadcast without payment to or permission from the artists involved.

30. The choreographer shall ensure that the “made at The Place” logo and the line credit ‘[title of  the work] was commissioned for The Place Prize, sponsored by Bloomberg’ is included on all press releases, print, brochures, programmes, videos and web-based publicity for all subsequent performances of the work and any longer work which contains elements of the work. The logo and/or line credit should be included on all advertisements except any where available space is so limited that no funding or commissioning credits are included.