The Place

Spring Loaded opens on Sat 10 Apr 8pm with one of the highlights of the recent British Dance Edition. Making its London première, Eddie Ladd’s Ras Goffa Bobby Sands/The Bobby Sands Memorial Race is a visually striking performance set on a twelve by six foot running machine, charting the final years of Bobby Sands, who died on hunger strike in Belfast’s infamous H Blocks in 1981. Resistance and endurance form the core of this compelling piece, with bilingual interviews in English and text in Welsh by poet Menna Elfyn. Bobby Sands was a keen runner as a teenager, and in the US a Bobby Sands Memorial Race is regularly held. Eddie Ladd performs solo, with accompanying music by Guto Puw and a triggered, responsive live sound score by Nick Rothwell.

On Tue 13 and Wed 14 April 8pm there’s Kith/Kin, a double bill from Anthony Missen and Kevin Turner, founders of Company Chameleon. Before Night Fell is an exploration of male identity, friendship, camaraderie and bravery. This is one of several dynamic, sensual works Beth Cassani has created in collaboration with Company Chameleon. In this new work together, they develop concepts of physical risk, game structures, intimacy, vulnerability, power and manipulation. RITES is a duet that is both powerful and poignant in its exploration of those events and experiences that shape us as friends, brothers, fathers and sons. It allies bold athleticism with moments of touching sensitivity.

On Fri 16 April 8pm there’s another chance to see Robin Dingemans’ Not What I Had In Mind, which premiered in Spring Loaded 2009. Robin was subsequently nominated for Outstanding Male Performance for this work by the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards. Not What I Had In Mind is the presentation of images, ideas and moments that matter to 28 diverse people from different backgrounds. Individually they were invited for a day into the studio to work one on one with the performer, using him as a tool to express themselves. The performance is an entertaining and intriguing exploration of the body, communication and dance.

Wild noise, quiet song and leftfield humour marks the stripped down, lo-fi approach of Rick Nodine and collective Neat Timothy, who appear on Tue 20 and Wed 21 April 8pm. The opening duet by Nodine, Come To Mamma, features two raucously physical, vocal women who weave a movement poem from thin air, while the following quartet Wayfaring Stranger introduces choreographic complexity and a vocabulary where upside down is as natural as right side up. The second half of the performance features a collection of dancers, actors, musicians and technicians known as Neat Timothy. Together they weave broken stories, dance animal rituals, sing scenes and light up the dark. Every movement, word, note, and light is carefully improvised. The collective features Rick Nodine, Jamie McCarthy, Jane Leaney, Seke Chimutengwende, Gabriele Reuter, Bryony Perkins and Gareth Green.

On Fri 23 April between 7 - 8pm and over the course of Sat 24 April from 12pm - 2pm and 3pm - 5pm, Spring Loaded moves out of The Place for Leaving, a long-duration performance directed by Place Prize 2006 finalist Simon Ellis which takes shape at St. Pancras International station. It involves eight performers working in synchronised duets to explore the actions and images that underpin the everyday drama of leaving and being left behind. The performance is a subtle tweak to the dynamic of the station, and Leaving's incidental audience will consist of travellers, passers-by and perhaps even families saying goodbye to loved ones. The event is part of the Reveal KX festival and is free for onlookers.

Tom Dale’s urgent choreography cuts between raw, aggressive, visceral movement and refined precision to create dynamic and unpredictable dance. On Tue 27 April 8pm Tom Dale Company presents Roam, a captivating journey into a world of swinging sub-bass and complex percussion that takes as its starting point the imperative to explore and experience. This performance features specially commissioned tracks from maverick producer/composer Shackleton and a live drum and bass set from Sion.

Dance3 is a new touring venture from the National Dance Network. A range of triple bill performances showcase high quality, short dance works at various regional and London venues by emerging choreographers. On Thu 29 and Fri 30 April 8pm at The Place there’s Tanja Råman+Dbini Industries, Darren Ellis and Douglas Thorpe, plus a screening from State of Flux Dancefilm Company.

(Re)Traces features the distinct movement aesthetics of Tanja Råman, stunning photography by John Collingswood and an hypnotic electronic soundscape by Jon Ruddick. (Re)Traces creates constantly evolving maps from traces of the dancing body, exploring the world of memories. Sticks & Bones is a solo for Darren Ellis and his drumsticks, an exploration of practice and the quest for perfection. Just as a drummer must lock and focus his co-ordination, measuring out a rhythm to entice people to dance, a simple rhythm can inspire armies to move. It’s when the sticks take control that the trouble starts. This piece emerged from The Place’s unique international research and development project Choreoroam. A Mind As Beautiful by Douglas Thorpe is a blistering and brutal new work exploring the experience of schizophrenia. It combines the trademark speed, rhythm and precision of Thorpe’s choreography with a moving spoken word narrative. In addition, State of Flux Dancefilm Company’s latest work, A Blank Canvas, will be screened in the theatre bar over the course of both evenings. Directed by Heather Eddington, this installation blends dance, film, animation and design to recount a series of touching personal stories. 

In the second of our Spring Loaded / Reveal KX events, Donatella Cabras and Gabriele Reuter have created RELAY in collaboration with media artists Morgan Caney and Vent Media. Two parallel worlds are connected via TV and video links to transform nearby Goodenough College into a performance space, interface and playground between the audience and performers. Running on Fri 30 April at 7.30pm, on Sat 1 May at 2pm, 5pm and 7.30pm and on Sun 2 May at 12.30pm and 3pm, RELAY dares its audience to disguise, transform and question roles, identities and realities, creating a performance unique on every night and determined by individual choices and engagement with the performers - your willingness to relay.

On Wed 5 and Thu 6 May 8pm Zoi Dimitriou presents In The Process Of…, a beautifully crafted new duet specially commissioned by The Place, supported by The Columbia Foundation and developed as part of Choreoroam. A man and woman negotiate a series of endings, rather than a single unfolding narrative, leading to one inevitable finale while 60 wooden hoops dramatically help and hinder the couple’s relationship on stage. This exploration of stylised film genre movements is underscored by Conlon Nancarrow’s complex compositional structures and lit by Gregor Knüppel.

For the final instalment of this year’s Spring Loaded on Sat 8 May 8pm, Lost Dog recounts the story of what happens in the aftermath - about what becomes important and what we choose to save. Following on from the critically acclaimed Hungry Ghosts, Salvage continues the company’s trademark style of blending beautiful movement and subtle storytelling, choreographed by Ben Duke and Raquel Meseguer, with striking live music from Jamie McCarthy.

For further information and images contact Richard Thompson on 020 7121 1023 or richard.thompson@theplace.org.uk.


Listings Information

The Place: Robin Howard Dance Theatre
17 Duke’s Road, London WC1H 9PY
Box Office: 020 7121 1100 / www.theplace.org.uk
Tickets: £5 - £15, *unless otherwise indicated

Sat 10 April 8pm
Eddie Ladd       Ras Goffa Bobby Sands / The Bobby Sands Memorial Race
+ post-show Q&A

Tue 13 & Wed 14 April 8pm
Company Chameleon                          Kith/Kin
Before Night Fell choreographed by Beth Cassani, Anthony Missen & Kevin Turner
Rites choreographed by Anthony Missen & Kevin Turner
+ post-show Q&A on Tue 13 Apr

Fri 16 April 8pm
Robin Dingemans                                Not What I Had in Mind
+ post-show Q&A

Tue 20 & Wed 21 April 8pm
Rick Nodine & Neat Timothy                 Come to Mamma | Wayfaring Stranger | Untitled
Come to Mamma choreographed by Rick Nodine           
Wayfaring Stranger choreographed by Rick Nodine        
Untitled work created by Neat Timothy   
+ post-show Q&A on Tue 20 Apr

Fri 23 April 7 - 8pm & Sat 24 April 12pm - 2pm, 3pm - 5pm
Simon Ellis                               Leaving (free site-specific performance)
*Venue: St Pancras International station 

Tue 27 April 8pm
Tom Dale Company                              Roam
+ post-show Q&A

Wed 29 & Thu 30 April 8pm
Dance3
Tanja Råman+Dbini Industries             Re(Traces)
Darren Ellis                                        Sticks & Bones
Douglas Thorpe                                  A Mind As Beautiful
State of Flux Dancefilm Company        A Blank Canvas
+ post-show Q&A on Wed 29 Apr

Fri 30 April 7.30pm, Sat 1 May 2pm, 5pm & 7.30pm, Sun 2 May 12.30pm & 3pm
Donatella Cabras & Gabriele Reuter      RELAY
*Venue: Goodenough College, Mecklenburgh Square, London WC1N 2AB
Tickets: £8 – available from The Place. Limited capacity – advance booking recommended

Wed 5 & Thu 6 May 8pm
Zoi Dimitriou                                        In The Process Of…
+ post-show Q&A on Wed 5 May

Sat 8 May 8pm
Lost Dog                                              Salvage
Salvage choreographed by Ben Duke & Raquel Meseguer
+ post-show Q&A


Editors’ Note:
For forty years, The Place has explored what dance can do: engaging with audiences and participants, championing the best ideas, and creating inspiring conditions for artists and enthusiasts to realise their potential. The Place combines London Contemporary Dance School, Richard Alston Dance Company and the Robin Howard Dance Theatre, together with pioneering learning, outreach, recreation and professional development projects. Our approaches to participation, education, creation and performance inform each other, respond to today’s world, and embrace risks. Our goals for the future build on the achievements of our history: to transform and enrich lives, to continue to create the future of dance.