The Place

The 20 choreographers commissioned to produce works for The Place Prize for Dance 2008, sponsored by Bloomberg, were revealed today. With diverse experience, backgrounds and themes for their works, this year’s participants hope to follow in the successful footsteps of former finalists including Hofesh Shechter, Rafael Bonachela and Nina Rajarani.

The Place Prize is the dance world’s cross between the Turner Prize and the X Factor – with the former’s celebration of artistic excellence and the latter’s knack for uncovering new talent with the help of a live audience. It is Europe’s largest choreography competition and is produced by The Place, the UK’s premier centre for contemporary dance. The biennial competition is now in its third edition, and by the end of this year’s event The Place Prize will have invested £750,000 in developing choreographic talent, including a total commissioning, performing and prize fund of £165,000 for this year’s participants.

The 20 commissioned works encompass a broad range of styles, from hip-hop to line dancing, and will mix group pieces, trios, duets and solos. They will be developed from an eclectic range of thematic starting points, including audience participation, growing up in northern England, men’s bodies, breaking up and breaking down, conversations with the dead, a deaf artist’s relationship to music, virtual ‘clone’ dancers and the relationship between Neitzche and fate. Choreographers will collaborate with artists from other fields, including music, new media and theatre.

The choreographers taking part this year include current and former members of some of the world’s top dance companies, including Nederlands Dans Theater, New Adventures, Phoenix Dance Company, Rambert Dance Company, Random Dance, The Royal Ballet and Russell Maliphant Company.  The competition is open to all UK-based choreographers, but affirming the international make-up of the UK’s dance scene and Britain’s continuing ability to attract talent from abroad, 11 out of the 20 artists trained outside the UK, with choreographers from countries including France, Australia, Chile and Japan.

Each of the 20 choreographers receives a commission award of £5,000, and is given studio time and technical support to create their new works over the summer. The works will be premiered at The Place in London in September 2008, and in a further series of performances five finalists will then compete for £10,000 of audience-voted prizes.  The judges will award the grand prize of £25,000 on Saturday 27 September 2008.  

The 20 commissioned choreographers are:
Temitope Ajose-Cutting
Aletta Collins
Robin Dingemans
Charlotte Eatock & Rachael Mossom
Simon Ellis
Victoria Fox
Philine Janssens
Darren Johnston
Kyoung-Shin Kim
Saiko Kino
Adam Linder
Jelka Milic
Chisato Minamimura
Colin Poole
Mickael Riviere
Bettina Strickler
Dam Van Huynh
Jose Luis Vidal
Anna Williams
Ben Wright

John Ashford, Theatre Director of The Place and creator of the biennial prize, said today:
"Once again The Place Prize has thrown up a list of commissioned artists that no-one could have predicted, with an incredible range of ideas to bring to the stage. There’s a deep pool of talent in British dance, and The Place Prize brings that talent to the surface. I can’t wait to see the work they produce."

The Place Prize has quickly established itself as a springboard for high profile careers in choreography. Many of the 40 works so far created for The Place Prize in 2004 and 2006 continue to be performed in their original or extended versions. They have been seen at Sadler’s Wells, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Tate Modern, in Dance Umbrella and British Dance Edition and in countries throughout Europe, North and South America and the Far East. Exposure through The Place Prize has helped dozens of commissioned artists gain further performances, commissions and funding.