Transitions Dance Company’s triple bill showcases the next generation of contemporary dance performers from Trinity Laban with twelve MA students performing three new pieces from choreographers Dog Kennel Hill Project, Theo Clinkard and Ederson Rodrigues Xavier.
Since it was founded in 1982 by original Martha Graham Dance Company member Bonnie Bird, this company has aimed to bridge the gap between training and a professional performance career for graduate dancers.
It aims to give practical experience of life in a touring dance company whilst company members their MA in Dance Performance. Past alumni include Sir Matthew Bourne (New Adventures), Luca Silvestrini (Luca Silvestrini’s Protein) and Emma Gladstone (Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Dance Umbrella).
Fieldwork from performance and research collective Dog Kennel Hill Project (formed by dance artists Ben Ash, Henrietta Hale—a former Transitions Dance Company member—and Rachel Lopez de la Nieta) explores how, as a newly formed company, the dancers locate themselves now and in relation to their past. Through a deconstructed series of arrivals and departures and a language of stumbles, false starts, surges and going round in circles, Fieldwork asks “when do we truly arrive anywhere?”
my dance, your touch by Rambert-trained Theo Clinkard draws upon research that outlines how physical touch affects our behavioural, cultural, emotional and biological development. Through memories, connections and music the movements of the piece are each crafted by the touch of another.
Independent choreographer, dancer teacher and video artist Ederson Rodrigues Xavier's 12 follows internal impulses or external attraction to capture the dancers’ attention, incorporating a specially created score composed by Trinity Laban student Ben Pearson.
Trinity Laban will be holding auditions for next year’s Transitions Dance Company across March and April, following the announcement of Cristian Duarte, Oded Ronen and Charles Linehan as the choreographers for next year’s tour.