Posts Tagged ‘ballet nacional de cuba’

What’s on in week 2

Here’s a round-up of what’s happening this week (26 April-2 May) at International Dance Festival Birmingham. It’s only the second week of the Festival and it’s jam-packed with fantastic dance experiences, so there’s something for everyone!

The Performances

The world-renowned Ballet Nacional de Cuba presents a stunning mixed bill Magia de la Danza at Birmingham Hippodrome, featuring a special guest appearance from Carlos Acosta on the Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.

carlos-acosta

At The Rep, we have the extraordinary Sutra by celebrated Flemish/Moroccan choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui in collaboration with Turner Prize-winning artist Antony Gormley and 17 Monks directly from the original Shaolin Temple in China. This show has had fantastic reviews, and is definitely a must-see.

Meanwhile, The Patrick Centre presents a hilarious double bill; Pere Faura’s ‘This is a Picture of a Person I Don’t Know’ and Club Fisk’s Forestillinger, Birmingham Hippodrome hosts Ballet Nacional de Cuba’s Giselle, and The Rep has circus-inspired spectacular CIRCA.

The IDFB 2010 Shop will also be open in the Pavillions shopping centre, with classes, rehearsals and opportunities to get involved in the Put Your Foot Down event. You can also buy tickets and merchandise or chat to the IDFB team and find out what’s coming up in the Festival.

Free events

There are free performances of Utopia in Victoria Square on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Directed by Arthur Pita, Utopia combines contemporary dancers with Russian, Spanish, Indian and African folk dance groups, all moving to the turbo-folk Gypsy and Balkan beats of Birmingham’s very own band, The Destroyers. Don’t miss this free global dance spectacular.

Outspoken Weekend

Supported by the British Council, the Outspoken Weekend starts on Thursday with a range of performances, talks and films celebrating dance from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia. Outspoken is the first UK performance season dedicated to new choreography from Arab artists, and features exclusive previews and thought-provoking discussions. You can see the full line-up here. Some of the Outspoken events are free – for the others, individual tickets are available, as is a £30 weekend pass.

outspoken

It’s a busy festival with lots going on, so to keep up to date with what’s happening follow IDFB on Twitter and sign up to the Facebook Page. Please also let us know what you go to see – we’d love to hear from you about what you’re enjoying in IDFB 2010!

Looking forward to 2010

giselle

The holiday season is fast receding (I hope you had a good break, by the way) and thoughts have turned to the year ahead. IDFB 2010 doesn’t feel very far away and the anticipation is starting to build.

For instance, we were pleased to see that this past weekend The Sunday Times, in their round-up of the hottest dance tickets of the year, named shows that will feature at IDFB 2010:

Birmingham’s a busy city for dance this year – I’ll expand on that later. However, British Dance Edition 2010 (3-6 Feb) is on the immediate horizon with Akram Khan and Rosie Kay both showing work before returning for the festival later in the year.

Rosie Kay is currently in rehearsals at DanceXchange and I’ll be popping in to see how things are going later in the week.