Let’s Dance International Frontiers 2019
Opening with a performance of a brand-new work in Leicester Cathedral on 29 April by the Haitian choreographer Jeanguy Saintus and his company, Ayikodans, Let’s Dance International Frontiers 2019 presents a programme of dance, workshops, masterclasses, networking opportunities and films at different venues across the city until 11 May.
The theme of this year’s festival, and the subject of a conference on April 30, is Black Dance: A Contemporary Voice. The festival’s Biography programme includes a talk by the American performer, cultural historian and best-selling author Barbara Dixon Gottschild, whose work focuses on the black dancing body.
Other highlights include the first performance at the festival by New York’s Evidence Dance Company, in a show that founder Ronald K. Brown made for the Alvin Ailey Dance Company in 2014, and the return of leading U.S. deaf/dance exponent, Antoine Hunter, with his Urban Jazz Dance Company.
Four young artists from the U.K. and abroad will present work for which they received mentoring and support through the festival’s Signatures platform, while the Autograph platform showcases two dancers, Misato Shimizu and Ofelia Balogun, who are more established in their careers.
The Phoenix Cinema will show A Good Man (2011), a ninety-minute documentary charting the creative process of choreographer Bill T. Jones as he works on the dance-theatre piece Fondly Do We Hope…Fervently Do We Pray in honour of Abraham Lincoln’s bicentennial.
David Mead, editor of SeeingDance.com writes: ‘LDIF is a really welcoming dance festival that has something for everyone: performances from emerging and established artists, including well-known names from overseas rarely seen in the UK, plus workshops, films and a conference. I love the contemporary vibe and that director Pawlet Brookes is always on the lookout for new spaces to host events alongside established venues.’
For LDIF19 tickets click here.
For the LDIF19 YouTube trailer click here.