LET’S DANCE INTERNATIONAL FRONTIERS 2021
SOCIALLY ENGAGED ART: CAN DANCE CHANGE THE WORLD?
29 APRIL TO 8 MAY – FEATURING 11 DAYS OF OUTDOOR AND ONLINE EVENTS
Annual festival features online performances, discussions, workshops and a conference exploring dance as a medium for positive change.
Online Colonisation in Reverse: Jean-Léon Destiné Exhibition featuring archival materials, some of which have never been presented in public before.
Performances from BOP Jazz Theatre Company and Dani Walter-Harris, Paris Crossley and Fubunation streamed from Curve Leicester.
Online conference Creating Socially Engaged Art: Can Dance Change the World? highlighting the impact that Black communities have made to the international dance ecology.
LDIF+ masterclasses will take place in person in June.
For online tickets and information CLICK HERE.
We’re pleased to announce a full programme for Let’s Dance International Frontiers 2021 the annual international dance festival in Leicester can be enjoyed online at home.
Launching the festival on 29 April will be the Colonisation in Reverse: Jean-Léon Destiné Exhibition. Featuring archival materials, some of which have never been presented in public before. The exhibition brings to life the rich and colourful career of acclaimed Haitian choreographer Jean-Léon Destiné (1918 – 2013), known for his work that addresses Haiti’s history of resistance against colonialism and slavery.
The exhibition will be available here from the 29 April. The exhibition will also be available in person at Curve in Leicester from 17 May, in line with the UK Government COVID-19 Road Map.
As part of the festival launch day (29 April) Serendipity will also be showing the online film series Born to Manifest by Jospeh Toonga in anticipation of the live outdoor performance of Born to Protest to take place in Leicester in June 2021. A 4 part series responding to Hip Hop theatre work Born to Manifest By Artistic Director Joseph Toonga. A work that illuminates the systematic racial cycles and their impact on Black British men.
A range of national and international dance performances will be online streamed. Streamed from Curve Leicester, Black British Dance Platform (30 April) is a showcase of new and innovative work by British based artists from the African and African Caribbean Diaspora supported by Serendipity and Dance4. Work from three artists; Dani Harris-Walters, Paris Crossley and Fubunation has been selected as part of an initiative to affect long-term change in dance through leadership and collaboration as part of both Serendipity’s Let’s Dance International Frontiers and Dance4’s Dance from England.
Also streaming is Spirit of Jazz by BOP Jazz Theatre Company (5 May) who captures the individual and collective human spirit and creative expression of the jazz dance theatre art form. Also available online steamed from the US and Spain will be Dance Double Bill with Yinka Esi Graves and Maya Taylor (7 – 8 May) with two exciting new pieces of dance from two change making choreographers.
For dance enthusiasts, artists and academics this year’s festival conference is Creating Socially Engaged Art: Can Dance Change the World? (4 May) seeks to highlight the impact that Black women in particular have made to the international dance ecology. Contributors to the conference include Chanon Judson, Urban Bush Women (USA), Greta Mendez (Trinidad /UK), Maya Taylor (USA), Marlene Myrtil (Martinique / UK), Wanjiru Kamuya (Kenya/France) and nora chipaumire (Zimbabwe / USA).
Alongside world class performances Let’s Dance International Frontiers (LDIF) will also feature a number of discussion and in conversation events including Black British Dance Platform in Conversation, Digital Dance and Discussion (1 May) and Globally Connecting: International Association of Blacks in Dance In Conversation (7 May).
This years LDIF+, Let’s Dance International Frontiers programme will take place in late June, supporting continuing professional development opportunities for dancers and choreographers. This years festivals LDIF+ programme features Masterclasses from Dollie Henry (19 June) and Jonzi D (20 June), alongside Joseph Toonga’s Born to Protest.
Pawlet Brookes Artistic Director and CEO of Serendipity UK, producers of Let’s Dance International Frontiers (LDIF) said: ‘As we move through this challenging period arts and culture will be crucial in playing a key role in reengaging society, helping mental and physical health and stimulating the economy, with this in mind we’re pleased to announce a full programme for Let’s Dance International Frontiers 2021 will be able to be enjoyed outdoors and online at home. As well as world class performances we are also giving audiences a number of opportunities to be involved in the conversation online alongside leading artists and practitioners and workshop opportunities for emerging and mid-career artists.‘
Let’s Dance International Frontiers 2021 is produced by Serendipity.
Serendipity is an arts, culture and education organisation that puts diverse communities and practitioners centre stage, celebrating diversity and intersectional identities. Each year they programme Black History Month Leicester and Let’s Dance International Frontiers (LDIF). Alongside these two festivals we also produce publications, stage conferences and facilitate creative educational projects.
In 10 years Let’s Dance International Frontiers (LDIF) has welcomed over 266 artists and companies from over 45 countries.
A number of this year’s events will also be available online to find out how to access these please visit the event listing click here.
For our Let’s Dance International Frontiers 2021 Online Conference there is a special Early Bird Discount rate of £25 (usual price £35). This offer ends 5 April.