Let’s Dance International Frontiers will be back onstage, live, and in person in 2022 with performances at Leicester Curve, The Guildhall, Sue Townsend Theatre and in the streets of the city itself. The programme includes workshops for professional practitioners as well as students of dance, workshops, talks and networking opportunities at various venues across the city. There will be online events too for dance fans and delegates who can’t attend in person.
LDIF Artistic Director Pawlet Brookes MBE is founder, CEO and Artistic Director of Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage, presenters of the annual dance festival: “We love presenting LDIF in Leicester,” says Pawlet, “and having the opportunity to animate the city through dance. We always come up with something fun to surprise people: capoeira at the train station, a flashmob by the clock tower, site specific work at Leicester Cathedral or the Guildhall, or a fabulous company at Curve that people might not have seen before.
“We are thrilled that LDIF22 will be the first year the festival will be taking to the main stage in the theatre at Curve, following a long collaboration of presenting work in the studio. We can’t think of a better company than Ballet Hispánico – who are based in New York City – for this occasion.
“Whether it is contemporary dance, something more classical or avant-garde, there is something for everyone in the programme. We will also be commissioning photographers and dancers to take to the streets and buildings of Leicester with movement and performance art; we’re calling it Dance in the City which will happen daily from 29 April to 8 May on the streets of Leicester where dancers will respond to the theme of LDIF22 – performances will also be filmed and available to view online.”
Let’s Dance International Frontiers 22 Highlights Include:
Ballet Hispánico: the legendary New York-based company currently celebrating its 50th anniversary, makes its long awaited English stage debut at Leicester Curve on 6 – 7 May with a mixed bill of works that span Latinx cultures. The company’s charismatic Artistic Director, Eduardo Vilaro will be giving an LDIF+ Masterclass on 4 May at Curve – an event not to be missed.
Philip Herbert, the award-winning British classical composer, provides his evocative new score, Siren Calls: To an Illusive Journey to choreographer/dancer Monique Jonas (Richard Alston, New Adventures) and to Thomas Talawa Prestø, the Oslo-based Artistic Director of Tabanka Dance. The two artists will share their work on 29 April – International Dance Day and official launch of LDIF22 – and 30 April respectively.
Tabanka Dance Ensemble, the electrifying dance company from Norway directed by its founder Thomas Talawa Prestø, will perform at the Sue Townsend Theatre on 30 April with a mixed bill from their repertoire.
Yinka Esi Graves and Maya Taylor, present two collaborative solo works, first shared online as part of LDIF’s 2020 and 2021 programmes, come to life with Leicester’s historical Guildhall as a backdrop on 5 May.
Signatures and Black British Dance Platform is the performance platform for emerging talent which will take place at Leicester Curve on 4 May. Signatures will showcase new talent supported and developed by Serendipity while Black British Dance Platform is a collaboration between Serendipity and Dance4, the dance development organisation based in Nottingham, with the ambition to support and nurture dance artists from the African and African Caribbean Diaspora, who are based in England.
Dance Dialogues is a series of conversations, inviting contributors to share their expertise on a broad range of topics from the mental wellbeing of Black male dancers through to Black presence in ballet and decolonising dance practice.
