This year, members of Trinity Laban’s Faculty of Dance will be paying two visits to Helsinki, for auditions and performances.

In May, our postgraduate dance company Transitions will perform at The Theatre Academy of Uniarts, Helsinki as part of their international tour. They will be presenting a brand new triple bill, including a piece by acclaimed Finnish choreographer and Trinity Laban alumnus Jarkko Partanen.

Jarkko is a founding member of multidisciplinary arts collective WAUHAUS, which recently won the prestigious annual Finnish State Award for Performing Arts. He says of his new piece:

“The piece continues two trajectories I have been interested in continuing from previous works: touch and obscuring the body. Transitions is a company with its own identity and I think the group is fantastic. It’s really nice to have such a diverse group of people from different backgrounds, with very different skills, but who work really well together and complement each other. There’s been a lot of laughter and playfulness, which is good!”

Ahead of that visit, on 3 & 4 February Trinity Laban will be holding auditions for students interested in studying on our various undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

Jarkko Partanen himself completed his undergraduate studies at Trinity Laban, graduating in 2008. He says of his time at Trinity Laban:

“To collaborate with so many colleagues and find people who were interested in working with me was very powerful. As was working with and observing the choreographers who created the newly commissioned works for us in my final year, which gave me greater insight into different creative processes. I really liked my time here, I felt very supported by the institution, and the Laban Theatre is one of the most beautiful theatres I’ve worked in!”

To find out more about our Helsinki auditions, email helsinki@trinitylaban.ac.uk.

To find out more about the Transitions Dance Company, visit our website

To read our full interview with Jarkko, visit our blog.

Once again numerous Trinity Laban alumni and current students are taking part in The Place’s annual festival of new dance and performance works.

Resolution 2018 runs from now until 23 February and features over 70 works showcased in mixed bill programmes across six weeks. Trinity Laban students and alumni are taking part in 29 of the performances – see the full list below.

This year, Resolution 2018 kicks off at 8pm on 12 January with alumnus Kendall Farrell’s Submerged, an exploration of what it means to be overwhelmed, how we cope and what brings us back. The following night, alumnus Ella Fleetwood‘s company ella&co presents the satirical and relevant #nofilter, which delves into the intricacies of life as a social media-obsessed millennial and has been picked by londondance.com as one of their festival highlights.

Also presenting this year current MA Choreography student Ania Straczynska, whose piece Grains illuminates and reflects on shared cultural heritage. Ania comments –

“I am very lucky to be involved for the second time. It is a unique opportunity to test your work in front of almost 300 spectators..”

You can read more about Ania’s experience, her work, and her studies at Trinity Laban on our blog

To find out more and to book tickets visit The Place’s website. 

To find out more about studying dance at Trinity Laban, visit our pages.

Image credit: Chris Nash

 

Trinity Laban students and alumni at Resolution 2018

 

Friday 12 Jan

Submerged – Kendall Farrell

 

Saturday 13 Jan

#nofilter – ella&co (Ella Fleetwood, Eva Escrich Gonzalez)

 

Tuesday 16 Jan

Gravity bears the truth – Skog Dansa(Giacomo Pini)

 

 Wednesday 17 Jan

The Other Self – J7s Dance Company (Giulia Iurza, Giulia Avino, Anna Borini, Caterina Pernao, Giacomo Pini, Selene Travaglia, Gloria Trolla, Paola Drera, Aaron Chaplin)

Somber Sloughing – Mirabelle Gremaud

 

Thursday 18 Jan

The Little Girl Inside Me  – Marie Yagami Movement (Greta Gauhe)

 

Friday 19 Jan

Some People Say – Róisín O’Brien

 

Saturday 20 Jan

Brace Leash Pack – Hannah Cameron Dance (Hannah Cameron, Marcus Alessandrini, Melanie Clark, Becky Horne, Sophie Tellings) 

Achilles – Pierre & Baby (Luke Bafico)

 

Tuesday 23 Jan

Assemblies –  Lydia Touliatou (music by Ben Ramsden) 

Swapping Shadows – Yanaelle Thiran 

Flowers in December – Hinged Dance Co (Jack Parry)

 

Wednesday 24 Jan 

Quinque – Emma Stanworth and Company (Emma Stanworth, Leo Meredith) 

Spektakel – Natalie Sloth-Richter

 

Thursday 25 Jan

(Un)Changed – Livia Massarelli (Giacomo Pini)

 

Friday 26 Jan 

SIXFOLD – Elisabeth Schilling

 

Saturday 27 Jan 

Lather. Rinse. Repeat. – Watts Dance (Cecilia Watts, Gaia Cicolani, Hannah Wade, Caitlin Murray, Robin Porter)

Her past in their present now – Grov Productions (Brita Grov)

 

Tuesday 30 Jan 

Orphan Realms – Tara D’Arquian 

 

Wednesday 31 Jan

To The Flame The Moth Said – Amy Foskett Dance (Amy Foskett, Georgia Brown) 

Grains – Ania Straczynska

 

Thursday 1 Feb

Kinetic Being – 180 degrees (Robert Suchy, Yuka Negoro, Jan Margolius)

Keep digging – Simple Dance Company (Bradley Marshall)

 

Friday 2 Feb

Orchard – Elinor Lewis

 

Tuesday 13 Feb

Bandeeni (prisoner) – Arunima Kumar’s (Eva Escrich Gonzales)

 

Thursday 15 Feb

Drowning – The Follow Through Collective (Greta Gauhe, music by Andrew Liddell)

 

Friday 16 Feb

Living is dancing –Justine Reeve and Company (Ella Fleetwood, Hester Gill)

 

Wednesday 21 Feb

The way you feed me, the way you warm my skin, is just amazing. Even when I look at you it’s fun. Thanks. – Svenja Buehl

 

Thursday 22 Feb

Tenome 手の目 – eyes on hand – EDIFICE (Harriet Waghorn)

 

 

Trinity Laban’s Director of Music, Dr Claire Mera-Nelson, is leaving Trinity Laban at the end of March to take up the post of Director, Music and London for Arts Council England.

Professor Anthony Bowne, Principal of Trinity Laban, paid tribute to her, saying:

“Claire has been a truly outstanding colleague. She has been an exceptional leader and ambassador for Trinity Laban, and an unparalleled creative and strategic thinker who has helped us develop and thrive. She is deeply admired and respected throughout the musical world, and it doesn’t surprise me at all that she has been asked to take up this hugely important role at Arts Council England.

As Director of Music since 2010, her achievements are numerous. Among many other things, she introduced new Musical Theatre programmes and our CoLab festival of collaboration, brokered numerous key partnerships (most recently with the Open University and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra), increased our international profile (notably through her involvement with the Association of European Conservatoires) and helped us introduce a range of innovative distance learning programmes.

As Claire departs, we have more music applications than ever before in our history, more people are making us our first choice place of study, and we enjoy an enhanced reputation across the UK and far beyond.

I thank Claire for all that she has done for us, and I wish her the greatest success in her new role.”

Trinity Laban will soon begin the process of recruiting a successor. For more information, visit the Trinity Laban website.

Image: James Keats

Rising-star choreographer and dancer Preeti Vasudevan receives prestigious award in recognition of outstanding talent.

The Lincoln Center for Performing Arts in New York has announced its 2018 Awards for Emerging Artists, which honour the outstanding artistry and promising future of eleven artists.

Nominated by the New York Public Library of Performing Arts, award-winning choreographer, dancer and educator Preeti Vasudevan joins other talented dancers, musicians, composers, and filmmakers in the line-up for this year’s awards. She will receive financial support to be used for career advancement and future study.

Vasudevan graduated from Trinity Laban with a masters in Dance Studies in 2002 before founding the performing arts and education collaborative Thresh in 2005. She has since been Artist-in-Residence at New York Live Arts (2015-17), Resident Fellow at the Center for Ballet and the Arts, NYU (2016), and has been commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Veiled Moon, 2015). Vasudevan is an exponent of classical Indian dance (Bharatanatyam) and creates contemporary works from this tradition.

On receiving the award, Vasudevan comments:

“I am very honoured and humbled as the first artist of Indian descent to be awarded by one of the leading institutions of the world. Lincoln Center is a center for artistic growth and the nurturing of future leaders in the arts. That they felt my work and mission worthwhile encourages me to dig deeper and help open more doors to a greater collaborative spirit between artists and the wider community.”

Speaking to BroadwayWorld.com, Lincoln Center President Debora L. Spar commented:

“The Emerging Artist Awards exemplify the shared mission of all eleven Lincoln Center residents toward furthering excellence in the performing arts. It is an honor to help foster the next generation of artistic leaders and a privilege to celebrate their exceptional talents as they embark on their careers.”

To find out more about studying Dance at Trinity Laban, please visit our pages.

Image: Vasudevan’s current work-in-development Etudes, with New York City Ballet’s Principal dancer Amar Ramasar (Credit: Pavlos Mavridis)

Directed by Ralph Allwood MBE, ‘Sacred Choral Works’ is the first album entirely devoted to the music of Roderick Williams OBE 

Under the baton of celebrated choral conductor Ralph Allwood MBE, the Old Royal Naval College Trinity Laban Chapel Choir has recorded the works of British singer and composer Roderick Williams OBE. 

The choir is formed of local volunteer singers who sing alongside twelve choral scholars from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, and is unique in being the only collegiate chapel choir in the world to be attached to a specialist conservatoire. 

To launch their debut recording on Friday 15^th December the choir performed a selection of tracks from the album in the stunning setting of the Old Royal Naval College Chapel. The performance was followed by a drinks reception with the artists and the composer. 

Known primarily as an internationally-acclaimed baritone, Williams has received much praise for his work as a choral and vocal composer, winning a British Composer Award in 2016 and enjoying international performances and recordings. 

On having a CD of his works recorded Williams comments: 

“This is the first CD that has been dedicated to my music. The thrill and the honour of it is difficult to put into words. Many of these pieces I had never heard until the recording sessions. I am immensely grateful to all concerned for making it possible.”

Choir director Ralph Allwood comments: 

“It was an inspired idea of Timothy Teague’s to suggest making a recording of the choral music of Roderick Williams. Because most of the choir are studying voice at Trinity Laban, and because he’s such a fine baritone, Roderick is a role model as a singer as well as a musician.  His unusual musicianship enables him to pick up the style of any work which he is involved with, and create his own superb choral pieces. I was thrilled that Signum took on the disc, and it was wonderful to work with Adrian Peacock, with his superb producing skills.” 

The album is available to purchase now from Presto Classical. 

To find out more about studying music at Trinity Laban, visit our pages.

Music and Dance icons were presented with the highest honour from Trinity Laban during ceremonies for 2017 graduating students.

An Honorary Fellowship was presented to the Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre Jude Kelly CBE and prominent conductor Dr Tim Reynish on Wednesday 6 December, whilst Artistic Director of The Place, Richard Alston CBE received his award on Friday 8 December.

Olivier award-winning Judith Kelly CBE has been the Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre – Europe’s largest Arts Institution – in London for over 10 years. In her varied career, she founded Battersea Arts Centre, Solent People’s Theatre and was the founding director of the West Yorkshire Playhouse, and has directed over 100 theatrical and operatic productions from the Royal Shakespeare Company to the Châtalet in Paris.

In collecting her award, she commented –

Trinity Laban has been ground-breaking in its approach to personal creativity and practical industry know-how. All of us want the Arts to matter and contribute to society’s prosperity in every way. Trinity Laban is helping students to fully realise their artistic potential. 

Dr Timothy Reynish was previously Head of the School of Wind and Percussion at the Royal Northern College of Music for 21 years, building the RNCM Wind Orchestra as one of the leading ensembles of its kind. Outside of education, he has commissioned and premiered many works, and performed and toured on an international stage.

In collecting his award, he commented –

It is a great honour to receive this award, and to join so distinguished a group of past recipients not only from the world of music, but from the wider fields of dance, theatre, education and performing arts in general. I am especially pleased that the award recognises the importance of the wind ensemble in contemporary music, and the great contribution being made currently by the Department of Wind, Brass and Percussion at Trinity Laban under its director, Andrew Dunn.

Richard Alston is recognised as one of the most prominent figures in contemporary dance, having been Artistic Director of The Place – home to London Contemporary Dance School and Richard Alston Dance Company – since 1994. He was previously Resident Choreographer with Ballet Rambert, and was Artistic Director there from 1986 until 1992.

In collecting his award, he commented –

I have worked in dance long enough to have seen the legacy of Rudolf Laban blossom from the small but impassioned Art of Movement Centre at Addlestone in Surrey into the impressive and wide reaching establishment that Trinity Laban has become today. Over the years the centre has progressively taken huge steps to ensure its continuing relevance to contemporary practice and ideas in dance. Trinity Laban remains a vital ingredient in the world of creative education and vocational training. 

Our monthly roundup of some of the successes for Trinity Laban alumni.

This month, we presented alumnus Richard Gaddes – former General Director of Santa Fe Opera and Opera Theater of St Louis – with an Honorary Fellowship, which was presented by fellow Trinity Laban alumnus Sir Matthew Bourne at a reception in New York City.

On the topic of awards, President of Decca Records and Alumnus Rebecca Allen has won the prestigious Music Week Women in Music 2017 ‘Business Woman of the Year’ award, whilst jazz alumnus Moses Boyd was awarded a second MOBO award for Best Jazz Act.

It’s been a bumper month for Boyd, who was been nominated for Best Jazz Act at this year’s Urban Music Awards as part of duo Binker and Moses, alongside fellow alumni Camila George Quartet and the eventual winners Ezra Collective. 

There have been countless alumni performances at the Cambridge and London Jazz Festivals this month, and some fantastic reviews including some below:

• Dee Byrne’s Entropi (Dee Byrne, Rebecca Nash, Olie Brice and Matt Fisher)
• Elliot Galvin Trio (Elliot Galvin and Corrie Dick)

It’s not just music alumni who have been performing at the jazz festivals. Dance graduates Elisa Vassena and Stella Papi joined forces with jazz bassist and alumnus Olie Brice for a new interdisciplinary double bill by dance artist Kasia Witek which was performed at the LJF.

Other festivals this month included Emerge Festival at The Space, London, a festival for emerging dance and physical theatre work. It featured performances from Greta Gauhe as part of contemporary dance group Follow Through Collective and musical theatre alumni Our-Kind who presented Utopia. Additionally, alumnus Mary Ellen Beaudreau is amongst a collection of five choreographers who have created work for Festival Ballet Providence’s ‘Up Close On Hope Series’.

We recently announced that Robert Clarke will be one of two dance artists to receive a Compass Commission, our flagship commissioning programme in partnership with Greenwich Dance. Maurice Kelliher has also received funding from Dance On The Radio for his latest work Lost Broadcasts, which will be presented in 2018.

In performance news, vocal alumni Katy Huntley, Tom McKenna, and Lucy Bray premiered Stephen McNeff’s new opera The Burning Boy in Cornwall, which received a 4* review in The Times. Another vocal alumni, Nardus Williams, performed the double role of Marjana/Maggie in the world premiere of Glyndebourne Youth Opera’s Belongings, with Ashley Beuchamp as the répétiteur for the production.

After a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe, Luca Silvestrini‘s award-winning company Protein performed Border Tales at The Place. Additionally, Silvestrini’s Protein and People Dancing have launched People Dancing: Together, a new programme of participatory dance aimed at engaging the public in creating and performing dance in diverse communities.

Over in the West-End, new musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie has opened at the Apollo Theatre, with alumnus Theo Jamieson as the Musical Director. Musical Theatre graduates Duncan Cumming and Christy Bellis have been performing in Erasmus Theatre’s production of Into the Woods which is touring Italy, whilst Lucy Elson performed in Tiger Bay The Musical at the Wales Millennium Centre this month. 

Don’t miss:

Musical theatre alumnus Leo Rowell performing in the Thursford Christmas Spectacular throughout December.

Jeff Wayne’s musical version of The War of the Worlds has gone on sale! Book now for the arena tour in 2018.

Alumni Marcella Puppini and Kate Mullins, performing as part of the Puppini Sister at the Greenwich Wintertime Festival this December.

Rising jazz star drummer and Trinity Laban alumnus Moses Boyd has picked up the MOBO award for Best Jazz Act at the pre-MOBO ceremony on Tuesday 20 November.

This is the second MOBO for Boyd, who won in the same category in 2015 as one half of duo Binker and Moses (with tenor saxophonist Binker Golding). 

Moses Boyd graduated with a BMus (Hons) Jazz Drums in 2016. Throughout his time at Trinity Laban he worked in a professional capacity as one half of the duo Binker and Moses, with his ensemble The Exodus and on his own as Solo Exodus and released music under his own label Exodus Records. He has released two albums with Exodus and debut album ‘Dem Ones’ with Binker and Moses. 

Already Boyd has picked up multiple awards, including The John Peel Play more Jazz Award from the 2016 Gilles Peterson Worldwide Awards, Parliamentary Jazz award for Jazz Newcomer of the Year 2016, two Jazz FM awards and the Worshipful Company of Musicians’ Young Jazz Musician award in 2014. 

Moses Boyd is just the latest in a series of Trinity Laban jazz alumni receiving awards in recognition of their outstanding talent, paving the way for successful careers in music. Recent examples include Laura Jurd, Elliot Galvin and Peter Edwards, among others. 

To find out more about studying Jazz at Trinity Laban, please visit our pages.

The Greenwich Dance & Trinity Laban Partnership has announced that it will support two dance artists – Robert Clark and Rachael Young – in the latest round of their Compass Commissions programme.

Out of more than 75 proposals, Robert and Rachael will receive commissions, enabling them to benefit from a suite of support and resources designed to help them create innovative new dance work.

Robert Clark’s work MASS is a performance event based on the concepts of ritual and belief. Informed by research into ritualised behaviour, this immersive work explores the connections between our senses, perception, understanding of reality, and our relationship with belief – both as individuals and as a society.

On hearing the news of the commission, Robert said: “Receiving this Compass Commission is an exciting moment for both my own artistic growth and the development of MASS. It’s an award that truly aims to facilitate the work I have dreamt of making for the past few years, and gives it the seed from which to grow. Partnering with Greenwich Dance and Trinity Laban to realise my ambitions for this work feels right, and I believe that their identities and core values as organisations will feed the work as it grows.”

Rachael Young’s piece NIGHTCLUBBING is an interdisciplinary performance, which harnesses the visceral power of live music to explore Afrofuturism and intersectional feminism.

On receiving the commission, Rachael commented: “Being awarded this commission represents a big turning point for me. It will massively support my ambition to further explore and expand the use of movement in my practice, and it feels great to know that I’ll have the time, space and support to do that. The commission means that we can work with the creative team in a way that we want and realise the potential of this ambitious project, with the help of the vast experience and knowledge that Greenwich Dance and Trinity Laban have to offer.”

Compass Commissions is The Greenwich Dance & Trinity Laban Partnership’s flagship commissioning scheme supporting selected UK-based artists throughout the process of creation. This is the fifth year that the Partnership has been able to support new works through this commissioning programme. Each commissioned artist receives a package of support, including a £4000 commission fee, rehearsal facilities at Greenwich Dance and Trinity Laban, production development support and performance opportunities.

Brian Brady, Head of Laban Theatre Programme at Trinity Laban and Compass Commissions panel member – commented: “I’m delighted that Trinity Laban can be a part of these commissions, with two wonderful, very different artists; both of whom will, through performance, explore and celebrate our shared humanity in their distinctive ways.”

Kat Bridge – Artistic Director of Greenwich Dance and Compass Commissions panel member – continued: “Meeting Robert and Rachael was invigorating, and at Greenwich Dance we are particularly interested in how both of their ideas seek to engage and to explore with audiences rather than present at them. We’re committed to ensuring that our approach and support will enable these artists to create the very best versions of these projects.”

These latest works will be the fourteenth and fifteenth commissioned by the Partnership. Previous artists that have been (or are being) supported through Compass Commissions include Nick Bryson and Robin Dingemans, Julie Cunningham, Tara D’Arquian, Laura Dannequin and Stephanie McMann, Dan Daw, Sarah Dowling and Kath Duggan, Mimbre, Wendy Houstoun, Tom Roden and Anna Williams, Botis Seva, Stephanie Schober, Charlotte Spencer and Rahel Vonmoos.

MASS by Robert Clark will receive its world premiere at Greenwich Dance in March 2018. The premiere date of NIGHTCLUBBING by Rachael Young will be announced in 2018.

Image: Botis Seva’s Woman of Sun (Chris Nash)

Trinity Laban has presented an Honorary Fellowship to alumnus former General Director of Santa Fe Opera and Opera Theater of St Louis Richard Gaddes, in recognition of his 50 year career in opera in the USA.

The Fellowship was presented by fellow Trinity Laban alumnus Sir Matthew Bourne at a “TL in NYC” reception in New York City on 2 November.

Both Richard Gaddes and Sir Matthew Bourne talked about how their time at Trinity Laban had set them on the path to career success. Richard Gaddes commented –

“Life takes strange twists and turns, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that Trinity College of Music was directly responsible for my career in opera, and for my coming to America in the first place. But more important, it was the four years studying that equipped me with the musical background I needed, and fine-tuned my ear for what lay ahead in my career.”

Sir Matthew added –

“Having limited experience as a dancer before studying at the Laban Centre – now Trinity Laban – I was thrilled to be accepted onto a course there, and even more excited to be accepted onto Transitions Dance Company, as I previously had not seen myself as someone who could dance professionally. The experience I had touring with Transitions Dance Company led directly to me setting up my own company. I never would have dreamed the career I have today was possible – and it’s thanks to my experience and training at what’s now Trinity Laban.”

As well as incorporating the Honorary Fellowship presentation, the “TL in NYC” reception also celebrated Trinity Laban’s increasing presence and importance in the USA. The reception was attended by key institutional partners, influential members of the artistic community, and also some of the many alumni who are building successful careers across the pond. After the reception, many of those present also attended a performance of Sir Matthew Bourne’s ballet The Red Shoes at the New York City Center.

Image from L-R: Sir Matthew Bourne, Richard Gaddes, Professor Anthony Bowne (Laura Massa/Michael Priest Photography)

Stephen McNeff’s ‘The Burning Boy’, based on a libretto by Cornish poet Charles Causley, premieres on 10 November, marking Causley’s centenary and the BSO’s 125th Anniversary.

Current Trinity Laban vocal students Charlotte Levesley and William Branston join vocal alumni Katy Huntley, Tom McKenna, and Lucy Bray in the premiere of The Burning Boy, composer Stephen McNeff’s new opera oratorio. The piece was commissioned by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) and is based on a previously unperformed libretto by Charles Causley.

Funded by PRS Foundation, the large-scale project continues the successful relationship between McNeff, Trinity Laban, and the BSO. It brings together amateur and professional musicians, as well as local schoolchildren from the Cornish community.

Trinity Laban has previously enjoyed many collaborations with Stephen, including Banished (2016), a full-length opera specifically composed for the vocal department. The Burning Boy affords another opportunity for students and alumni to champion new music and work alongside professional musicians, and further develops Trinity Laban’s Side by Side series and partnership with BSO.

Stephen McNeff has spoken about how working with Trinity Laban singers brings benefits for him and for the performers: 

The Burning Boy will be at Launceston Town Hall, St. Ives Guildhall on 10 & 11 November. For more information, please visit the BSO website.