Over the past quarter-decade the company has become one of the most acclaimed companies in the UK with a reputation for thought-provoking and powerful work. Artistic Director, Janet Smith believes in using the power of dance to explore the human condition and this is reflected in their varied and exciting programmes. The company has won multiple awards and Smith herself won the highly prestigious 2008 Jane Attenborough Dance UK Industry Award for outstanding contribution to dance.
To celebrate Smith has invited two emerging American choreographers to create work on her team of talented dancers. Kate Weare’s movement style is described as ‘fiercely physical’. Smith suggests that it is typically New York in style - precise, sharp-edged and driven. Lay Me Down Safe offers a tender examination of desire and loss, promising thoughtfulness and authenticity.
Hailing from the other side of the country, San Francisco based Benjamin Levy describes dance as “a vessel for creating honest alchemy on stage”, and is credited with playful theatricality. His work Khaos seeks to examine the difference between continual, shifting change and the nature of transformation and explores how different elements combine to cause changes to the stories of our lives.
If you want to see one of the best UK companies working with the USA's finest talents to present new and original work, this is one birthday party you don't want to miss!
By Hetty Blades
Letters From America by Scottish Dance Theatre is at The Place, 18 and 19 March, 8pm. Tickets £6 advance, £13 standard.
Janet Smith and dancers will also be talking at Reel Lives on Wednesday 16 March, the first of a new series examining dance on screen.
