As part of the Southbank Centre's Unlimited Festival, there's a feast of dance with a difference in store.
Fresh from leading a troupe of 1,000 drummers during the Olympic opening ceremony, percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie features in a new collaboration with Marc Brew Company and composer Philip Sheppard. Brew, who makes dance for disabled and non-disabled performers, explains:
"I approached Dame Evelyn as I have long admired her music and her physicality as a performer. I had a strong feeling that we would make a fabulous combination."
Fusional Fragments is an abstract work for five performers drawing on both classical and contemporary dance, and will include live performance from solo percussionist Glennie, one of the world's best-known deaf musicians. The evening also includes the London debut of the British Paraorchestra, founded last year by Charles Hazlewood.
Candoco, the UK's best-known integrated dance company, presents a double-bill of new work on 6 September including another new work by former company member Brew, Parallel Lines. Claire Cunningham's 12, a humorous piece performed using crutches, completes the bill. Young dancers can also explore the company's creative practices in a workshop open to 11-25 year olds and carers on 30 August.
Unlimited is the finale of Southbank Centre’s summer-long Festival of the World, and includes a host of talks, exhibitions and free activities as well as ticketed performances. Expect mesmerising dance, inventive theatre, provocative circus and a challenge to public perceptions about deaf and disabled performers from this groundbreaking festival.
Marc Brew Company Fusional Fragments is on 31 August and Candoco Unlimited is on 6 September at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre. Tickets £10-£20. For more information see the Unlimited Festival website.
