The Currency festival is back this November for another installment of contemporary dance meets theatre meets ‘throw the rule book out the window’. Over four days between 14–23 November 2013, this festival brings together a diverse group of European acts that explore ideas of collaboration across different performative disciplines. And with each evening comprising a unique set of performances, we’re really spoiled for choice.
Co-produced by Crying Out Loud and The Place, each evening of Currency has a ‘sharing’ and a main act. A sharing is what they call a short collaborative performance by two artists who are paired up and given two days to create a new piece of work. So expect to see something experimental and fresh. And over supper that is also included with your ticket, you also get the chance to discuss what you’ve just seen with visitors and the performers themselves.
The programme across the four evenings is as follows:
Thursday 14 November
A sharing of physical ideas by translators-turned-dancers Marta Navaridas and Alex Deutinger, and physical theatre artist Niki McCretton who is also an aerialist, a unicyclist, and an explorer of Roller Derby and the art of falling over.
Main house show: performances by contortionist, juggler, mischievous feminist and former bearded lady Jeanne Mordoj from Company Bal who will be performing La Poeme, and Lisbeth Gruez who dances to fragments from a speech by ultraconservative American televangelist Jimmy Swaggart. (this programme has been amended from the original published on 4 Nov, due to a change in performing artists)
Tuesday 19 November
A sharing by the dance artist Stav Yeini, artist Julia Christ who experiments with balance and off-balance in bodies and objects, and performer Giuliana Majo who curates playful concoctions of movement, sound and storytelling.
Main house show: a performance by Simon Tanguy, Roger Sala Reyner and Aloun Marchal / Lander Patrick.
Thursday 21 November
A sharing by artist Linnea Happonen (Krepsko) who is fascinated by human oddities and defying gravity, and artist Hetain Patel whose interests are Spider-Man, Transformers and Bruce Lee.
Main house show: Ludvig Daae who performs a virtual duet with himself, and a lecture performance by Navaridas and Deutinger that looks to revive President Barack Obama’s speech from the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo.
Saturday 23 November
A sharing by choreographer and performer Ludvig Daae who is inspired by film, divas and pop culture, and Mish Weaver a circus artist.
Main house show: Krepsko, who performs a piece that combines absurdist theatre and fragile clownery, and Marisa Cabal and Stav Yeini who perform As It Fell, an active reflection on our position as observers of movement, performance, film and media.
Since each sharing only allows for a limited audience, there are three slots (6.30pm, 7pm or 7.30pm) to book from on each evening. A ticket gets you supper, access to a sharing, a film installation and the main show that starts for 8pm, which is quite a good deal.
By Gillian Da Costa
Full price tickets cost £17 for one night, £30 for two, £40 for three and £45 for all four nights. Concession price tickets are £14 per night. To book visit The Place website. Currency is presented by The Place, 17 Duke's Road WC1, and Crying Out Loud, in partnership with the European Commission in London and supported by EUNIC London.
