New dance shows and theatre lined up for Sheffield venue
Enable US brings contemporary dance theatre circus and performance to the University of Sheffield this autumn season.
Based in the Drama Studio the series has run since 2017 and presents ground-breaking companies and performers to audiences.
This autumn focuses on contemporary dance with national and international companies appearing alongside theatre circus and other performance work.
Arts Council England support will bring two major In-The-Round shows to the Octagon main hall while a partnership with Nisha Lall delivers community-focused workshops and curtain-raisers through Dancing Sheffield.
First at the Octagon Centre PCK Dance presents The Panic Room a new production part-supported by Enable US funding with a new element created by resident company 50+CDS.
Critics have hailed the company as “seriously talented... on the A-list of independent dance”.
The other Octagon Centre show Mother Computer is a new piece from Imogen Reeve & Co in which ancient folklore collides with imaginary futures.
Reeve’s research-led dance company has an international outlook and radically reimagines relationships between bodies and machines.
Drama Studio productions include ACE Dance and Music’s African and contemporary dance work The World As We See It and DeNada Dance Theatre’s Edward II which combines Renaissance tragedy with a queer high school setting.
Also appearing are Laura Kenyon and Woman Ewer with protest-inspired We Are Not Beautiful, Thunder Road Theatre’s science-fiction horror The Void, From Shaman to Starman, Cabaret Schmabaret and Sheffield’s Quirkus Circus.
A new series of development workshops and community performances with Nisha Lall will allow groups to shape the festival lead workshops share work and broaden participation.
During community Theatre Days local dance groups can work with visiting companies to develop curtain-raiser pieces opening performances.
The public is invited to workshops and performances at a Dancing Sheffield Showcase in Firth Hall on November 15.
Community dancers and dance volunteers are also invited to a Laura Kenyon workshop developing a curtain-raiser.
The main run closes with a collaboration between PCK Dance and Third Bite Dance, a resident community company for dancers over 50, creating new work through four days of workshops in November.
Tickets for all events range from free to £16.
Visit https://performancevenues.group.shef.ac.uk/enable-us/enable-us-events/.
