Oxford Dance Writers

An atmospheric summer evening performance beckons on Port Meadow this Saturday 26th July, involving some of Oxford’s most interesting performers.  Cross art collaborative trio MUE comprises dancer Macarena Ortuzar, musician Bruno Guastalla and light artist Dariusz Dziala.  In their Butoh influenced programme Nightfall they are joined by guest dancers Paola Esposito and Mirei Yasawa.

Performance:  Saturday 26th July, 8.30-10.00pm

Venue: Port Meadow; end of Aristotle Lane, Oxford

MUE is a dance/music company based in Oxford, a collaboration which started in 2010.

MUE: shedding of skin

MUE writes:  The direction we are following is an attempt at an equal creative partnership, where movement, light and sound can fluidly work towards an animation of the given space.  Our different vantage points, histories and techniques are brought to the space and situation.   Shape and erosion of shape seem to take place as a result.

More information about MUE available here

Followers of Oxford Dance Writers who enjoyed Jane Connelly’s description of One Billion Rising  or Emily Coats’ account of her Swan Lake dance protest  will be fascinated by this book.

In Embodied politics: dance, protest and identities Stacey Prickett approaches her vast subject by means of four discrete but interlinked essays, in which she considers dance activism firstly in the US and then in Britain in the 1920s and 1930s, before turning to look at developments in the San Francisco Bay area around the turn of the 21^st century and finally the South Asian dance movement in Britain. There is a logical chronological sequence to the work, but each of the four chapters has its own intrinsic structure and could be read independently.  Prickett uses the introduction and conclusion to draw together the threads that run through the work (more…)

Under The Vaulted Sky has been created by award-winning choreographer Rosemary Lee for Milton Keynes’ little-known Cathedral of Trees in Newlands, with live music by composer Terry Mann and designs by Louise Belson.  Rosemary has assembled a cast of over 100 dancers and musicians from across the region who will lead the audience on a journey around the Cathedral in a performance that draws on history, nature and stories inspired by the still beauty of this truly unique and magical location.  As audiences weave around this cathedral made of trees, they will encounter a combination of fleeting dances, delicate installations and a wonderfully vibrant soundscape of bells, trombones and percussion. (more…)

For two nights at the Théâtre de Verdure, Ballet Nice Méditerranée offered an exceptional triple bill: the opening performances of Dwight Rhoden’s new ballet Verse us, Nacho Duato’s Por vos muero (1996) and Alvin Ailey’s Night Creature (1975).

Rhoden has said that he takes inspiration from the dancers before him, and Verse us fitted the company like a glove. Their speed, accuracy and attack brilliantly matched Rhoden’s sharp but fluid, edgy yet elegant, choreography, both shaping and shaped by Nils Frahm’s musical score and sound track. Rhoden made these exquisite dancers look wonderful, using their strong classical technique (the women on pointe) to create a fast-moving modern work for seven couples in which the women, to my pleasure, were not treated as objects, but danced as equals with the men. (more…)

At The Old Fire Station Scratch Nights, held on every third Tuesday of the month, local and regional theatre performers, comedians or dance artists perform works in progress for audiences to watch and give feedback on.  After a year of successful Theatre Scratch Nights, the current season season has included three different Scratch Nights – Theatre, Comedy and Dance.  This month, the next DANCE SCRATCH takes place, supported by Oxford Dance Forum.  Artists presenting work will be Natalie Heller, Jenny Parrott, Jane Connelly, Erika Montenegro, Paulette Mae and a guest artist from Brighton, Emmeline Cresswell.  If you are able to, do come along to support them, see their new work and have the opportunity to offer feedback to them.

Performance: Tuesday 15th July at 7.30pm

Venue: The Old Fire Station, 40 George Street, Oxford OX1 2AQ.

Tickets:  £5 available on the door

Please spread the word to anyone who may be interested to come!

A delightful show and a great opportunity to see talented young dancers from Oxford showing what they have learned and what they can do coming up next week. The East Oxford School of Ballet is staging their production of The Sleeping Beauty next week Monday 7 July to Thursday 10 July inclusive at the Theatre at Headington. With a cast of 150 dancers aged from 3 to adult, this is a family-friendly performance of a much loved ballet, condensed into 2 acts, retaining all the favourite characters of the fairy tale within a compact and fast-moving narrative structure. (more…)