The return of the fifth award-winning biennial International Dance Festival Birmingham (IDFB 2016) will see venues, streets and squares across the city and beyond welcome one of the world’s biggest celebrations of dance.  IDFB 2016 runs from 1 – 22 May, featuring world premieres and new commissions over three amazing weeks.

Highlights include:

• an exciting new development for IDFB, Centenary Square LIVE NIGHTS (11-14 May) will feature the world première of The Machine Show, a FREE outdoor spectacular, with dancer and choreographer Melanie Lomoff (France) and hip-hop sensation Salah (France), headlined with live music by cult band rinôçérôse (France).
• FREE world premieres of two new touring works, Corey Baker Dance’s Phone Box and ZoieLogic Dance’s Ride. Both winners of DanceXchange’s Big Idea commissioning strand and commissioned and produced by DanceXchange.
• Birmingham Repertory Theatre will present Hofesh Shechter’s Political Mother (13 – 14 May), the only UK performance Political Mother this year.
• Carlos Acosta’s A Classical Farewell at Birmingham Hippodrome (5 – 7 May), which having sold out two nights has seen a third night added to the run.

RoguePlay, founded in 2009, can most likely be found hanging from a trapeze, or silk, balancing, lifting or throwing one another, all while speaking a monologue, singing a song or playing the accordion.

Every year they like to showcase their new routines and skills from trapeze, to hoop solo and silks. With aerial acts, music and drinks the Aerialist Showcase tickets are charged at £5.00 with all proceeds going back into the theatre company with the aim of buying curtains for their new space.

To find out more about RoguePlay Theatre visit their site where you can also book tickets.

International Dance Festival Birmingham 2016 has put a callout for proposals of work to be performed in ‘Outdoor Places or Unusual Spaces’ (OPUS) for the 2016 edition of the festival.

To see full details go to the full brief on the DanceXchange site: http://www.dancexchange.org.uk/about/commissions-auditions

IDFB is inviting professionals to submit a great idea and concept for a new festival commission for IDFB 2016, with a particular focus on dance or cross-artform projects that take place in outdoor places and unusual spaces. We welcome ideas from any UK or International Artist. The IDFB team will work alongside the successful professional artist/company to produce and realise the OPUS Idea in a collaborative way. The Artist will be paid a fee as collaborator (please include this in your submitted budget), and the project will be creatively produced by IDFB. We welcome proposals that come with a company of performers. Alternatively, performers can be recruited for the project, collaboratively through a fair and equal process. Collaborators or partners should be researched and named within the proposal where relevant, but please note that all artistic personnel will be mutually agreed by the Artist and the Creative Producer.

Deadline for proposals to be submitted: 29 April 2015, 10am

If you have any questions about your proposal, please contact Hannah Sharpe on 0121 689 1093 or email hannah.sharpe@dancexchange.org.uk

It’s not just in the city centre that exciting arts events are happening. This week in Yardley a school group will be promoting their local community centre in what could be the start of an interesting new arts/community space.

Children from Oasis Academy Hobmoor have joined with Coventry-based digital-dance company Mercurial Arts to create a new dance performance for their community. Working collaboratively since May, sixty Year 5 pupils have worked on the project, inspired by and exploring neuroscience.

As well as the dance performance, half of the children have been working on a ‘Digital Play Space’ to compliment the work featuring insights into the brain, interactive projections, film footage and sound using new technologies.

As a starting point, the children visited the University of Birmingham’s Medical School for in-depth investigations into the workings of the brain, and looked into complex questions such as, ‘Where do ideas and movements come from in the body?’

Mercurial Arts’ Artistic Director Oliver Scott said:

One of the exciting things about this project is we can set the children complex and real challenges. Not only will they become a fully-fledged dance company making their own new work, they will share it with the general public. It is an ambitious task that develops physical, personal and social skills that will stand them in good stead in many contexts.

Chaotic Liquid Network is part of an exploration into the brain Mercurial Arts have been undertaking over the last year, and first investigated during their project The Seed, performed at the Coventry Mysteries festival in 2013.

The public performance of Chaotic Liquid Network will take place at 11.45am this Friday (4 July) at Oasis Hobmoor Community Centre, Yardley. Capacity is limited. Book via the school. The Digital Play Space will be open as a drop-in, from 11am-3pm on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 July 2014.

Find out more about local Arts fora and the Arts Champions scheme here.

Following IDFB’s spectacular outdoor productions in each edition of the festival, 2014 sees pioneering performers from the world of street dance brought together in a show stopping new production, B-Town.

Referencing the ancient and the futuristic, B-Town sees elemental forces of good and evil harness the energy of our city, battling across the continents in Birmingham’s landmark Victoria Square. This electric new production features explosive dance from world B-Boy champions Morning of Owl (Korea) and an all star line-up from Funkstylerz UK collective brought to you by ProDance.

The event runs from 21st-24th May, performances are at 9.30pm, and you can find out more about the story of B-Town on the IDFB website.

B-Town is an outdoor production, so fingers crossed for good weather! In case of bad weather there is a film version that will be screened, so keep up-to-date with IDFB by following their updates on twitter and facebook.

There are still plenty of fantastic productions at IDFB taking place, so peruse the website to see what else is on offer – the festival finishes on 25th May.

Illustration by Sweaty Eskimo

With all the build-up and enthusiasm for dance performances during IDFB I feel well and truly ready for BE Festival 2014. Having not personally attended BE Festival before I was a little unsure of what to expect, and so took the opportunity to visit the 2014 launch at Birmingham Rep on the 16^th April. I was quickly immersed into a world of acting, exciting workshops and performers.

BE Festival has been hosted in Birmingham since 2010 after responding to an Arts Council-hosted conference entitled, ‘The Challenge of Change: How can we make a better future for theatre, here in the West Midlands?’ in 2009.

5 years on, the realised dream of BE Festival still continues. Having invited performers from 11 different countries to take part in this years’ amazing selection of 22 performances, the festival has already attracted a large following.

This year The Rep will open their doors to BE Festival, with the main stage itself set to feature a pop-up restaurant. There they will be serving delicious interval dinners to artists and audiences so that they can have an opportunity to eat together each evening. The menus include vegetarian options and advance bookings for this are now available through box-office.

You’ll now be able to see all of the wonderful events planned which include visual arts and talks, workshops, performances and even musical post-show events, finishing with an Awards Party on the 12th of July.

Even better, if you’d like a chance to be involved with BE Festival, meeting the performers and organisers behind the action then you might be interested in their volunteering opportunities. Open until the 12^th of May, volunteering opportunities with BE Festival also include 6 positions for aspiring stage managers/technicians to form part of the Production Team.

If you would like to volunteer please send an email detailing your interest, any relevant skills, experience and CV to emmahalsteadbe@gmail.com. Volunteers will be needed in May and then throughout June and July.

For the full 2014 programme please see HERE.

We are all very excited to tell you about the return of the International Dance Festival Birmingham 2014! You will be able to experience a range of performances from ballet to large non-choreographed social dances. With so many brilliant performances to talk about, the following will just be a selection of my top picks for the festival.

For Starters, ‘Three Short Works’ 24th – 26th April

The International Dance Festival Birmingham 2014 kicks off with ‘Three Short Works’. From the Birmingham Royal Ballet, a selection of performances called Quatrain, Kin, Les Rendezvous and Façade. Les Rendezvous will be available to see from 24th–25th April, with Quatrain and Kin continuing to be shown alongside Façade on 26th April.

QUATRAIN

Inspired by the fantastically exciting and vibrant tango rhythms of Astor Piazzolla’s The Four Season’s of Buenos Aires, Company First Artist Kit Holder creates his third ballet for the Company. Following the success of his previous work, 9-5, which featured in IDFB 2012, these premiere performances of his latest work are keenly anticipated.

KIN.

An exciting new ballet from Royal Opera House Choreographic Affiliate, Sadler’s Wells New Wave Associate and former Birmingham Royal Ballet dancer, Alexander Whitley. The ballet, to music by young American composer Phil Kline, will receive its’ premiere at IDFB 2014. Not to be missed!

LES RENDEZVOUS

A huge hit when it was first performed in 1933, Les Rendezvous was the first ballet in which Ashton put aside the comedy for which he was known and concentrated on pure technique. Loosely based round a group of friends meeting up in a park, the ballet is a series of fiercely difficult divertissements which give the whole cast the chance to show off their virtuosity.

FACADE

Finally, based on Edith Sitwell’s deliciously nonsensical poetry, Façade embraces the fun of it all with whole-hearted and wilful abandon. Be entertained by a series of delightful characters dancing tangos, foxtrots and waltzes, all with their tongues firmly in their cheeks. Choreographed in 1931, Façade was Sir Frederick Ashton’s first big hit, and is full of the gentle comedy he is known and loved for – an enjoyable break from the sanity of everyday life!

World Premier, ‘Headphones’ 30th April – 4th May

Promising to provide us with a fresh organic series of performances, Corey Baker brings us ‘Headphones’. In keeping with Corey Bakers’ ethos of producing engaging and unique productions, ‘Headphones’ will allow the audience to direct part of the dancers’ choreography. Set to hide ‘undercover’, the performances will be surprising and unpredictable with elements of comedy.

You can watch this trailer to get an idea of the fun performance, as well as directly suggest moves by tweeting @IDFB #headphones.

‘Lord of the Flies’ 14th–17th May

Mathew Bourne has invited 24 young people to join his latest hit production ‘Lord of the Flies’ based on the classic novel written by William Goulding. There are 8 professional dancers within the cast, to work alongside the newly recruited dancers to give a unique opportunity to young dancers in each city that the production is set to perform in. Because of this the theatre performance has already gained great publicity. The combination of mentoring and unity has made the project a wonderful success already and should be a great motivational piece, especially for young people who with a passion for dance.

‘Lord of the Flies’ will be performed at The Birmingham Hippodrome over 4 days with tickets available now.

‘Spill: A Playground of Dance’ – 25th May

DanceXchange is housed within Birmingham Hippodrome, both of whom have worked together to produce the 2014 International Dance Festival Birmingham. Owning 3 dance studios and The Patrick Centre (a 206 seat studio), DanceXchange strives to support the dancing community and enable their dancers to showcase the best of their talents. ‘Spill’ was first shown in 2012, and is an outdoor production that will be performed in the beautiful Cannon Hill Park. Choreographed by Australian Artist Shaun Parker, of Shaun Parker & Company, it should be a playful piece using street gymnastics and location based props of swings and roundabouts.

With so many different events and performances there is bound to be something for everybody and you can view IDFB’s 2014 staff picks here to find some first hand recommendations!

There is a brand new outdoor Circus Theatre performance being developed by RoguePlay in Birmingham.

EVER WANTED TO JOIN THE CIRCUS? Well, now you can. RoguePlay has been funded by Birmingham City Council to train 12 local people in a variety of skills so they can rehearse and perform alongside us in our next big outdoor show. It’s all free, and for those aged 19+ so click here to find out more and how to be involved.

RoguePlay is Birmingham’s Circus Theatre Company.  Our work is for all those young or old, with a love of theatre, who struggle to find a good show, a great workshop or affordable rehearsal space.

Our performances capture new stories and characters through stunning Aerial Circus, Acrobatics, Poetry and Dance, our workshops challenge young people and provide platforms for teachers, and our well equipped rehearsal space is safe and affordable.

The Open Audition Day will take place on Saturday 22^nd February 2014 from 12.30-4pm.

It will be your opportunity to meet the artists involved who will workshop you in a variety of exercises involving Circus, Dance and Physical Theatre. You will need to wear comfortable clothing and bring water for the day. Clothing should cover the armpits and knees.

To find out more please download an audition form online www.rogueplay.co.uk and email to: info@rogueplay.co.uk by Monday 17^TH February 2014.

International Dance Festival Birmingham (IDFB) one of Europe’s biggest dance festivals, co-produced by DanceXchange and Birmingham Hippodrome, returns for its fourth year. The festival “officially launched” yesterday afternoon.

In less than three months’ time, this award-winning biennial celebration of dance, returns to the city from Thursday 24th April 2014 – Sunday 25th May for over four weeks of world premieres, unique collaborations, community events, outdoor spectacles and world-class performances.

With more theatre shows than in previous years, featuring some of the biggest names in dance, and some of the most hotly tipped rising choreographic stars IDFB 2014 will showcase the best international dance in venues and outdoor spaces across the buzzing festival city of Birmingham.

I must admit I have never been to an IDFB event – but from looking through the programme and reading a bit more about what’s going on, I can see that there is a lot happening that will appeal to a lot of tastes and curiosities. I  like the look of this:

All of Birmingham is a Stage

Students from BCU’s School of Architecture have been working with DanceXchange to imagine how disused or unloved corners of Birmingham could be transformed into performance spaces.

See the results in an exhibition which aims to kick-start regeneration and community development projects across the city. On Thursday and Friday look out for pop-up performances by Birmingham Ormiston Academy dance students, inspired by the architectural designs. The exhibition forms part of Birmingham Made Me 2014.

Have a look through the IDFB website for more information and for other events.

Sidenote: The new IDFB website is rather nice. when it’s not in festival mode, it functions as an archive of past events. Very cleverly designed by Birmingham based Supercool.

The 18^th annual Sony Xperia™ B-Boy Championships World Finals will see top break dancers; poppers and hip-hop dancers bring their best moves, routines and unique style to the stage!  The audience are set to witness the most incredible action as the dancers go head-to-head, battling it out for the coveted world titles.

The O2 Academy Birmingham will welcome 6,000 fans to the world’s #1 dance competition for a weekend of awe-inspiring battles and shows on Saturday 21^st & Sunday 22^nd September 2013.

We’ve got 3 pairs of tickets to giveaway thanks to Sony.