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

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!

It was good too – the bit where the Town Hall crumbled was pretty spectacular and I’m a big fan of Circa from when they performed as part of the 2010 festival. Of the videos on YouTube, this one of the building projections is alright and gives you an idea at least. In fact it makes it look darker than it was – Birmingham has a serious light pollution problem.

Katja Ogrin probably has the best collection of photos from the event that I’ve seen so definitely check those out. The IDFB blog has collected together some of the various reactions and photos from audience members. I’ve just been trawling Flickr for some more pics – here are some choice ones:

Wings of Desire // Victoria Square Preparation by IDFB

Wings of Desire. Birmingham. by Imagine Bill

Wings of Desire by Imagine Bill

Wings of Desire by Imagine Bill

Wings of Desire by Peter Reynolds3636

Angel by fatedsnowfox

Wings of Desire by Peter Reynolds3636

Wings of Desire by fatedsnowfox

Via a tweet from Shaun McLernon.

It’s part of the preparations for Wings of Desire, the big outdoor dance/visual spectacular as part of International Dance Festival Birmingham. Happening in Victoria Sq tonight and running until Saturday. It’s free and I bet it’ll be ace.

Because nothing says ‘I went to a thing’ quite like a blurry photo. The chap on stage is very probably Stuart Griffiths, Hippodrome Chief Exec and Co-Artistic Director of International Dance Festival Birmingham, announcing the launch of that very same festival.

There’s plenty of good stuff on over the next little while. There’s the free Breathe the Beat roadshow at the Bullring today with contemporary dance legend Louise Lecavalier in this evening.

Also tonight is the last night of Un Peu De Tendresse Bordel de Merde at Warwick Arts Centre – a show that’s had a lot of people talking and was the reason this guy was wandering around wearing nothing but a sandwich board the other day.

There’s a load of dance films being shown around town, curated by Flatpack (a nice little partnership, I thought). Birmingham Royal Ballet are doing a Three Short Works at the Crescent Theatre later in the week and next weekend there’s a whole load of family events going on.

There’s more too. Here’s the full line-up.

Take Five studio rehearsals – Two Step from Rob Lindsay.

It’s part of Birmingham Royal Ballet’s triple bill as part of IDFB, a festival I’m very much looking forward to, in case I hadn’t mentioned it already.

On the left: David Massingham, Artistic Director of DanceXchange and co-director of IDFB. On the right: Goldie.

It’s for Wings of Desire, a big outdoor spectacular that’s taking place in Victoria Sq in mid-May, that will also feature:

• 2 Faced Dance Company, who are based in Hereford and do amazing contemporary dance/breakdance stuff (have a look at this vid)
• CIRCA, who left me slack-jawed with amazement when I saw them perform at IDFB 2010 (check this out)
• Seeper, who do that cool architectural projection mapping stuff (among other things)

Basically, if this is anything less than incredible I’ll eat my hat.

More info here.

As you’ll have guessed from the title, DanceXchange‘s Autumn schedule has been announced.

It kicks off on 24 September with Rosie Kay Dance Company’s ‘Double Points: K & Supernova‘ which were featured in the International Dance Festival Birmingham back in May.

The rest of the season features:

• 9 and 10 October, Jasmin Vardimon Company – Yesterday
• 21 and 22 October, 2FaCeD DaNcE Company – State of Matter
• 15 November, Jesús Fernández – Pura Emoción
• 4 December, Vincent Mantsoe – Ebhofolo

WhatsOnStage Midlands have some more info and the pic is of Hsiu-Hsien Tang in Supernova.