Press Story
30 Jun 2022
This summer, The Place, London’s leading centre for dance and performance, welcomes the 2022 cohort of Choreodrome artists to its building. Choreodrome is one of the most important dance development programmes in the UK, enabling artists to explore new territories and have access to different strands of support. It’s part of The Place’s range of development opportunities designed to nurture talent and facilitate the growth of independent artists’ creativity and sustainability.
After a successful programme last year, which took a combined, hybrid approach of online sharings and in-person studio time, this year The Place looks forward to returning to the vibrancy of artists physically present in the studio over the summer.
Creating something new and surprising takes time and resources. Choreodrome is where we make room for artists to explore their ideas without any pressure to arrive at answers. It’s actually more of a place for choreographers to discover the right questions.
Eddie Nixon, Artistic Director of The Place
This year, The Place is working in partnership with a range of organisations to give bespoke support to artists and practices which are underrepresented in the dance sector. Amanda Pefkou and Sarah Lisney will receive support from Artists4Artists as part of a specialist programme for Hip Hop artists. Ebony Rose Dark is commissioned by Candoco Dance Company and The Place, supported by Quiplash, through a new Audio Description Residency.
We’re excited to be partnering with The Place and Quiplash on this year’s Choreodrome to commission the Audio Description Residency. Following an open callout earlier this year, we’re delighted that Ebony Rose Dark has been selected as the successful candidate. We have been interested in Ebony’s work for a long time. We first met when they studied on the Candoco Foundation Course nearly 20 years ago. Later they performed in 'The Show Must Go On'; Candoco’s re-staging of Jerome Bel’s seminal work. So it is so exciting to now support Ebony to further develop their established practice as a cabaret artist and to see how audio description might enrich their Cabaret performance and in turn, reach new audiences.
Candoco Dance Company
We are thrilled to be working with Ebony Rose Dark in the first Audio Description Residency for Choreodrome. This is an exciting opportunity to make space for blind and visually impaired talent, and to showcase the creative potential of integrated audio description in dance. We can't wait to get started!
Al and Amelia from Quiplash
For the first time, The Place offered a £10k commission plus producing support to support a new collaboration between artists from different disciplines, awarded to Ella Mesma & Akeim Toussaint Buck.
The Place is collaborating with the Wellcome Collection to offer two artists, Adrienne Hart (Neon Dance) and Hannes Langolf, the opportunity to research their ideas with the public.
For all strands of Choreodrome, The Place offers a standard package of support which includes:
- 1-2 weeks of studio time
- Two producing support meetings
- Creative feedback
- Networking and introduction opportunities for new partners
The artists who were awarded this year’s Choreodrome Core Research Residencies are: Amarnah Osajivbe-Amuludun and Stefania Pinato, Chandenie Gobardhan, Emilyn Claid, Holly Thomas, Paris Crossley, PC*DC (H Plewis), Stephanie Handjiiska, Bhebhe&Davies, Jess Latowicki and Valentina Formenti, Sung Im Her and Sophie Clements and ILLYR SAMUEL.