Twenty dance-related (and other arts-based) wishes for 2011...
I recently uncovered this list that wrote in 2011. I thought I would update it (for my own interest, at least).
- That I see as much ballet, dance & physical theatre as I did in 2009 and '10.
I have managed to roughly maintain the level of dance and movement-based theatre I see on a yearly basis. Somehow.
- That no dance company goes under because of the destructive slashing of arts budgets by national or local government. The Arts Council re-funding lottery will be announced 30 March 2011. As a result companies will topple all year as their business models collapse.
Lots of companies have either disappeared or gone into hiatus, presumably due to a mix of funding difficulties and creative decisions.
- That at least one of the people I have taken to see dance goes to see some more - either with me or because they liked it enough to want to see more and have bought tickets.
I believe that there are people go to see dance – or have at least seen dance – because of me. But probably not that many.
- That the following companies (and many more) visit Manchester / Salford: DV8 Physical Theatre, Jasmin Vardimon Company, Henri Oguike Dance Company, Rafael Bonachela Company, Chunky Move (Australia), Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet (US), Stephen Petronio Company (US), Toronto Dance Theatre (Canada) - basically that a combination of arts cuts, financial downturn, absurd visa restrictions on artists and performers don't result in an end to national and international touring.
- DV8 Physical Theatre went into a long period of hiatus in 2015.
- Jasmin Vardimon Company continues to make work and tour successfully.
- Henri Oguike Dance Company lost their funding soon after and folded. I have seen or heard nothing of Henri Oguike since.
- Rafael Bonachela went as Artistic Director to Sydney Dance Company shortly after and closed his own company.
- Chunky Move have never returned to the UK to my knowledge.
- Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet were hugely successful and even toured the UK once but didn't appear at The Lowry. However the company were philanthropically established by Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie and the company was closed in 2015. Former Artistic Director Benoit Swan Pouffer has recently taken over the AD role at Rambert (and is shaking it up nicely).
- Stephen Petronio has never brought his company back to the UK. They seem to work almost entirely in NYC.
- Toronto Dance Theater have not visited the UK to my knowledge.
- That Contact Theatre starts booking more dance and is less focused on its own narrow arts agenda. Contact Theatre actually seems to be widening its artistic agenda. This may be due to Barry Priest's role within the organisation...?
Contact Theatre has now been closed for about a year for a major capital infrastructure build to improve and modernise their facilities. They have continued to programme their own work in other venues around the city. It will be interesting to see what they are offering when they reopen.
- That greenroom books more dance.
Manchester’s greenroom famously lost its ACE funding in 2011 and closed. The space is now occupied by Gorilla who use the theatre space (a railway arch) for gigs and club events. Elements of greenroom decamped to Z-Arts and elsewhere but as an arts venue it has never been replaced.
- That the Royal Exchange Studio continues to book small-scale touring dance - in fact, more of it. At the moment they seem to have stopped booking any...
The Royal Exchange Studio programmes almost no dance and hasn't for years. They apparently do not have a policy not to, but neither do they have a policy to…
- That some fantastic redevelopment plan is announced for The Dancehouse - one that brings the theatre into more use, improves the public spaces and facilities, improves the standing of the attached dance school and Manchester City Ballet and increases the amount of dance actually programmed to appear in the theatre (i.e. some). This is pure fantasy. This does indeed seem to be pure fantasy.
Still fantasy.
- That the BBC site on Oxford Road is earmarked for a landmark urban regeneration project and not a mixed use hotel/offices/apartments/retail units yawnfest.
The above-mentioned mixed use redevelopment is under construction as we speak. Welcome Circle Square.
- That the Liverpool Playhouse continues to programme really great dance and that their investment plans don't fall through. Liverpool Playhouse and sister theatre the Everyman have had their funding significantly cut by Liverpool City Council. They are optimistic this is survivable.
The theatres survive. Liverpool Playhouse appears to have stopped programming dance. I have not been there since 2015.
- That the Manchester International Festival thrives in 2011 and isn't scaled down by arts funding cuts. The Manchester International Festival announced a programme in March full of music and with no dance events planned whatsoever. Over-familiar, dreary even, this year's MIF should be hugely successful...
Manchester International Festival goes from strength to strength. They finally programmed a major dance event in 2015 (Wayne McGregor’s Tree of Codes), programmed more dance in 2017 (Lucinda Childs’ Available Light and Boris Charmatz’s remarkable 10,000 Gestures) and have a project with Rambert and US installation choreographer Trajal Harrell for 2019. Dance appears to be firmly part of the MIF mix now and they will likely need to the scale and ambition of dance to help populate The Factory when it is built.
- That Urban Moves returns in 2012 and is promoted more effectively - perhaps tying the free public performances in with some theatrical events...?
Dance Manchester lost its ACE funding and survives but Urban Moves hasn't, last appearing in 2014.
- That some theatrical use is found for the Theatre Royal (Peter Street) if it's not going to be the new home of the Library Theatre.
Owned by Radisson Blu’s Edwardian Group the theatre is earmarked for conferences (ugh) but is currently being used for storage. They are doing some cyclical maintenance by the theatre remains unused and unloved since 2009. Built in 1845, it is Manchester’s oldest surviving purpose-built theatre and although not been used as a theatre since 1921 – it was a cinema and a nightclub in the intervening years – but would still be useable as a theatre. The Theatres Trust identify it as one of the best surviving examples of theatre architecture from the period and note that: ‘the conversion of the building to nightclub use obscured rather than destroyed the theatre interior, which appears to be capable of restoration.’ It is to be expected that the next conversion would entirely destroy any hope of theatrical restoration.
The Library Theatre, of course, reappeared unrecognisable at HOME. It is now apparent that the Library’s following and audience were entirely lost in the transition period and HOME has struggled to establish itself as a producing theatre, with a fanatic space they seem unable to programme for weeks at a time.
- That Queer Up North returns - but with a less narrow artistic agenda. Queer Up North have lost their funding from Manchester City Council and with no announcements, no pre- events and no update to the website looks to have folded?
Queer Up North morphed into Queer Contact, largely down to the sterling efforts of Barry Priest, who has since left Contact. The changing and expanding nature of the LGBTQI etc. ‘community’ means that the festival thrives but has shifted its delivery and targets accordingly.
- That there is some positive movement on the former Odeon on Oxford Street (although imagining that it will be restored to its former Paramount glory or returned to any kind of theatrical use is pure, pointless fantasy).
More pointless fantasy. The former Odeon/Paramount was demolished in 2017 and a new skyscraper is currently under construction on the site.
- That Birmingham Royal Ballet, the English National Ballet and Northern Ballet bring some more fabulous fully-staged narrative ballet (not just Swan Lake, Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker and Romeo & Juliet - much as we love them). Actually, I'm about ready for another Swan Lake. Birmingham Royal Ballet are bringing Coppelia (which I've never seen). English National Ballet are bringing their Strictly Gershwin show (should be popular with the Palace's mainstream audience but leaves me cold). The Northern Ballet are bringing The Nutcracker in November (again), although they have a number of other interesting productions on the go - their new ballet Cleopatra, Beauty and the Beast, Hamlet and Giselle. It looks as if BRB may be touring less next year as they have announce their 2011-12 season and have no Lowry dates as yet...
The Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Ballet still tend to bring the classics to the city in rotation. The English National Ballet have been modernising for some years and Northern Ballet are mostly producing a series of new narrative ballet based on literary classics. The fact is, Manchester’s ballet audience isn't large enough for the big three classical companies to take too many risks, although ENB have made steps with their MIF co-production of Akram Khan’s Giselle and the 1418NOW Lest We Forget programme.
- That I see some amazing contemporary company that I've never seen before who really excite me.
Touch wood, this is why I am still plugging away.
- That I go and see something in London that I never get the chance to see in Manchester.
It took me until 2014 to do this and I now travel to London on an intermittent basis each year for shows that I ‘must’ see and seriously doubt would otherwise get the chance: and travelling to other cities generally to see dance that increasingly doesn't look like it’s coming to Manchester or Salford. I realise this is a luxury.
- That I will finish writing my ballet synopsis and send it to someone.
I gave this idea up long ago.
- That my reviews for The Public Reviews get better and get read.
The Public Reviews is now The Reviews Hub. My reviews continue to vary in quality – writing about dance can be hard – and I still have no idea how many people read them as I get almost no comments.
Updated 29 March 2011/10 April 2019