Annual Report 11/12 Contents Welcome from our Chairman 3 Foreword from our Artistic Director 4 About Our Work 5 Artistic Programme 6 Awards 11 Touring 12 Breakin’ Convention 14 Developing Audiences 15 Connect 17 Our Supporters 19 Commercial Activity 20 , photo by Angela Sterling Angela by photo , Financial Position 21 Concertante , photo by Richard Haughton Richard by photo , DESH This page: Dutch National Ballet’s Ballet’s National Dutch page: This Front cover: Akram Khan’s Khan’s Akram cover: Front 3 Sir David Bell Chairman Photo: Bill Knight Bill Photo: Welcome to this year’s annual report - a summary of Sadler’s Wells’ achievements in 2011/12. I am enormously proud that, in the year that increased pressure on arts funding really came to be felt, 677 performances were presented on the stages of Sadler’s Wells, the Peacock Theatre and the Lilian Baylis Studio. Proof that the public appetite for dance is as strong as ever, and a welcome contrast to the media’s gloomy predictions for the arts in this age of austerity. Walking around Sadler’s Wells one can feel an extraordinary sense of energy and purpose, something I am sure the redoubtable Lilian Baylis would be very happy to see. Indeed, the spirit of that remarkable woman really appears to live on in the work that Sadler’s Wells does with the local community - this year’s mainstage project Sum of Parts, organised by the Creative Learning Department, was a triumphant success and for me it represented exactly what Sadler’s Wells is all about - inclusivity, artistry and a sense of community - both in terms of its place within the local area and its role in the UK dance scene. Unique projects like Sum of Parts are made possible by the team of extraordinary people at Sadler’s Wells, so I would particularly like to thank those who work so hard behind the scenes to make this theatre absolutely one of a kind – one that has grown from an original ambition to be the dance house for London into one of the most respected venues on the world stage. Sir David Bell 4 Alistair Spalding Artistic Director & Chief Executive Photo: Hugo Glendinning Hugo Photo: For me, this past year has been all about the success of extraordinarily satisfying so it was wonderful to see Russell our Associate Artists. When I took over as Artistic Director Maliphant working with hip hop dancers for the first time, in 2004 I was determined that Sadler’s Wells should be a Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui working with performers from Korea, place for supporting and nurturing dance talent, Japan and Europe in TeZukA and Fabulous Beast’s somewhere that would not only reflect the international Michael Keegan-Dolan working closely with musician and dance landscape but would contribute something back to composer Liam O’Maonlai to create a beautiful unison it by allowing new ideas to grow and flourish. 2011/12 has between music and dance. We could see this approach seen an astonishing number of Sadler’s Wells productions working particularly successfully in UNDANCE, a presented here in London but also around the world. This collaboration between Wayne McGregor, visual artist Mark year works by our Associate Artists have travelled from Wallinger and composer Mark-Anthony Turnage, where New York to Wellington, Serbia to Tokyo, taking the name Wallinger created a kind of scenario for the work by setting of Sadler’s Wells far beyond the leafy borders of Rosebery both McGregor and Turnage tasks to which they Avenue. responded musically and choreographically. Here in London it has been a delight to see so many of our Our Gala event in February was enormously successful shows enjoying huge success with both audiences and and I would like to thank everyone who made the event so critics. Akram Khan’s DESH very deservedly picked up the special. By showcasing our Associates and other artists Best New Production award at the Olivier’s and I must who are at the heart of Sadler’s Wells we raised £200,000 agree wholeheartedly with the many who described the to reinvest in commissioning new work, supporting work as a masterpiece. established and emerging artists and our creative learning programme. I was extremely proud to present Sylvie Guillem’s 6000 miles away at Sadler’s Wells. It has been five years since I hope you enjoy reading through these highlights from the Sylvie began her relationship with Sadler’s Wells, working year gone by and I look forward to seeing you at the with Russell Maliphant and since then she has continued theatre in 2012/13. to seek out new challenges and collaborate with some of the most exciting choreographers of our time. 6000 miles away is a testament to her artistry as a performer and an enabler of new ideas. In many ways this has been the year of collaborations. I have always believed in the ‘Diaghilev’ approach of introducing choreographers to artists of different disciplines - the results can be exciting, challenging and Alistair Spalding CBE 5 ABOUT OUR WORK 813 performances in London and on tour Income from artistic programme: 71% of income generated £16 million through artistic programme Almost 674,000 Of 106 productions on our stages in 2011/12, 34% tickets sold in the UK were either produced or commissioned by Sadler’s Wells and on tour 2011/12 was an extremely busy year on all three of our stages, with new Sadler’s Wells productions and commissions from our Associate Artists accounting for a , significant proportion of the annual programme. These include a groundbreaking collaboration between choreographer Wayne McGregor, composer Mark- Anthony Turnage and visual artist Mark Wallinger, UNDANCE, Fabulous Beast Artistic Director Michael Anatomie in Four Quarters Four in Anatomie Keegan Dolan’s contemporary dance to traditional Irish music show Rian and the Clod Ensemble’s spectacular An Vason Manuel Anatomie in Four Quarters, which completely reconfigured the Sadler’s Wells auditorium. Ensemble’s Clod by photo Sadler’s Wells productions continue to be enormously successful both at home and overseas, with the recently created Producing & Touring Department responsible for ensuring our productions have a long life outside London. , Of the 11 productions we toured in 2011/12, eight were by Sadler’s Wells Associate Artists. See pages 12 and 13 for full touring information. Fuge Grosse Dutch National Ballet’s Ballet’s National Dutch Fatauros Jorge by photo Our Resident Companies Our Associate Artists New Adventures BalletBoyz Russell Maliphant Wayne McGregor | Random Dance Matthew Bourne Wayne McGregor ZooNation Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui Kate Prince Jonzi D Nitin Sawhney Sylvie Guillem Hofesh Shechter Michael Hulls Jasmin Vardimon Akram Khan Christopher Wheeldon 6 ARTISTIC PROGRAMME NEW COMMISSIONS AND PRODUCTIONS 677 performances at Sadler’s Wells, the Peacock Theatre and the Lilian Baylis Studio 128 artists commissioned 12 Sadler’s Wells productions 24 Sadler’s Wells commissions DESH Akram Khan’s full-length solo work, co-produced by Sadler’s Wells, was a runaway critical and commercial success and heralded as a masterpiece by critics. It returns to Sadler’s Wells in autumn 2012. , photo by Lesley Leslie-Spinks Lesley by photo , DESH was nominated for, and subsequently went on to win, the Olivier Award for Best New 6000 miles away miles 6000 Dance Production. “The most urgent, beautiful and confident work of Akram Khan’s Sylvie Guillem’s Guillem’s Sylvie career” 6000 miles away THE GUARDIAN The world premiere of Sylvie Guillem’s 6000 miles away generated extremely positive reviews. The evening featured two brand new works created for Guillem by two of today’s most significant contemporary choreographers – William Forsythe and Mats Ek – as well as Jiri Kylián’s 27’52”. We are extremely proud that Sylvie Guillem received an Olivier Award nomination for 6000 miles away at Sadler’s Wells. , photo by Richard Haughton Richard by photo , “Sylvie Guillem is quite simply a DESH dancer unlike any other there has ever been” DAILY TELEGRAPH Khan’s Akram 7 The Rodin Project British Dance Edition was hosted in London for the first time in February 2012, here at Sadler’s Wells. As part of BDE, Russell Maliphant unveiled his latest work inspired by the sculptor Auguste Rodin. Exploring the movement possibilities of different dance styles, Maliphant worked with performers from both contemporary and hip hop dance backgrounds, as well as using a stage design made up of raised platforms - marking the first use of set in a full-length Maliphant work. The Phillipe Laurent by photo , piece returns in the autumn of 2012. “The dancers hang, slide, tumble and contort themselves, while the choreography shapes a language of delight from a vocabulary of Project Rodin The torment” EVENING STANDARD Russell Maliphant’s Maliphant’s Russell UNDANCE UNDANCE, which premiered at Sadler’s Wells in December 2011, was a groundbreaking collaboration between prolific composer Mark- , photo by Ros Kavanagh Ros by photo , Anthony Turnage, Olivier Award-winning Rian choreographer Wayne McGregor and Turner Prize-winning visual artist Mark Wallinger. It marks the first in a planned Composer Series of Sadler’s Wells’ commissions, which take as their starting point the work of a living composer. Michael Keegan Dolan’s Dolan’s Keegan Michael “Dance that is at once vividly present and Rian also reverberating on the retina and in our This co-production between Sadler’s Wells consciousness... stimulating to eye and and Fabulous Beast was a fascinating hybrid mind” of Irish and world dance that the Arts Desk FINANCIAL TIMES described as “a heart-lifting and ingeniously ingenuous Irish dance night that brought Sadler’s Wells to its feet in , full-throated roaring”.