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Home , Gillian Lynne

If Play Is Play

touring Autumn 2015

“An excellent example of what happens when intelligent dancers take matters into their own hands” Evening Standard “Defying the odds with a philosophy and style of performance unlike any I've seen”

HeadSpaceDance and their production If Play Is Play have been nominated in three categories in the 15th National Dance Awards : Best Independent Company ; Dancing Times Best Male Dancer (Jonathan Goddard); and Outstanding Female Performance (Modern) (Clemmie Sveaas). In autumn 2015, HeadSpace will take If

Play Is Play on tour for a limited season.

If Play Is Play is the second production from HeadSpace , brainchild of pedigree dancers Christopher Akrill and Charlotte Broom. Following on from Three and Four Quarters in 2012, If Play Is Play was first presented in April in the Linbury Theatre by Studio programme, champion of the company’s work since the beginning.

The three part programme opens with Two , created for the company by Johan Inger. It’s a short and tenderly distilled portrait of a man and a woman, played by Christopher Akrill and Gemma Nixon, reaching out to each other across space and memory.

Without preamble we're in the second work, Luca Silvestrini's Before the Interval , in which Akrill, Goddard and Sveaas take Broom's absence as a cue to promote their own talents as dancer-directors, using Silvestrini’s style of humorous, observational dance theatre to speak their thoughts and hold conversations as they simultaneously move.

After the actual interval, the four dancers are on stage for Matthew Dunster ’s dark dance drama The Days the Nights the Wounds and the Night , in which the performers’ characters enact a bitter and chilly scenario where professional power struggles and emotional and physical violence are entangled.

The production is expertly lit by Simon Bennison and costumed by Sabine LeMaitre, with sound designs for Silvestrini and Dunster pieces executed by Olivier Award-winner Ian Dickenson.

“a well-shaped trio of UK premieres" The Times

"Their many accomplishments and versatility are obvious and when combining with movement, they are simply sublime together” Londondance.com

"HeadSpace Dance is making progress in leaps and bounds" The Stage

"thoughtful and thought- provoking contemporary movement on stage made by some of the best dramatic dancers you will see” DanceTabs

“All the performers are excellent, each in their own way" British Theatre Guide

HeadSpaceDance , based in , was established by dancers Christopher Akrill and Charlotte Broom in 2012 with a commitment to curate and produce original dance works which draw on their considerable experience as performers. Their inaugural programme was “Three and Four Quarters” , a six part programme of solos, duets and trios by four choreographers: Javier de Frutos, Didy Veldman, Luca Silvestrini and Mats Ek. All the work was commissioned, with the exception of the Mats Ek piece which was a revival of a duet from Light Beings. “Three and Four Quarters” was commissioned by ROH2 and ran at the Linbury Theatre for four nights in 2012. It was extremely well received by the press and public. This encouraged Akrill and Broom to forge ahead with their venture and to respond to the ’s suggestion of a second commission in 2014. “If Play Is Play” was performed in the Linbury Theatre for five nights in April 2014 and at DanceEast in June.

HeadSpaceDance re-toured “Three and Four Quarters” in October 2014, performing at four venues (Core at Corby Cube, Edge Hill Arts Centre, Barbican Theatre Plymouth and Exeter Northcott Theatre .

Charlotte Broom a Principal Artist with Northern Ballet Theatre, then joined Cullberg Ballet. Choreographers/Directors worked with: Mats Ek, Johan Inger, Jiri Kylian, ohad Naharin, Didy Veldman, Stijn Celis, Luca Silvestrini, Javier De Frutos, Cathy Marston, Will Tuckett, Christopher Gable, Massimo Morricone, Matthew Dunster and Gillian Lynne. Performing credits include: Juliet, Kitri, Odette/Odile & the title roles in Carmen, & Cinderella (NBT), Aurora in Mats Ek’s Sleeping Beauty, Ghosts, Pinocchio, Faeries, Thief of Baghdad, Wind in The Willows, The Cathy Marston Project (ROH2), The Most Incredible Thing, Dr.Faustus and Two Gentlemen of Verona (Dir: Matthew Dunster). Movement directing credits include: Midsummer Night’s Dream (Regent’s Park), Macbeth and Lightning Child (The Globe), The Misanthrope and Twelfth Night (Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse), The Saints (Southampton Nuffield) and Juno And The Paycock (Bristol Old Vic)

Christopher Akrill began his career in Scottish Ballet then worked with Northern Ballet Theatre, Scottish Ballet, Malmo Ballet, Hannover Ballet, Deutsche Oper Am Rhein Dusseldorf and Cullberg Ballet. Choreographers/Directors worked with: Rufus Norris, Will Oldroyd, Francesca Jaynes, Mats Ek, Javier De Frutos, Jiri Kylian, Stijn Cellis, Ohad Naharin, Didy Veldman, Crystal Pite, Alexander Ekman, Johan Inger, Gillian Lynne, Will Tuckett, Cathy Marston, Christopher Gable, Massimo Morircone, Youri Vamos, Oleg Vinagradov, Luca Silvestrini, Matthew Dunster and Nannette Gluhak. Performing Credits include : Boo Radley in To Kill A Mockingbird (Regents Park, Barbican), Badger in Wind In The Willows (Duchess Theatre), Lucky in Waiting For Godot (Be Me Theatre Munich), Dr Dee (ENO), The Most Incredible Thing (Sadler’s Wells), Le Orfeo ( Silent Opera), (Lyric Theatre), Pinocchio (Linbury Theatre), Ghosts (ROH2), Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, She Was Black, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty (Cullberg Ballet, Mats Ek), Mercutio in Romeo And Juliet (NBT, Malmo and Dusseldorf), Ebernezer Scrooge (NBT), Carabos in Sleeping Beauty (Hannover), Mats Ek’s Carmen (Dusseldorf). TV and film credits include: Muppets Most Wanted (James Bobin) Anna Karenina(Joe Wright) Mr Selfridge 2nd series Movement Direction : Mametz (National Theatre Wales). Awards received: The Christer Holgersons award from the Carina Ari Memorial Foundation. The Riksteatern Award for artistic contributions and excellence in dance.

Booking Details

Availability: autumn 2014 Touring Company: 4 performers and 2 technicians Running time: 60 minutes plus interval Venue specification: Large small or Middle Scale venue with performing area of 10 metres x 10 metres. Black dance floor, lighting and sound equipment as standard. Cost (UK only): £2000 Contact: Sarah Trist [email protected] 07757 654790 Websites: www.stdma.com www.headspacedance.com Promotional video: https://vimeo.com/116801153 Unedited video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qbv5e4rf40vs4e8/Two%20Mix.mov Two Edit

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5wz72aalf3oy008/Two%20Wide.mov Two Wide

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ypkhcnesrnouvfd/Before%20the%20Interval%20Mix.mov Before the Interval Edit

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rv6unks5eqotphf/Before%20the%20Interval%20Wide.mov Before the Interval Wide https://www.dropbox.com/s/780e34ypwhx12go/The%20Days%2C%20The%20Nights%2C%20The%20Wounds%20and%20The%20Night%20Mix.m ov The Days etc Edit https://www.dropbox.com/s/8ttpt0zmtmqdf1g/The%20Days%2C%20The%20Nights%2C%20The%20Wounds%20and%20The%20Night%20Wide. mov The Days etc Wide