Annual Review 2017–18 Sadler’s Wells Sadler’s Wells Annual Review 2017–18 Contents 02 Foreword 04 Highlights 2017–18 07 Working with artists 08 Producing and presenting great dance 18 Forging strategic partnerships 22 Touring our productions 25 Nurturing talent 29 National Youth Dance Company 30 New Wave Associates 33 Summer University 34 Wild Card 37 Breakin’ Convention 39 Engaging audiences 41 Dance for all 45 Reaching our audiences 47 Making it happen 48 Fundraising 51 Our people and places 51 Providing opportunities 51 Generating income 52 Sustainable development 54 How we are funded 56 Sadler’s Wells Trust and Foundation; ambassadors; Fellowship; artists and companies; co-producers 57 Support 58 Sadler’s Wells staff 60 Photography credits 2 Foreword As a national and international dance house, our mission at Sadler’s Wells is to lead in the creation and sharing of inspiring dance that broadens people’s horizons. We enable artists of all backgrounds to make work that reflects and responds to our humanity and we share this with the widest possible audiences – to enrich their lives and deepen their understanding of the world around us. This year we helped bring to the stage 16 productions and co-productions and presented more than 800 performances all over the world to audiences of over 650,000. We took our work to new and existing audiences digitally and on tour, including livestreaming Rosie Kay’s 5 SOLDIERS: The Body is from an Army base in London and bringing 15 Sadler’s Wells the Frontline productions to 56 different venues in 19 countries. We recorded over 34,000 attendances to our participatory activities and offered £3 tickets to almost 1,500 people from low-income households in our local borough, Islington. We celebrated creative talent by appointing a new Associate Artist, Sharon Eyal; inviting Julie Cunningham, L’atisse Rhoden and duo Project O to join our New Wave Associates; and launching a new artist development initiative for budding dance makers, the Young Associate programme. We continued to inspire young people with our learning and engagement programmes, including a new dance pilot at Mossbourne Riverside Academy, a primary school in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Plans for our new venue in east London have been progressing, reaching the final stage of design in autumn this year. Earlier in the summer, we were delighted to take part in the Mayor of London’s launch of his vision for the new cultural and education district that we will be part of, now named the East Bank project. We strengthened our commitment to supporting artists based outside London by appointing Akaash Odedra Company, balletLORENT and Phoenix Dance Theatre as National Partner Companies, while The Movement – our co-producing partnership with Birmingham Hippodrome and The Lowry, Salford – allowed regional audiences to experience high-quality, large-scale productions they wouldn’t have been able to enjoy otherwise. We would like to thank Sadler’s Wells staff, our family of associate artists and companies and our many generous supporters and donors for their enthusiasm and efforts – you make the theatre the creative, vibrant, relevant and ultimately successful place it is today. Nigel Higgins Alistair Spalding CBE Chairman Artistic Director and Chief Executive 3 Highlights 2017–18 816 3 performances in the UK New Wave Associates appointed: and internationally Julie Cunningham, L’atisse Rhoden and Project O 662,714 4 audiences worldwide, including 529,714 Young Associates appointed: in London Anthony Matsena, Wilhelmina Ojanen, Ruby Portus and Christopher Thomas 16 124 new dance works commissioned UK and international artists commissioned, or produced including choreographers, composers, designers and dramaturgs 15 50% Sadler’s Wells productions toured to of Sadler’s Wells audiences were first 56 venues in 19 countries, with 167 time bookers performances given to 133,000 people 1 70% Associate Artist appointed: Sharon Eyal income from box office receipts 4 86,569 66% people came to see Matthew Bourne’s increase in Instagram followers over the Christmas period, Cinderella with a 94% capacity 4,315 21% people enjoyed the 14th edition of hip hop increase in Facebook followers festival Breakin’ Convention at Sadler’s Wells, with a further 3,500 joining the 5th free Park Jam in Spa Fields, Islington 3 4 ,18 3 20% attendances to our participatory activities increase in YouTube subscribers, with 31% increase in views and 44.5% increase in shares 5,629 people saw National Youth Dance Company perform Tarantiseismic as part of their national tour 338 hours of studio space offered in kind to dance artists (= 42 days) 5 Working with artists Producing and presenting great dance Over the course of 2017-18, we presented 649 performances to over 529,700 people across our three London auditoria: Sadler’s Wells’ main stage and the Lilian Baylis Studio in our building in Islington, and The Peacock theatre in the West End. We helped to bring 16 new dance works to life, including productions by three of our Associate Artists: Hofesh Shechter, Wayne McGregor and BalletBoyz. The UK premiere of Hofesh Shechter’s presented a high-octane vision of the Grand Finale end of the world, at once apocalyptic and comic, performed by 10 dancers and six live musicians. “Shechter has broadened his canvas and allowed elements of contemplation and tenderness to rebalance the visceral, raging spectacle that typifies much of his work. A mature and magnificent work.” Neil Norman, The Stage, on Grand Finale In which had its world premiere on Autobiography, our stage, Wayne McGregor explored the concept of identity through an innovative collaboration with world-leading geneticists. He took inspiration from memories and influences in his life to create 23 pieces of choreography – in reference to the 23 chromosome pairs that make up the human genome. His own genome was mapped by the scientists, with the resulting sequence converted into a computer algorithm. Each day, the algorithm’s calculation determined the order of the dance sections, with a different selection performed every time. Michael Nunn and William Trevitt’s BalletBoyz presented their programme Fourteen Days. The first part of the evening was made of four new works commissioned to choreographers Javier de Frutos, Craig Revel Horwood, Iván Pérez and our Associate Artist Christopher Wheeldon. Each choreographer collaborated with a different composer to create an original work dealing with the theme of balance, in just 14 days. The second half featured a performance of an award-winning piece commissioned Fallen, for BalletBoyz in 2013 to our Associate Artist Russell Maliphant, with lighting design by fellow Associate Michael Hulls. 8 9 10 11 12 Among other shows we co-produced were international speakers shared ideas about the pioneering dance maker Shobana Jeyasingh’s value of older dancers, the role of heritage in a radical reinterpretation contemporary dance and changing perceptions Bayadère – The Ninth Life, of Marius Petipa’s La Bayadère that questioned of age in dance. The festival was delivered as the West’s exotic representations of India, and part of Dance On, Dream On, Pass On (DOPODO), Boris Charmatz’s immersive piece a European-wide partnership aimed at promoting danse de nuit, which we presented outdoors in Queen Elizabeth the valuing of older people in society. Through Olympic Park. A response to the Paris terrorist DOPODO, we presented Berlin-based Dance attacks of 2015, the production saw six dancers On Ensemble in Matteo Fargion’s 7 Dialogues. perform at Here East’s multi-storey car park after dark, with audiences following them across In the summer, we were delighted to welcome the space. our Associate Artist Akram Khan’s back DESH to our stage, where it had its London premiere Israeli choreographer Sharon Eyal was invited in 2011. The performances marked the last time to become our latest Associate Artist. Following he performed the celebrated full-length solo. her debut on our stage in 2016 with Our Associate Company English National Ballet OCD Love, performed by her company L-E-V, her piece returned with Khan’s award-winning version of was featured in a triple bill by Ballet British in the autumn. Bill Giselle Columbia in March. During the year’s school holidays, she worked with National Youth Dance Sadler’s Wells’ major new in-house productions for Company as Guest Artistic Director (see p. 29). 2017-18 were our International Associate Company Acosta Danza’s and Debut Dystopian Dream, Breakin’ Convention returned over the May Bank a theatrical realisation of our Associate Artist Holiday weekend for its 14th edition, taking over Nitin Sawhney’s 2015 album of the same name, the building with workshops, MCs and graffiti art. co -devised with dancers and choreographers The festival showcased the best hip hop dance Honji Wang and Sébastien Ramirez. theatre from the UK and around the world. This year’s lineup included spectacular acrobatics from South Korea’s Just Dance; intricate, “Beg, borrow or steal a ticket. origami-inspired moves from the all-female Fly to Cuba if you miss them here.” Canadian crew Tentacle Tribe; and upbeat, fast -paced performances by London collectives Laura Freeman, Evening Standard, on Debut the Locksmiths and Boy Blue Entertainment. Park Jam, the free event closing the festival, saw 3,500 people from the local communities crowding We were thrilled to launch Carlos Acosta’s new Spa Fields throughout the Bank Holiday Monday. company, Acosta Danza, in Havana in the spring. The ensemble is made up of the best dancers In June, we delivered the second Elixir Festival: from Cuba, half of whom are trained in ballet and four days of performances, workshops and half in contemporary dance. The aim is for them events recognising the contribution to the art to perform creations by Cuban choreographers form made by older dancers.