jack s

Re: Latitude Festival returns to England’s Sunrise Coast

At last year’s festival, Latitude unveiled the beautiful stage on the lake. People crammed onto the banks to sit and witness fantastic dance and performances throughout the weekend as gondolas rode by and the lake sparkled in the sun. Renamed The Waterfront, this year the stage will once again showcase contemporary, modern dance from the world’s leading companies and choreographers.

Sadler's Wells will be presenting some truly exciting works at Latitude this year. Hofesh Shechter will be bringing his brand new piece ‘The Art of Not Looking Back’; inspired by, and made for, the seven world-class female dancers of the Hofesh Shechter Company; Eulalia Ayguade Farro, Winifred Burnet-Smith, Victoria Hoyland, Yen Ching Lin, Sita Ostheimer, Ino Riga and Jenny White. Physical, complex and unrelenting, Shechter’s favoured theme of ‘man against the world’ is presented in a different and entrancing light.

Sadler's Wells will also be providing an outlet for budding dancers everywhere to try some moves out for themselves in Dance Club. Let your inner dancer out with specially created workshops on Bollywood, Samba, Flamenco and Hip Hop. Whatever your ability, get your groove on at Latitude.

Sadler’s Wells is a dynamic dance theatre venue showcasing the very best in dance from cutting-edge performance to mainstream contemporary pieces, tango to tap and flamenco to family shows, the joy of movement and celebration of dance are always at the heart of Sadler's Wells. It is the epicentre for dance in the UK, bringing the widest forms of world-class international and UK dance to London and now to Latitude audiences.

For Latitude, the Royal Opera House will be showcasing productions from their ROH2 stable. ROH2 is the name for a range of new and innovative activities that run alongside the heritage and tradition of the Royal Opera House that provide diversity and opportunities for performers and audiences to experiment and collaborate in vibrant, creative ways. Latitude is excited to announce the following schedule of performances throughout the weekend.

On Friday, singer and composer Helen Chadwick will present ‘Dalston Songs’ a unique and powerful piece of music theatre. The gossip of neighbours, domestic affairs, life stories – these are just some of the elements bought to life in Dalston Songs. This theatrical song cycle is based on interviews with Helen’s neighbours in Dalston, East London and incorporates lyrics taken from interviewees born in the UK and across the world, alongside poetry. Sometimes funny, sometimes heart-rending, with unaccompanied harmony singing and movement, Dalston Songs is a unique and powerful piece of music theatre. The Times declared “What emerges on stage … is not so much a narrative as a meditation. As Chadwick's a cappella songs and ruminative lyrics flow among the ensemble we are simply asked to listen and reflect, not to be disturbed or provoked.”

Saturday’s performances will put the spotlight on works developed through the ROH choreographic development programmes with recent works from ROH choreographic Associates Laila Diallo, Sarah Dowling and Freddie Opoku-Addaie, three of the most distinctive and vibrant emerging choreographic talents in the UK, alongside new work from Ballet Black choreographed by Will Tuckett, Guest Artist with the Royal Ballet and Creative Associate for ROH2. Together their pieces demonstrate the rich and diverse range of choreography being developed at the Royal Opera House.

Ballet Black is an up and coming classical ballet company with eight critically acclaimed sell out seasons to its credit. Inspirational and innovative, it strives to honour the traditions of classical ballet while breaking new ground with cutting edge choreography.

This year Latitude Festival presents The Human Music Box, four site specific performances by The Irrepressibles. Fusing the rich history of fairground attractions and a futuristic commercial aesthetic, The Irrepressibles will premiere their re-interpretation of Baroque fantasy and sound, The Human Music Box, with a performance at the V&A's Baroque Baroque event on 19th June, followed by three performances at Latitude Festival in July. For each site specific performance, The Irrepressibles will be enclosed within a six- by-six metre box, silent and unknown to the audience. A Baroque fantasy will ensue. The box will progress through moments of iconic theatricality, emotional intensity and playful abandon as The Irrepressibles present their spectacular performances.





Britten Sinfonia, one of Europe’s most dynamic orchestras, takes to the stage at Latitude this summer, the first orchestra to ever perform at the outdoor festival. Playing a range of music, from Bach to Argentinian tango-master Piazzolla, the orchestra performs on the Lake Stage during this year’s festival.

The award-winning Britten Sinfonia has a blossoming international reputation, acclaimed for its adventurous approach to programming, outstanding musicianship and for dynamic associations with classical artists such as pianists Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Joanna MacGregor and Imogen Cooper. The orchestra commissioned the first orchestral work by Nitin Sawhney and has performed with an enviable range of artists across the artistic spectrum, including cult oud player/vocalist Dhafer Youssef, Danish music collective Efterklang, choreographer Michael Clark and director Katie Mitchell.


Britten Sinfonia is that rare beast: an orchestra that chooses not to be led by a music director or principal conductor in the traditional sense, but rather focuses on extending the skills of its acclaimed musicians by collaborating with guest artists who specialise in different musical genres. Britten Sinfonia has performed in many of Europe’s finest concert halls and Festivals and is a regular at the BBC Proms. It has residencies in Cambridge, Norwich, Birmingham and Krakow, with a concert series at London’s Southbank Centre and the Wigmore Hall.

The ensemble enjoys a blossoming international profile, a recent highlight being an acclaimed tour of South America, and is frequently heard on disc, BBC Radio 3 and commercial radio. The orchestra has received awards including a Gramophone Award and in 2007 won the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Ensemble Award in recognition of its work.

The orchestra is funded by Arts Council England, East, who have also helped with funding for this performance at Latitude.

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Comment Posted on: March 25, 2009, 07:31 PM