This captivating short dance film unveils the story of a lonely ice fisherman who finds an unlikely friend trapped within the depths of the frozen sea ice.  

Against the backdrop of a desolate Arctic shore, a lonely fisherman's fate intertwines with that of a frozen prehistoric man encased in ice. As twilight descends, the ice-bound figure defrosts, revealing an unexpected friend and dance partner. Yet, as the dawn's unforgiving light breaks, revelations shatter the facade of their newfound connection. Combining the art of silent narrative, deadpan Nordic humor, and an original soundtrack by avant-garde accordion wizard Kimmo Pohjonen, this acclaimed short film has taken the festival circuit by storm. Its enigmatic storytelling and mesmerizing choreography have earned it both critical praise and an enthusiastic following.

This captivating short dance film unveils the story of a lonely ice fisherman who finds an unlikely friend trapped within the depths of the frozen sea ice.

Cold Storage

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre's breathtaking tribute to the serene and meditative beauty of water. 

Inspired by the Buddhist proverb ''Flowers in a mirror and the moon on water are both illusive,'' choreographer Lin Hwai-min has created a poetic exploration of the ever-changing and cyclical nature of life. Set to the backdrop of Bach's Six Cello Suites, played by Mischa Maisky, dancers move in front of a mirror on a reflective stage playing with the elusive nature of reflection. Through years of Tai Chi training with master Shong Wei, the Cloud Gate dancers exude control and balance in their movements giving the impression of sculptural stillness that is nothing short of mesmirizing.  

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre's breathtaking tribute to the serene and meditative beauty of water. 

Moon Water

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre's enchanting work captures the serene beauty and spiritual sanctuary of the evergreen bamboo forests. 
 
Artistic Director Lin Hwai-min’s choreography masterfully blends ancient wisdom and modern artistry to create an immersive world, inspired in part by The Seven Sages in The Bamboo Grove, a group of third-century Chinese scholars, musicians, and writers, who retreated to the bamboo groves to escape persecution and to continue their political and artistic endeavors.  

Set to music by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt and improvised melodies from Chinese flute player Huang Sheng-kai, the dancers create six expressive scenes that follow the ever-changing seasons: Morning Mist, Spring Breeze, Summer Heat, Autumn Path, When Rain Stops, At Midnight and Snow. With skillful meditative motion inspired by martial arts, contemporary dance, and ballet, dancers flow through tall stalks of bamboo. This work is a moving testament to the skill and caliber of Cloudgate Dance Theatre.  

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre's enchanting work captures the serene beauty and spiritual sanctuary of the evergreen bamboo forests. 

Bamboo Dream

Bold, unpredictable, and innovative. Multi-award-winning choreographer Alexander Ekman's Hammer is a humorous critique of our image-obsessed world. 

A harmonious commune of altruistic individuals begins to dissolve as they adopt a more modern life. With all eyes on them, the community becomes gradually more individualistic and egotistical. Ekman shines a light on the skewed values of contemporary society with talented dancers of the GöteborgsOperans Danskompani. Hammer is a bold testament to Ekman's creative powers.  

Bold, unpredictable, and innovative. Multi-award-winning choreographer Alexander Ekman's Hammer is a humorous critique of our image-obsessed world. 

Alexander Ekman: Hammer

Annie Edwards is a disabled dance artist from Brighton, now based in London. She works with hip hop and contemporary dance, performing and creating work for a number of years. Her practice combines a love of movement and music with a drive for social justice. This video is part of The Shimmering Extraordinary, a mini-series of six new short dance films, created by Emmy-Award nominated director Fx Goby.

Annie Edwards is a disabled dance artist from Brighton, now based in London.

Scottish Ballet: The Shimmering Extraordinary – Annie

Commissioned and curated especially by Manchester Camerata during these unique times – the 'Untold' series tells the remarkable and intimate personal stories of real people in the community through film, storytelling and prose. In this episode, we tell the moving and uplifting story of Keith who lives with young onset dementia.

We first met Keith back in 2018 at one of our creative music-making sessions in Wigan. Previously a coach driver for football clubs across the northwest, a member of the grenadier guards and an avid music fan, the film tells his personal account of how dementia affects the everyday life of him and his wife Joan. 

Narrated by Coronation Street star Julie Hesmondhalgh, written by poet and playwright Amanda Dalton, directed by award-winning Paul Sapin and starring Neil Bell (Dead Man’s Shoes, 24 Hour Party People, Coronation Street), this emotional and deeply personal account set to music chosen by Keith should not be missed.

The film tells his personal account of how dementia affects the everyday life of Keith and his wife Joan.

Untold - Keith

Madeline Squire is a First Artist with Scottish Ballet. 

Scottish Ballet: The Shimmering Extraordinary – Maddy

Three incredible performances in a range of styles from ballet to hip-hop to tap. Together for the first time, Tiler Peck, Lil Buck, Sierra Boggess, Brooklyn Mack, and the Syncopated Ladies take the stage in works by Chloe Arnold and Jennifer Weber, and a world premiere from Christopher Wheeldon.

Three incredible performances in a range of styles from ballet to hip-hop to tap.

A New Stage: Curated by Tiler Peck

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre's visually stunning work is a meditative journey that seamlessly blends dance, nature, and ancient wisdom.

Choreographed by the esteemed Lin Hwai-min, dancers evoke spiritual pilgrimages inspired by Herman Hesse's account of Siddhartha's quest and the introspective religious practices found throughout Asia. A lone monk stands in complete stillness as three tons of golden rice grains flow onto his head and to the stage, creating a shifting landscape of hills, deserts, and rivers that usher the dancers along their journey.  Enchanting Georgian folksongs reverberate through the space while dancers sift through the sandy rice creating a powerful narrative of self-discovery and the pursuit of enlightenment.  

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre's visually stunning work is a meditative journey that seamlessly blends dance, nature, and ancient wisdom.


Songs of the Wanderers

Presented by Fall for Dance North. Dancer and Choreographer Guillaume Côté explores the idea of home as a state of mind in this sculptural new dance short film directed by Vikram Dasgupta.

Inspired by the myth of Odysseus, Guillaume Côté’s choreography is a contemporary examination of the idea of home. Set to a score by the American experimental band Son Lux, dancers from the newly formed collective, Côté Danse, move with sculptural precision and sleek athleticism against a sparse, dark, stage.  
 


Presented by Fall for Dance North. Dancer and Choreographer Guillaume Côté explores the idea of home as a state of mind in this sculptural new dance short film directed by Vikram Dasgupta.

X (DIX)

Hayaat zahra shah is 24 years old. They are from Manchester and were born in Pakistan.

Scottish Ballet: The Shimmering Extraordinary – Zahra

Nikita Gold is a prolific dancer with killer moves and great taste in music and fashion. She is a classic queen with outfits to die for. Nikita likes to storm stages around the world, wowing audiences wherever she goes.

Nikita Gold is a prolific dancer with killer moves and great taste in music and fashion.

Scottish Ballet: The Shimmering Extraordinary – Nikita

Mukeni Nel begun dancing aged 6 in Winchester and has since toured internationally.

Scottish Ballet: The Shimmering Extraordinary – Mukeni

Saul Nash is a Designer and Choreographer from North East London. Having received a scholarship to attend and graduate from the eminent MA Menswear at the Royal College of Art in 2018, Nash came from the unconventional route of Performance. Practicing for many years as a dancer and graduating from BA Performance Design at Central Saint Martins in 2015.

Saul Nash is a Designer and Choreographer from North East London.

Scottish Ballet: The Shimmering Extraordinary – Saul

With BiT, Maguy Marin signs her forty-ninth opus in barely forty years. At the center of this brutal charge against ordinary barbarism lies the question of rhythm.

The title refers to the computer term for the unit of measurement of information, this word-syllable gives an initial rhythmic drive, after which the show takes shape, relentless succession of scansions and impulses, twists and tensions orchestrated with the feverish rigor of a dance both joyful and desperate. As a constant in the piece, in an obsessive continuity, the same structure: the farandole, a form of collective dance passed down through the ages, is the recurring motif. All the colors of the human condition slide in, love rites and dances of death. On an exhilarating techno music all in beats, the entire show has no shortage of cruelty on the analysis of contemporary society, in the dark conclusion of the dominations exerted on the intimate as well as the social, a deterioration of which we ourselves are the actors. BiT takes us into the depths of our humanity and questions our individual responsibilities in the turmoil of each passing day.

BiT takes us into the depths of our humanity and questions our individual responsibilities in the turmoil of each passing day.

A captivating story told through BSL, voice and movement, Unspoken Spoken is performed by a cast of disabled and non-disabled dancers. Created and filmed with support from digital commissioning body The Space, Arts Council England and the BBC, the film seeks to raise awareness of Candoco’s work amongst a digital audience for the first time.

A captivating story told through BSL, voice and movement, Unspoken Spoken is performed by a cast of disabled and non-disabled dancers.

Unspoken Spoken (Audio Described)

Adapted from the anti-play Offending the Audience by Austrian playwright Peter Handke and enriched by Ohad Naharin’s innovative, movement language Gaga, the Bessie-award winning Naharin’s Virus exemplifies the choreographer’s aesthetic with the sole purpose of showing the naked reality of a moment in space. The varied soundtrack includes classical music, original music by Karni Postel, and adaptations of traditional Arabic music by Habib Alla Jamal and Shama Khader.

Adapted by Ohad Naharin from the anti-play Offending the Audience by the Nobel-winning Austrian playwright Peter Handke.

Naharin's Virus

Soledad is a duo full of sensuality and emotion that explores the wild and tender aspects of a love relationship. Bonachela received the Guglielmo Ebreo Award and the Critics Award at the first international Biennale Danza Italia competition for independent choreographers, in Italy, 2006.

Soledad is a duo full of sensuality and emotion that explores the wild and tender aspects of a love relationship.

Soledad

Silent Lines was inspired by Maliphant’s research and explorations in movement and anatomy to create rich and resonant aesthetics for the stage using a blend mix of music, movement, animated video projection, and lighting. The piece investigates a range of poetic possibilities from internal and external environments, the microcosm and the macrocosm. Drawing on methodologies from a variety of movement disciplines and setting the movement within a world of animated light and atmospheric sound, Silent Lines explores the endless web of connections we encompass and embody.

Silent Lines was inspired by Maliphant’s research and explorations in movement and anatomy.

Bloom

Malpaso Dance Company

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