Southbank Centre is reaffirming its relationship with dance as the leading arts venue seeks to platform accessible performances that reflect London’s diversity writes Melina Block.
Despite playing a major role in the UK’s dance history, recent years have seen dance play a smaller role in the venue’s programming.
Aaron Wright, Head of Performance and Dance at Southbank Centre, wants their programming to change that and bring in new audiences.
The appointment of Mark Ball, the current Artistic Director, helped put the spotlight back on dance, says Aaron: “He was very keen that we should recommit to being a really important space for dance in the city – I guess it felt that, actually, there was demand and appetite.”
London-based theatre Sadlers Wells’ success in becoming a dance-focused venue showed the audience existed, proving a turning point in the Centre’s relationship with dance. Its high footfall gives the Centre the opportunity to entice people who may have never thought about seeing live dance: “We’re now in this process of renegotiating what can we contribute to London, what can we contribute to the art form?”
Aaron further explains they are also keen to reflect the capital’s multicultural population, with recent programming aiming to connect with different communities in London after Lambeth’s big Latin-American community helped provide a large audience for work by Brazilian dance companies Alice Ripoll and Zia Suave.
QDance Company, one of Nigeria’s leading dance organisations, also recently had their UK debut at Southbank Centre. Aaron adds: “We’re interested in how we can fill some of those gaps and really serve wide audiences across London as well as here on our doorstep.”
Going forwards, the Head of Performance hopes they can get audiences to see new dance shows and take more risks. One way they hope to do this is by capitalising on Southbank Centre’s established position as the UK’s leading venue for classical music.
“We’re really interested in trying to introduce some of those classical music audiences to dance,” reveals Aaron. “In April this year, we have the London Sinfonietta collaborating with the Sasha Waltz company, a German dance company; I think that is going to be a really nice collaboration because it will appeal to classical music audiences as well as dance.”
Accessibility is another key concern, with Aaron considering everything from ticket prices to including foreign language performances when programming for upcoming seasons.
This year will see Southbank Centre host several dance productions, including a piece by South African choreographer Robyn Orlin, a UK premiere from Holly Blakey, and a new evening of work performed by Rambert.
The summer festival will be based on the book ‘Dance Your Way Home’, by Emma Warren, exploring the dance floor as a social space where we congregate with each other – whether in a nightclub, school disco, or even the kitchen.
Details of upcoming performances and information on buying tickets can be found on Southbank Centre’s website.
