Dancers take to the streets of Guildford for festival
Tuesday 6 July 2010
Dancers will get the chance to display their talents with a remarkable athletic performance in the streets of Guildford as part of an international conference based at the University of Surrey. The outdoor performance is just one event during the Society of Dance History Scholars Dance and Spectacle conference in which scholars and practitioners will converge on the University from across the world to celebrate and examine the wide variety of styles of dancing.
The street dance event is a new commissioned performance, Cascade, by Motionhouse a highly acclaimed British dance company renowned for its striking use of imagery and theatricality. Cascade is a stunning outdoor performance spectacle that investigates the present condition of our lives in relation to water. This free outdoor event will take place outside the Electric Theatre on Friday July 9 at 4:30pm and 8pm.
The Dance and Spectacle conference is being organised by the University and The Place, the UK’s busiest dance venue in London. The Place has also acted as a host institution for University of Surrey students in their professional training placements and, in view of this long and close professional relationship, the Saturday of the conference will be sited at the venue in London.
The festival’s opening event will be the Descent of the Angel – a vertical dance down the side of Guildford Cathedral by dancer Kate Lawrence who will be descending on a rope at 8pm on July 8.
Dr Sherril Dodds, senior lecturer in Dance at the University, said: "We are delighted to be hosting this prestigious international conference and as we move towards the 2012 London Olympics we are conscious that bodies and spectacle come to the fore. We therefore look forward to some rich debate on whether dance is always spectacular by nature or whether there are other ways of understanding dance that are tied to internal and sensory experience"
The conference lasts from Thursday 8 July to Sunday 11 July.
Notes for Editors:
The Place is one of the leading training and performance centres for contemporary dance in the United Kingdom and during 2010 it celebrates its 40th anniversary as an instrumental institution in the development of British modern dance.
Media Enquiries
Howard Wheeler, Press Office at the University of Surrey, Tel: +44 (0)1483 686141, or Email mediarelations@surrey.ac.uk
