Phoenix Dance Theatre will celebrate its female talent on its home stage at Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre, Leeds from 27 to 30 September 2017.
Phoenix at Home: A Celebration of Female Choreographers will include an excerpt from Windrush, a new piece choreographed by Phoenix Artistic Director Sharon Watson which celebrates the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the SS Empire Windrush bringing the first generation of Caribbean immigrants to England in large numbers at the start of the post-war immigration boom.
Watson said, “Windrush highlights both the struggles and the good times the Jamaican community experienced during those early years. It’s an uplifting production with a great soundtrack that has everything from Calypso to RnB.
"It premières at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in February next year, but Phoenix At Home is a perfect opportunity to give our audiences a taste of what’s to come.”
Award-winning company dancer and choreographer Sandrine Monin will present Calyx, based on Charles Baudelaire’s book of poems The Flowers of Evil exploring the themes of beauty, desire and decadence.
Dancer Carmen Vazquez Marfil will perform an original solo piece, a tongue-in-cheek collaboration between dancer Vanessa Pang and rehearsal director Tracy Tinker set in the audition room.
There will also be a new piece choreographed by dancers Natalie Alleston and Vanessa Pang for the rising stars of the Phoenix Youth Academy.