Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Freefall Dance Company's latest creation, Seated, together with their 2009 production Freefalling from Outer Space, will be performed at the Patrick Centre within the Birmingham Hippodrome on Thursday 3 and Friday 4 July.
Freefall Dance Company, led by former Birmingham Royal Ballet dancers and staff from Fox Hollies Performing Arts College, was established in 2002 to provide training and performing platforms for gifted young people of school leaving age with severe learning difficulties. Initially formed with six dancers, the numbers increased to nine in 2007 and ten in 2014.
Well-received in 2009, Freefalling from Outer Space was Freefall’s first full-length piece. Their new project, Seated, directed by Sima Gonsai, is a site-specific filmed dance piece, which will be shown on screens in the Patrick Centre. This ten-minute piece investigates Freefall’s imagined outdoor world.
Seated follows a group of learning-disabled dancers travelling on a train, dancing in the park, improvising with chairs. Combining dance, choreography, moving image and original music, this new autobiographical piece was filmed in May and early June in a variety of locations, including the foyer of the Birmingham Hippodrome, Cannon Hill Park and the Severn Valley Railway.
A legacy of the Cultural Olympiad, building on the success of We Dance, after the performances at the Patrick Centre, Seated will tour dance festivals.
"Freefallers" are invited to join the company, which meets once a week, and for longer intensive periods during holiday times, at Birmingham Royal Ballet's studios. Freefall dancers are frequent visitors to Birmingham Royal Ballet's performances.
Freefall dancers gain accreditation for their skills and knowledge through Freefall's own Open College Network qualification Excellence in Ballet and the Arts Council England's National Arts Award.