From 4 to 11 November, the Currency festival will showcase European experimental performance that defies easy categorisation. This year sees the launch of Currency TV which will offer audiences even more ways to experience the spirit of collaboration, innovation and creativity that is the hallmark of this event.
Taking performance beyond the stage, this free digital initiative will be an integral part of the festival. Go online to watch live performances streamed from The Place’s theatre, interviews with the performers and extra content.
There are two free talks: the first sees Lyndsey Winship, Yohann Floch, Ben Duke (4 November—free but booking required) discussing how contemporary circus and dance are changing the boundaries of performance, then there’s a chance to meet the curators of the festival Ellie Beedham and Rachel Clare (11 November).
Exploring the borders between dance, performance art and contemporary circus, the artists are unified by their attitude to finding new ways of telling stories and breaking convention using the body.
Taking part in this year’s festival are: Matt Pang (UK), Anders Duckworth (UK) Defracto (France), Natalie Reckert (Germany), Alex Deutinger & Alexander Gottfarb (Austria & Sweden), Tony Adigun & Inua Ellams (UK), Tabea Martin (Switzerland), and Marco Da Silva Ferreira (Spain).
Currency TV will be broadcast on Wednesday 4 November, Saturday 7 November and Wednesday 11 November from 7:45 to 10:30PM. Share your thoughts and join in the chat live from the festival on Twitter at @theplacelondon or with the hashtag #exploredance.
Eddie Nixon, Director Theatre and Artist Development commented, "you can’t really stop culture crossing borders. In fact, you probably want to encourage art as a place where ideas and people are free to move and difference is embraced. The world can’t really afford to be without the search for human connection that it provides.
Rachel Clare, Artistic Director at Crying Out Loud, added, "for this third edition, Crying Out Loud is delighted to continue the partnership with The Place, EU Commission and EUNIC.
"We are particularly excited about the selected artists who, realising the limitations of being defined by a genre (namely circus and dance), have begun to seriously push art form boundaries, and are reflective of the direction being taken by a new generation of pioneering European artists.
"The deconstruction of the circus trick and the underlying post-hip-hop presence in much of the work are examples of a new approach. By creating new forms, these artists are informing the mainstream of the future."