Greenwich Dance & Trinity Laban Partnership are currently accepting applications from artists for next year’s programme Compass Commissions. The closing date is Monday 16 November.
Compass Commissions is the Greenwich Dance & Trinity Laban Partnership’s artist development programme, offering cash funds, creation space, advice and production development support.
Now in its third year, the partnership commissions a minimum of three new works a year across three strands: site-sensitive, theatre-based and work for a family audience.
Artists that have been (or are being) supported by a Compass Commission include Tara D’Arquian, Robin Dingemans, Mimbre, Nick Bryson, Wendy Houstoun and Rahel Vonmoos.
Brian Brady, Head of Theatre Programme at Trinity Laban, said, “the overwhelming challenge for dance artists throughout their careers is in finding adequate support to fully realise their ambitions for their work. Through the comprehensive support offered in these Compass Commissions, Greenwich Dance and Trinity Laban are able to provide what many similar awards do not.
"We are excited and proud of our capacity to enable artists to develop their own voice while empowering them to obtain further funding from other sources. Through Compass Commissions, we've helped create some truly innovative, memorable shows which audiences have really loved.”
An example of work recently selected from submissions to Compass Commissions is Us Then. Premièring at Trinity Laban from 19 to 20 November, long-term Punchdrunk performers and collaborators Sarah Dowling and Kath Duggan took inspiration from Waiting for Godot and Beckett’s statement that the play is “all symbiosis”.
Us Then unites a theatrical realism with visceral movement to create a new piece of dance theatre, Sarah and Kath’s first joint venture after performing alongside each other for many years in Punchdrunk productions including The Drowned Man.