North East dance company Eliot Smith Dance has announced its return to live performances with Homecoming, a series of four new works.
It opens in July with the world première of Yamit Salazar’s Bloom, which takes its inspiration from his native Colombia’s yearly Festival of the Flowers, driven by traditional and modern songs and referencing the 'silleros', the porters of Colombia who were hired to physically carry people and their belongings along rough routes such as mountain passes that were impassable by any other means of transport.
Together with Bloom, ESD presents Mark Baldwin’s Messiah, a solo work exploring the choreographer's ongoing research into how dance can be combined with the music of Handel's oratorio, Jake Vincent’s Onward, a short solo which explores the idea of taking unusual or less-travelled paths, set to Haydn's Cello Concerto, and Eliot Smith’s TroY, an adaptation and modernisation of the story of Troy, with a cast of four dancers, which takes its inspiration from the Greek mythological story of Helen of Troy. Set to original music by composer Adam Johnson, the work explores Eliot Smith's current investigation into identity, sex, and gender, using the re-imagining of the ancient story.
The performances will take place outdoors at The Old School House Gallery in Alnmouth, Northumberland on Saturday 3 July and indoors at Gosforth Civic Theatre in Newcastle on Sunday 4 July. Tickets are on sale via the company’s web site.