National Youth Dance Company, run by Sadler’s Wells, has been granted further support of £200,000 from the Department for Education and £250,000 from Arts Council England.
The funding will be used for NYDC’s upcoming fifth year of work, for which French-Belgian choreographer and performer Damien Jalet has been appointed as Guest Artistic Director.
Jalet will take over from Michael Keegan-Dolan, an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells, whose new creation In—Nocentes premièred at Sadler’s Wells on Thursday 7 April. The production tours to seven locations around the country in June and July.
Through NYDC Experience Workshops in May and June in 14 different towns and cities, the company will look for a fresh intake of dancers for 2016-17. Jalet will mentor these dancers in three intensive residencies spread across the year to create, rehearse and develop a new contemporary dance piece.
Jalet has collaborated with Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui on Babel(words), which won two Olivier awards in 2011, and Bolero, a collaboration with performance artist Marina Abramovic for Paris Opéra Ballet in 2013. Jalet recently collaborated with fashion designer Hussein Chalayan on the Sadler’s Wells 2015 production Gravity Fatigue.
Sadler’s Wells Associate Artists Jasmin Vardimon, Akram Khan and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui preceded Jalet and Keegan-Dolan as NYDC Guest Artistic Directors.