The 27th edition of Resolution festival runs from Friday 8 January to Friday 19 February 2016 across 26 nights as 78 companies take to the stage to test the limits of dance, this year seeing The Place in partnership with Akademi, Breakin’ Convention, Jacksons Lane and Rambert.
Many top UK-based contemporary choreographers, including Wayne MacGregor, Hofesh Sheather, Kate Prince, Luca Silvestrini and, more recently, Tony Adigun, James Cousins and Sarah Blanc, presented their earliest work at this event.
This year’s choreographers draw on diverse movement styles from hip hop to South Asian dance, circus to contemporary, ballet to ballroom to comment on and explore themes of gender, sexuality, social change, immigration, cultural traditions, literature, science and love.
Some of the many highlights include #PPL Dance offering synchronised hip hop drama in Al-Col-Hol (9 January), Akademi's South Asian dance meeting ancient Chinese philosophy in Shãn by Subhash Viman Dance Company (12 January) and Pirenaika Dance seeing Oihana Vesga Bujan of Richard Alston Dance Company choreographing a duet inspired by the words of Victor Borge (16 January).
A solo by Pierre Tappon of Rambert to the flute music of JS Bach follows on 23 January, as does Lee Griffiths, returning for her second year with Behind Every Man for The Company. The Birth of Memory (29 January) by Exim Dance Company is an inclusive dance piece exploring how memories are locked within the body, and on 30 January Breakin’ Convention presents Sigh, exploring hip hop influenced by elements of Kabuki theatre in Kasa.
In Deep Down (10 February), Julie Cunningham, a dancer with Michael Clark Company, asks whether we should trust our gut instincts. Founding member of The Yard Theatre and most recently Assistant Director on Akram Khan’s Until The Lions, Sasha Milavic Davies brings her own choreography to life with eight dancers and a cellist (13 February).
Jackson’s Lane presents Le lien ne fait pas le Fagot by Nikki & JD (18 February), a story of two people searching for love told through acrobatics and hand balancing, and on the closing night comes the powerful athleticism of Salah El Brogy Company in Glitch (19 February), an exploration of what it means to lose your memory.