The line-up for the Semi-Finals for The Place Prize for dance, now in its 5th edition, sponsored by Bloomberg, has been announced. The Prize includes different styles of contemporary practices, from digital, to fashion, to film. It is an opportunity for audiences to discover the newest and most promising talents in contemporary dance.
Competing for the biggest prize in British dance sixteen entrants will premiere their works at The Place’s Robin Howard Dance Theatre in September 2012. Only four of the sixteen commissioned pieces will go through to the Finals in April 2013 (Wed 17th to Sat 27th) to try for a total money prize of £25,000.
The Place Prize is the biggest private source of commissions for new short works in British dance. By the end of this edition, it will have enabled the creation of 92 original pieces of choreography, many of which have remained in the artists’ repertoire, and have been toured in theatres and festivals nationally and internationally.
The Place Prize has already invested over £1m in new British dance, and has brought leading artists, including Rafael Bonachela, Hofesh Shechter, Nina Rajarani, Adam Linder and Ben Duke & Raquel Mesenguer (Lost Dog), among others, to international attention.
The sixteen pieces will preview at The Place from Thursday 6th to Thursday 13th September ahead of the Semi-Finals. The audience, and the panel of judges (Sarah Crompton, Roberto Casarotto, Siobhan Davies, Stine Nilsen, and Jonzi D), chaired by Eddie Nixon, Director of Theatre and Artist Development at The Place, will vote for their favourite only during the second Semi-Finals Week.
The Semi-Finals will feature four mixed bills, each including four newly created works (Sat 15th; Tue 18th; Thu 20th; Sat 22nd September), encompassing a wide range of contemporary styles, and reflecting the diversity of today’s British contemporary dance scene.
Three of the four works to go through to the Finals in April 2013 will be selected by the panel of dance experts. The fourth finalist piece will be the most popular one as voted by the live audience over the course of Semi-Finals.
The four finalists for The Place Prize for dance will be announced following the last Semi-Final performance on Sat 22nd September.
The judges for the Place Prize for Dance Semi-finals 2012 are:
Roberto Casarotto, Artistic Director, Operaestate Festival Veneto (It)
Sarah Crompton, Chief Arts Editor, The Daily Telegraph
Jonzi D, Artistic Director, Breakin' Convention
Siobhan Davies, Artistic Director, Siobhan Davies Dance
Stine Nilsen, Co-Artistic Director, Candoco Dance Company
The Finals in April 2013 will be judged by a different panel of judges.
The Semi-Finals Line Up:
Sat 15th September
Moreno Solinas, Life Is a Carnival;
Riccardo Buscarini, Athletes;
Tony Adigun, The Lake;
Joe Moran, Obverse
Tue 18th September
Mamoru Iriguchi, One Man Show;
Dog Kennel Hill Project (Ben Ash), Execute Now;
h2dance (Hanna Gillgren & Heidi Rustgaard), Duet;
Rick Nodine, Dead Gig
Thu 20th September
Nina Kov, Copt;
bgroup (Ben Wright), A short lived alteration of an existing situation;
Neil Paris, The Devil’s Mischief;
Darren Ellis, Revolver
Sat 22nd September
Goddard Nixon (Jonathan Goddard and Gemma Nixon), Third;
Seke Chimutengwende, The Time Travel Piece;
Robbie Synge, Flux;
Eva Recacha, The Wishing Well