Sadler's Sampled

With the aim of bringing dance to a wider audience , this  two-week event presents four separate productions by international choreographers and dance companies. Related activities will be held in theatre’s foyers before and after each performance.
First is a South African Swan Lake (17 – 18 June) with a difference.   Described as ‘ agonisingly beautiful ’, this 60-minute reworking by the Soweto-born dancer and choreographer, Dada Masilo, explores issues of sex, gender, homophobia and the impact of AIDS on her country.
Thirteen tutu-wearing male and female dancers mix classical ballet steps with African dance to a score that includes Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns, Arvo Pärt and Steve Reich.
In Rian (20– 21 June), Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist, Michael Keegan-Dolan, celebrates the roots of his native Ireland in collaboration with musician Liam Ó Maonlaí from Hothouse Flowers, a band that fuses rock with traditional Irish melodies.  Keegan-Dolan, who has developed a vocabulary of strong, swirling movement for his Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre, puts eight dancers and five musicians on the stage in this award-winning production.
In 4D (23 –24 June), Belgian choreographer, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (the winner of this year’s Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production for Puz/zle), presents four duets taken from his past work. Origine, Pure, Sin and Faun show different sets of couples meet and questioningly interact. Cherkaoui, also a Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist, uses music from a range of cultures as background for the almost liquid movement of his Eastman ensemble dancers. His Faun intercuts Debussy’s L’Après-midi d’un faune with music by modern-day composer, Nitin Sawhney.
As an interlude, there will be a screening of Valtari , a film devised by Cherkaoui with director Christian Larson for the Icelandic post-punk rock band, SigurRós.
Sadler’s Sampled ends with Playlist (28 - 29 June), in which a variety of dance styles are performed across two dates by different companies. Some of these are still to be announced, but among them will be the National Youth Dance Company (choreographed by Sadler’sWells Associate Artist, Akram Khan), and Sadler’s Wells Resident Company and Hip Hop dance theatre specialists, ZooNation.