Dance Umbrella classes and shows online

Over the past 40-plus years Dance Umbrella has grown into an unmissable landmark in the annual dance calendar. Its two-week festival has widened the frontiers of contemporary dance, and brought us exciting and challenging international performers.

Now, Dance Umbrella joins the growing number of organisations offering online materials to keep us fit and entertained during the lockdown, with its brand new DU: Dancing from Home programme.

The exercise part of DU: Dancing from Home consists of a week (13-17 April) of classes, that range from hip-hop to contemporary dance and are suitable for ages 11+ (13 for yoga).

Here’s the full programme:

Mon 13 April, 3pm Hip-hop dance workshop with Sunanda Biswas
Tue 14 April, 3pm Bhangra Hip-Hop Fusion workshop with Emiko Ishii
Wed 15 April, 3pm Yoga for dance with Hanna Wroblewski
Thu 16 April, 3pm Contemporary dance with Caroline Lofthouse
Fri 17 April, 3pm Intro to choreography with Sara Dos Santos

More details on the Dance Umbrella website.

In addition, DU is offering access to filmed performances by some of the participants in past festivals, namely Dimitris Papaioannou and Le Patin Libre.

Papaioannou’s 2011 work Inside involves 30 performers and was filmed at Pallas Theatre in Athens. Be warned, it last six hours, but there’s no obligation to watch it in one go. You can watch it here.

The contemporary ice-skating company Le Patin Libre is one of the most successful DU acts, and its work Vertical charmed public and critics alike when first seen in 2014. You can watch the whole performance on film here.