News Young choreographers and dancers take over Birmingham Hippodrome Main Stage

Thursday night’s performance of Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker! at Birmingham Hippodrome was a very special evening. The curtain was raised on a group of BTEC dancers from Walsall College who performed a short piece inspired by Nutcracker!, created by eight young choreographers from across the West Midlands, selected by DanceXchange

Sweet Reality was a new spin on Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker!, drawing on elements of his movement and narrative. The Candy-Man, an exuberant Aaron Watkinson, wakes up lazy fudge pieces, entertains the pink and pretty Candyfloss Girls, breaks up an argument between the flying saucers, and dodges the energetic popping candy. We then move into darker territory, as the grey-clad orphans come on stage, cleaning the sweets away and closing with a foreboding unison section.

The eight choreographers were selected by DanceXchange and came from all over the West Midlands. Each choreographer focused on one section, but worked together under the leadership of Artistic Director and mentor Clare Palethorpe to draw up a storyboard for the piece. Following a workshop at Sadler’s Wells with members of the New Adventures company, the different characters were created and developed with the dancers.

The company worked intensively at DanceXchange for four workshops in the month preceding the performance, and on the day were thrilled to be given ownership of the stage and the Nutcracker! set. The choreographers worked with New Adventures lighting and sound staff to create a professional look for a professional-standard performance. The company was delighted that their dress run was attended by the whole New Adventures company after daily company class, and were thrilled to show their work to a nearly full house of 1800 audience members at Birmingham Hippodrome in the evening.

The entire cast commanded the stage and each dancer gave an impressive performance that stood up well to the professional company that followed them. The choreography was detailed, varied, and contained so many interesting quirks and complex ideas. I particularly enjoyed the way in which the orphans’ characteristics reflected those of the sweets – a clever take on the dream and imagination themes that Matthew Bourne uses in his choreography.

Matthew Bourne said: “This Curtain Raiser project is exactly why I set up Re:Bourne. As well as strengthening our partnership with Birmingham Hippodrome and DanceXchange, this is an extraordinary opportunity to bring our professional dancers and these young people together.”

DanceXchange is proud to have provided this amazing experience for the young choreographers, several of whom we have worked with on other dx projects such as Choreolab and the Centre for Advanced Training. It has also been a pleasure to work in partnership with Walsall College, Birmingham Hippodrome and Re:Bourne (the education arm of New Adventures).

It’s not quite the end of the project though, as there is another opportunity to see the piece performed at International Raw Energy, our international youth dance platform as part of International Dance Festival Birmingham, on 19th May at Town Hall. We can’t wait to bring this amazingly talented company of young dancers and choreographers together again to recreate the magic of Sweet Reality.

By Miranda Laurence, DanceXchange Project Manager