Fans of contemporary dance will be flocking to Nottingham Playhouse once again next week, as two more of the most prominent dance companies currently on tour stop off at the Wellington Circus venue. Kylie’s favourite choreographer Rafael Bonachela brings BONACHELA DANCE COMPANY with his new show Square Map of Q4 on Wednesday 7 May. Then, on Saturday 10 May, comes Entity, the latest production by WAYNE MCGREGOR | RANDOM DANCE. Innovation meets dazzling skill in these two otherwise very different displays of dance (Box Office: 0115 941 9419 or www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk).
After 14 years with Rambert Dance Company, Barcelona-born Rafael Bonachela launched his own company in 2006 and immediately found critical and popular success – no surprise for a choreographer who has worked repeatedly with Kylie Minogue, including her Fever tour. The company makes its debut appearance at Nottingham Playhouse on Wednesday 7 May at 8pm with a brand new work, Square Map of Q4, performed by an international company of dancers.
This pioneering show sees BONACHELA DANCE COMPANY take movement a step further into the realms of the senses, juxtaposing intense physical movement with high-tech imagery. An international cast of dancers explore, goad and mirror each other’s bodies and meld with video in a forceful journey into the core of humanity.
Bonachela is famed for his clever collaborations and spot-on mix of popular art and culture and Square Map of Q4 abundantly shares those credentials. The music is composed by double BAFTA winner and five-time Grammy nominee Marius de Vries, who has worked with Madonna, Rufus Wainwright and Björk, and on the soundtracks for Moulin Rouge and Romeo + Juliet. Costumes are by the cutting-edge design duo Meadham Kirchhoff, who have their own fashion label as well as a recent range for Top Shop; production design is by Alan Macdonald, a fellow Kylie collaborator who also designed films such as The Queen; and lighting is by the renowned Guy Hoare, whose work was last seen here with Henri Oguike Dance Company in February.
Multi award-winning Wayne McGregor is renowned for his fierce, physically testing choreography and ground-breaking partnerships. Coming to Nottingham Playhouse on Saturday 10 May at 8pm, Entity is his first production in two years for his re-titled company, WAYNE MCGREGOR | RANDOM DANCE. The show comprises two contrasting works, set to live music commissioned from two of the most exciting new composers either side of the Atlantic. Philip Glass and Björk collaborator Nico Muhly’s propulsive string quartet, performed live by the Navarra Quartet, is pitched against the sonic extremes of Jon Hopkins’ electronica.
Six of the world’s leading cognitive scientists helped develop the mesmerising movement of McGregor’s limber cast of ten in Entity. Having worked with neuro-scientists and heart imaging specialists for his past two pieces for Random Dance, AtaXia and Amu, Wayne McGregor continues to explore the connection between the brain and movement to rhapsodic effect. The dancers perform against a multi-screen installation created by Linbury award-winner Patrick Burnier, with video creations by Ravi Deepres and lighting by longtime collaborator Lucy Carter.
Now 37, Wayne McGregor founded WAYNE MCGREGOR | RANDOM DANCE in 1992 aged 22. It became a resident company at Sadler’s Wells in 2001, but McGregor’s work breaks many boundaries and during the same period he has directed an opera at La Scala, ballet in Paris and San Francisco, choreography for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and become the first contemporary Resident Choreographer at The Royal Ballet.
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Please note: WAYNE MCGREGOR | RANDOM DANCE performs on Saturday 10 May
and not Friday 9 May as originally scheduled.
