TAG&Me vs. the City                                                         Tuesday 6 & Wednesday 7 March at 8pm

Richard Alston Dance Company                                    Friday 9 & Saturday 10 March at 8pm

Box Office: 0115 941 9419 or www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk

As ever, Nottingham Playhouse’s spring season is notable for the quality and diversity of dance companies it brings to the city. Three proven successes from trail-blazing choreographers launch the theatre’s STRICTLY DANCE SEASON 2007.

Belgian choreographer Wim Vandekeybus burst onto the European dance scene in the late 1980s and his intensely physical, risk-taking style has made an indelible mark. In SPIEGEL he presents a retrospective journey through twenty years of his 9-strong company Ultima Vez, showcasing some of the most remarkable scenes from his work. The rolls, the jumps, the fights, the bodies suspended in mid-air have lost nothing of their ferocious energy and force; fleeting moments of tenderness still touch the heart. Presented by Dance Touring Partnership, this is the company’s first visit to Nottingham since 2004 and a perfect opportunity for newcomers to experience, and longstanding fans to relive, the evolution and excitement of Ultima Vez.

The inimitable Jonzi D is a pioneer of Hip Hop dance theatre and his hit show TAG&Me vs. The City, a co-production by Nottingham Playhouse, Jonzi D Productions and Sadlers Wells, is back after premiering here last February. Fusing essential elements of Hip Hop culture, TAG offers a window into the world of a brilliant but obsessive graffiti writer, exorcising his demons the only way he knows how. Its cast of six explores the physicality of graffiti lettering through collages of rap, break dancing and body-popping as his work literally comes to life. TAG features writing from performance poet John Berkavitch, beats and sound design by DJ Pogo (The En4cers, Block Party Breaks), an immense graffiti set by Sculptural Graffiti, video animation by Ben Wachenje (the7Samurai), lighting design by Jonathan Samuels and costumes by Shirley Williams. Jonzi D returns on Saturday 2 June when he brings his annual festival Breakin Convention out of London for the first time.

Richard Alston Dance Company also makes a welcome return to the Playhouse stage with a programme that covers both its lyrical and lighter sides. Richard Alston has brought contemporary dance to ever wider audiences with his hallmarks of rapturous choreography and musicality, and his company is fresh from a triumphant 5-week US tour. The sharp jazz/rock energies of Red Run are complemented by the upbeat elegance and humour of Alston’s latest hit, The Devil in the Detail, with Scott Joplin’s celebrated rags played live by pianist Jason Ridgeway. Company dancer Martin Lawrance, who hails from Leicester, has choreographed a third piece, About-Face, to the exquisite seventeenth-century viol music of Marin Marais. Richard Alston will give a talk before the performance on Friday 9 March; tickets are free but must be booked via the Box Office on 0115 941 9419.

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