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Fifty dance companies from across the UK set to take part in BBC Arts and One Dance UK’s Dance Passion

 A seven-week celebration of UK dance in collaboration with BBC Arts kick starts from Friday 11 February on BBC Four, iPlayer, BBC Arts and BBC Taster with world premiere of Corey Baker’s new film  

 Throughout February and March 2022, BBC Arts and One Dance UK present Dance Passion, a landmark celebration of the world-class dance that happens across the UK. Now in its second edition, Dance Passion shines a light on the country’s unique creativity and innovative approach to choreography and performance.

Dance Passion kicks off on Friday 11  February on BBC Arts , with the world premiere of Dance Race, a specially commissioned film by trailblazing New Zealand-born/Birmingham-based choreographer Corey Baker.  For Dance Passion, Baker has created an all-action race to the finish, filmed around the country with spectacular footage of choreography performed while jumping out of planes, with cars driving on two-wheels, and dance of various genres from ballroom (featuring Strictly pros) to ballet (with dancers from Northern Ballet), plus acrobatics, parkour, BMX, and a nod to Coventry’s history of movement engineering.

Josie d’Arby and Karim Zeroual present five hour-long programmes of dance as a boxset on BBC iPlayer, and special highlights on BBC Four featuring performances by thirty-two companies, recorded in ‘dance hubs’ across the country

Pulling together talent across all four nations to bring the best of UK dance to audiences at home, Dance Passion features performances by 32 companies, as captured at “hubs” across the country: the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds; Sadlers’ Wells in London; Warwick Arts Centre in Coventry – the current UK City of Culture; and Theatre Royal Plymouth’s TR2; as well as filming National Dance Company Wales in Cardiff. The highlights of these performances, presented by Josie d’Arby and Karim Zeroual, are broadcast on BBC Four (Sunday 20 February), followed by five hour-long episodes on BBC iPlayer (weekly from Tuesday 1 March).

Among the companies and choreographers involved, both established and emerging across all genres from ballet to ballroom, contemporary to tap, is Birmingham Royal Ballet presenting an excerpt from their latest new work Don Quixote, Ballet Black, Vidya Patel, The Royal Ballet, Motionhouse, Rambert 2, Tap Attack, Akram Khan, Scottish Ballet, Candoco Dance Company, National Dance Company Wales, and Simple Cypher – to name just a few.

Check out fourteen specially commissioned short films and interactive projects exploring innovative ways to capture dance on film and online

Dance Passion also includes 14 BBC Arts and One Dance UK co-commissioned short films, including five interactive experiences which have been made using innovative technology from BBC Research & Development. These films give insight into the creative process from choreographers; the interactive experiences enable viewers to decide the course of a story, or to focus on specific content presented in the work. These films and experiences are the result of an open call launched in Spring 2021, aimed at UK-based professional and emerging dance companies, independent artists, choreographers, and associated technical partners based in dance education. The Dance Passion short films and interactive projects are funded by BBC Arts and Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants programme.

Created using tools in BBC Connected Studio’s MakerBox, the interactive experiences will be available on BBC Taster, the BBC’s dedicated home for new ideas and technologies. They give viewers new and unique experiences of dance – from exploring the science behind the choreographic process, to time travel, a dance murder mystery and stepping into the world of d/Deaf and partially hearing dancers. The short films will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer, and explore themes such as dance as an intergenerational language uniting people in the efforts to tackle climate change; choreography as a way of expression in disability; and the relationship between performance space and digital dimension.

Throughout the celebration, BBC Arts and One Dance UK websites and social media channels will present exclusive previews and clips from the series, as well as other examples of excellence from across the dance sector.

Follow the hashtag #DancePassion on social media to see more exclusive content, share your dance stories, discover training and upskilling available and find out other ways you can get involved.

Dance Passion in detail:

Performances:

Dance Passion Highlights

BBC Four, 20/02 at 8pm

Presented by Josie d’Arby and Karim Zeroual

Including:

Celtic Feet – Heartbeat  (filmed in Coventry)

Phoenix Dance – Heart of Chaos  (filmed in Leeds)

Ballet Black -Extract from Washa (filmed in London)

Simple Cypher – Roll Up Roll Up  (filmed in Plymouth)

Birmingham Royal Ballet – Don Quixote (filmed in Coventry)

National Dance Company Wales – Ludo (filmed in Cardiff)

 

Leeds – Northern School of Contemporary Dance

BBC iPlayer, from 01/03

Presented by Karim Zeroual

Including:

Vale – Shine On You

Phoenix Dance – Heart of Chaos

Balbir Singh-The Wise Ones

Akram Khan (rehearsal with NSCD students) –  Jungle Book Reimagined

RJC and DAZL – LS Unity

Simple Cypher – Roll Up Roll Up (filmed in Plymouth)

Northern Ballet – I Am Merlin (film)

 

London – Sadlers’ Wells

BBC iPlayer, from 08/03

Presented by Josie d’Arby

Including:

Vidya Patel – Birthright

Ballet Black – Washa

The Royal Ballet – Traces

Patience J – Colours

 

Coventry  – Warwick Arts Centre

BBC iPlayer, from 15/03

Presented by Josie d’Arby & Karim Zeroual

Including:

Ascension – Resilient

Ace Dance and Music –Mana

Celtic Feet – Heartbeat

Nupur Arts – Taste of Bollywood

Koncept – Blackpink’s “How you like that”

Birmingham Royal Ballet –Don Quixote

 

Plymouth  – Theatre Royal Plymouth’s TR2

BBC iPlayer, from 22/03

Presented by Josie d’Arby

Including:

Rambert 2 – Home (filmed in London)

Street Factory Studios: – Toby G and Max Revel – The Inner Dance

Adam Benjamin – Dancer’s Forest

Zoielogic’s Fuzzylogic –  Judged

James Wilton Dance  – Four Seasons

Tap Attack – Red Riding Hood

English National Ballet – Raymonda (film)

 

Coventry  – Warwick Arts Centre

BBC iPlayer, from 29/03

Presented by Josie d’Arby & Karim Zeroual

Including:

Motionhouse – Nobody

National Dance Company Wales – Ludo

Candoco – rehearsal of Last Shelter

House of Ghetto Voguing

House of Suarez Voguing

Scottish Ballet – Starstruck (film)

Northern Ballet – Together we fall (film)

 

Short Films

Available on BBC Arts from 11th February, and as part of the five Dance Passion episodes on iPlayer, and also on BBC Arts social media channels.

Surge – Make Me Feel – Tom Dale Company

Neon Romance – Laura Kriefman, Barbican Theatre

Heart Land – Richard Chappell Dance

A Decade Later – Prototype and Brooke Milliner

Freedom – Lisa Simpson Inclusive Dance

28:1 – Constant Vigier

amser / time – Light, Ladd, Emberton

Flight – Jennifer Rooney and Ciaran Haggerty – was premiered on BBC One Northern Ireland on 08/02

 

Interactive Projects

Available on BBC Taster from:

17/02: Dive Into Dance – Antoine Marc with Milk It! Studio (using BBC Notes )

24/02: Noise – Neus Gil Cortés – Nua Dance (using StoryFormer)

03/03: Laying The Ground – Namron OBE and Yassmin V. Foster (Using StoryFormer)

10/03: Beneath Still Waters – Ruth Brill and Matthew Wyon (Using StoryFormer)

17/03: Out Late – VOXED (Using StoryFormer)