The countdown has begun… this February BBC Arts and One Dance UK are pleased to welcome Dance Passion back to your screens! Shining a light on the UK’s world-class dance sector in all its form, Dance Passion will be a month-long celebration of dance, feature leading names and exciting new talent across television and online on BBC networks, stations, and platforms.
DANCE PASSION
Dance Passion is back and it’s bigger and better than ever. For 2022 BBC Arts and One Dance UK have pulled together talent from across all four nations to create five hour-long programmes, introduced by Josie d’Arby and Karim Zeroual, from four hubs across the UK: Warwick Arts Centre in Coventry, Theatre Royal Plymouth’s TR2, Leeds’ Northern School of Contemporary Dance, and London’s Sadler’s Wells.
Featuring works across all genres (including ballet, kathak, afrobeats, ballroom, contemporary, tap, voguing and more) the programmes will shine a light on established and emerging companies such as The Royal Ballet, Ballet Black, Motionhouse, Rambert, Tap Attack, Vidya Patel, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Akram Khan, Candoco Dance Company, National Dance Company Wales and Simple Cypher – to name a few!
Sounds good? Well, that’s not all!
Dance Passion 2022 will also include thirteen BBC Arts and One Dance UK co-commissioned short films and interactive projects by UK-based professional and community dance companies, independent artists, choreographers, and associated technical partners based in dance education and dance medicine which you can see as part of the programing, watch online and even experience for yourself on BBC Taster.
SHORT-FORM FILMS AND INTERACTIVE PROJECTS
We’ve been thrilled to be able to commission so many unique pieces of work to be part of Dance Passion 2022, showcasing talent on film and via new digital interactive platforms using tools in the MakerBox, currently StoryFormer, Audio Orchestrator and BBC Notes. Click the button below or the tile in the slider above to read all about them.
Interactive Projects
Available on BBC Taster:
17/02: Dive Into Dance – Antoine Marc with Milk It! Studio (using BBC Notes )
An immersive visual project sharing a choreographic process. While XR technology will visually highlight musical elements, the audience will be guided through the piece using BBC Notes to create a unique compelling experience of both light and dance.
24/02: Noise – Neus Gil Cortés – Nua Dance (using StoryFormer)
This immersive experience is designed to offer paths for both hearing and d/Deaf audiences. Using StoryFormer the audience will be encouraged
to follow different characters, discovering their unique experiences in the order that speaks to them.
03/03: Laying The Ground – Namron OBE and Yassmin V. Foster (Using StoryFormer)
This exciting interactive film centres 76-year-old black British contemporary dancer, Namron OBE. Utilising StoryFormer, viewers will explore content both around heritage and race and that also challenges the omission and representation of black dancers in Britain’s dance history.
10/03: Beneath Still Waters – Ruth Brill and Matthew Wyon (Using StoryFormer)
Using a single core dancer wearing telemetric gas analysis and an XSENS suit, this film allows the audience to explore the different physiological and bio mechanical demands of different dance genres such as ballet, contemporary, hip-hop, tap, and more.
17/03: Out Late – VOXED (Using StoryFormer)
Dance and theatre are seamlessly combined to reimagine the UK’s favourite genre of fiction: crime drama, with StoryFormer technology giving the audience agency to make decisions as they consume the story.
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. Click HERE to view all the films or click the links below to navigate them individually
Surge – Make Me Feel – Tom Dale Company
An interactive dance experience exploring the body as interface between our organic/digital futures. Set inside a Real/Virtual and augmented landscape it features a central character – but are they human or android?
Neon Romance – Laura Kriefman, Barbican Theatre
A love story about engineering, imagination, hybrids and rebels.
Heart Land – Richard Chappell Dance
An impassioned intergenerational film exploring how different generations can come together through dance to promote ways to tackle ecological damage and climate change.
A Decade Later – Prototype and Brooke Milliner
Bringing the underground culture of Street Dance Battles into the spotlight, this exclusive behind the scenes documentary follows one of the UK’s most celebrated crews – Prototype.
Freedom – Lisa Simpson Inclusive Dance
The new piece will be about how as a disabled artist with Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy and no verbal communication, Lisa choreographs to express herself using other people’s bodies as a vessel.
28:1 – Constant Vigier
Through the magic of editing, one single dancer becomes twenty-eight to display a choreographic series of movements and patterns, as if a Rubik’s Cube came to life and started to dance.
amser / time – Light, Ladd, Emberton
This bilingual dance film moves through geological processes, Welsh legends, and current threats to Wales’ coastal towns.
Flight – Jennifer Rooney and Ciaran Haggerty – premiered on BBC One Northern Ireland on 08/02
This multi-sensory story blurs the lines between a performance space and the digital dimension. Combining dance and film projection this daring and adventurous film is based on a true story.
WATCHING ON iPLAYER
We can’t wait to share the programmes with you!
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 – 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, Sarathy Korwar and Zia Ahmed – 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)
GET INVOLVED
All throughout February and March, we’ll be sharing your stories, thoughts, and passion for dance across social media. You can add your upcoming events to our digital dance calendar using the category ‘Dance Passion’, drop us a DM on social media or share your story using #DancePassion for a chance to be featured!
