Sadler’s Wells announces line up for first edition of YFX Festival this July

London premiere of England’s National Youth Dance Company’s new work Gravity by Olivier Award-winning hip hop dance company Boy Blue.

Announced today: Youth and school groups from towns and cities across the nation including Eastleigh, Durham, Coventry, Exeter, Tees Valley, Brighton, Shoreham by Sea and London selected to showcase their work at the National Platform of Sadler's Wells Making Moves programme.

U.Dance National Festival brings together National Youth Dance Companies of Scotland, England and Wales and dozens of groups from around the UK as well as workshops and performances for young people.

Symposium exploring the future of youth dance for people working in the industry. With guest speakers from across the country including Samantha Bell-Docherty and Aishley Bell-Docherty from House of Wingz in Blackpool, Sarah Shorten from Stacked Wonky in Somerset and Dominic Mitchell from Candoco Dance Company. 

In July, Sadler’s Wells presents the first edition of the new annual YFX Youth Festival which celebrates and showcases the exceptional range of youth dance work across the United Kingdom. This year Sadler’s Wells is partnering with One Dance UK to present work from the National Youth Dance Companies of England, Scotland and Wales, new choreographic creations from young people and showcases featuring youth groups from around the country. In addition, the festival will host a series of workshops for young dancers, as well as a symposium centred on dance for children and young people. Sadler’s Wells has worked with young graphic designer Soe-Myat Noe to create the branding for the festival.

YFX Festival will take place across Sadler’s Wells Theatre and the Lilian Baylis Studio in Angel and at Sadler’s Wells East, the brand-new dance powerhouse that opened in Stratford in February.

Director of Sadler’s Wells Learning & Engagement, Joce Giles said, “YFX is an ambitious new dance festival that will celebrate and showcase the incredible talent of young people from across the UK and show the breadth of Sadler’s Wells’ national role in dance for young people across the country. Hundreds of young dancers will be taking over the stages at our theatres in Angel and Stratford across an exciting programme of performances. It's fantastic to partner with One Dance UK for the inaugural festival as they do such vital work in this arena.

There will also be masterclasses and talks giving young people the chance to connect with professional artists and gain insight into the dance industry as well as demonstrating the importance of arts education and showing young people the pathways and progression available within dance. We can’t wait to give a big welcome to all the young people taking part in YFX and look forward to being inspired by the dancing taking place across our stages.”

The two-week festival kicks off on Saturday 19 July with performances from One Dance UK’s Young Creatives in the Lilian Baylis Studio at 4:30pm. Young Creatives is a pioneering youth choreography development programme, aiming to nurture the next generation of dance makers.

This is followed by the London premiere of National Youth Dance Company England’s (NYDC) latest work Gravity at Sadler’s Wells Theatre. Now in its 13^th year, NYDC is the country’s flagship youth dance company, and has been run by Sadler’s Wells since its inception. The company aims to create and perform innovative and influential dance, bringing together some of the brightest dance talent from across England to work with Sadler’s Wells’ internationally renowned Associate Artists and visiting companies.

The current cohort is working with Guest Artistic Directors, Olivier and Sky Arts Award-winning hip hop dance company Boy Blue. Founded in east London in 2001 by composer Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante MBE and choreographer Kenrick ‘H2O’ Sandy MBE, Boy Blue has been instrumental in defining the potential and power of hip hop dance theatre for young people across the UK.

Gravity received its world premiere at the Leeds Playhouse last month and tours to Falmouth, Blackpool, Ipswich and Coventry ahead of the London performances.

In a new film available on Sadler’s Wells Digital Stage filmmaker and NYDC Alumni, Eleanor Hann goes behind the scenes of the creation of Gravity: National Youth Dance Company (NYDC) X Boy Blue - Digital Stage - Sadler's Wells

On Wednesday 23 July, Sadler’s Wells will present the National Platform of Making Moves at Sadler’s Wells East. Back for its second year, Making Moves is the hugely successful choreographic programme for schools and youth groups across England. Sadler’s Wells Learning and Engagement team provides digital toolkits created by leading choreographers to 48 groups across the country, runs a weekend of masterclasses for their group leaders, and delivers practical workshops during regional choreographic sharings for the 500+ young people taking part. This year, the groups are working with Ben Duke, Kloé Dean and Sadler’s Wells Associate Artists Jules Cunningham and Seeta Patel.

The school and youth groups selected for the national showcase are Aarohi - Pagrav Dance Youth Company (London), ORB Youth Dance Company (Eastleigh, Southwest), TINeke (TIN Arts) (Durham, Northeast), Ascension Youth - VERTEX & SOAR (Coventry, Midlands), Exeter College Dance (Exeter, Southwest), TeesDance Youth Company  (Tees Valley, Northeast), Project Female (Brighton, Southeast) and 3Fall Youth Dance Company (Shoreham Academy) (Shoreham by Sea, Southeast).

£10 tickets are available for people aged 16-30 through the Barclays Dance Pass for the performance of Gravity by NYDC and the Making Moves National Platform. 

On Thursday 24 July, a symposium at Sadler’s Wells East explores the future of youth dance through inspiring models and discussions, offering participants a chance to hear about programmes across the country. Leaders in the sector will convene at Sadler’s Wells East to share working practices, discuss future collaboration, and celebrate the work that’s happening in the sector.

Guest speakers will include Dominic Mitchell, Co-Artistic Director of Candoco, Samantha Bell-Docherty Artistic Director and Aishley Bell-Docherty Creative Director of House of Wingz and Sarah Shorten Artistic Director of Stacked Wonky.

During the symposium there will be a performance of Are You Here For The Meeting? by Somerset-based Stacked Wonky. The piece has been devised by eight performers aged 14 to 21 (including a DJ) who’ve grown up together in rural West Somerset. Stacked Wonky works with young people through performance and education, creating experimental, site-specific performance worlds using movement, choreography, sound and objects.

On the same day there will be a performance from ZooNation Youth Company (ZYC) on the The Dance Floor. ZYC was founded in 2006 and comprises some of the best young performers in the UK. They will perform an extract from their latest production Lights Out, which premieres at the Royal Ballet and Opera Linbury Theatre in June. Created by ZooNation’s Artistic Director Kate Prince and Associate Artistic Director Dannielle ‘Rhimes’ Lecointe, Lights Out blends explosive choreography, suspense and drama with bold beats and intricate rhythms.

From Monday 21-Thursday 24 July there will be a series of free workshops and talks aimed at older students who are starting out or planning on going into further dance training. These workshops will be run by leading young artists connected to Sadler’s Wells, including Max Revell, Maiya Leeke, Folu Odimayo and Vidya Patel. The talks will be aimed at young dance makers, covering topics including approach to choreography, dramaturgy and dance on film, with a focus on articulating work to gain support through artist development, funding and presenting.

On Thursday 17 July a group of Primary Schools from Sadler’s Wells Associate School Programme will have the opportunity to share their work with each other at Sadler’s Wells East. Throughout the academic year, Sadler’s Wells partners with a number of schools and colleges from across Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest and Newham. The Learning and Engagement team works together with these schools to give students access to world-class dance by drawing on Sadler’s Wells’ diverse artistic programme and creating more opportunities to watch, explore, and learn through dance. At the end of each school year, the groups come together for a day to celebrate what they have learnt and created throughout the programme.

During the festival there will also be a day of performances from a selection of local youth dance groups on The Dance Floor. This dynamic line-up will take to The Dance Floor in a celebration of movement, creativity, and community spirit. Featuring a range of styles including contemporary, hip hop and cultural dance these performances will showcase the talent and energy of young dancers from across the boroughs adjacent to the Queen Elizabeth Park. This will offer a vital platform for emerging dancers to share their work, build confidence, and connect with new audiences. This event will invite families, friends, and dance lovers to support the next generation of local performers.

Across the final weekend, on Friday 25 – Sunday 27 July, Sadler’s Wells East hosts the U.Dance National Festival, the flagship event from One Dance UK’s U.Dance programme which will showcase youth groups from across the United Kingdom. On the Friday evening there will be guest performances from the National Youth Dance Companies of England, Scotland and Wales bringing them together for the first time as well as a performance from the Trinity Laban CAT scheme. As part of the U.Dance National Festival, young dancers have the opportunity to perform, take part in workshops and careers talks, and collaborate and learn from each other.

On Friday 25 July from 3-4:30pm there will be a showcase of the best youth dance screendance with the U.Dance on Screen Showcase at One Pool Street Cinema on the UCL East campus. Presented by One Dance UK, selected films will also be showcased on Sadler’s Wells Digital Stage.