Theatre News

Dance Umbrella announces 2017 programme

London’s international dance festival takes place in October

Let Me Change My Name choreographed by and featuring Eun-Me Ahn
Let Me Change My Name choreographed by and featuring Eun-Me Ahn
© Eunji Park

London's international festival of dance, Dance Umbrella, has announced its 2017 line up.

Kicking off on 11 October, the festival hosts the UK premiere of Origami by Satchie Noro and Silvain Ohl, which is inspired by the ancient Japanese art. The free outdoor performance starts the festival and takes place in five London locations – Battersea Power Station, Peninsula Square, Artillery Square, The Queen's Gardens and Trinity Buoy Wharf.

Another UK premiere is Fallen From Heaven, by Spanish dancer Rocio Molina, which runs at the Barbican Theatre from 12 to 14 October. It is a personal reflection on womanhood featuring only four musicians and Molina on a bare stage.

Charlotte Spencer returns to Dance Umbrella with Is This a Waste Land, following Walking Stories. The piece is a large scale immersive outdoor performance set on a disused piece of land in east London. It runs between 13 and 25 October.

In an exclusive for the festival, guest programmer Freddie Opoku-Addaie brings together a series of companies and two live bands to stage Out of the System. Featuring four performances, Out of the System is described as a 'kind of open house party'.

As part of Dance Umbrella this year, the festival will be taking over Shoreditch Town Hall for the first time, staging a mix of dance, poetry and film from Lisbeth Gruwez, Julie Cunningham, Vanessa Kisuule and Charles Linehan.

Elsewhere the festival hosts Dot, from Cia Maduixa, Trois Grandes Fugues from Lyon Opera Ballet, Todre from Rachid Ouramdane and Let Me Change Your Name from South Korean choreographer Eun-Me Ahn.

Artistic director of Dance Umbrella Emma Gladstone said: "I’m delighted to be bringing such an extraordinary roster of international artists to London for this year’s festival… Dance Umbrella continues to bring the best of contemporary choreography to the capital."

The festival takes place in various places across London between 11 and 28 October.