Company of Elders Opens Connect Festival

Following its surprise success on Alan Yentob’s BBC Imagine documentary last year, the Company of Elders returns to Sadler’s Wells to open the annual Connect Festival (1-13 March).

The 25-member Company of Elders, who are aged between 61 and 87, perform a double bill including Sometimes I Wonder by Chris Tudor set to the music of Hoagy Carmichael and Simona Scotto, plus a new contemporary dance work by Wayne McGregor | Random Dance.

“These performers have so much experience inside them. Just as human beings on stage they have great presence,” says Alistair Spalding, artistic director of Sadler’s Wells.

Organized by the Sadler’s Wells Community and Education department, Connect works to fulfill the theatre’s commitment to the local community and to making dance as accessible as possible. As well as the Company of Elders, this year’s festival includes the FATHoM Project (10 March), a collective specializing in inclusive dance, and several youth troupes in Jam Free (11 March).