Dance / Lea Anderson
Arnolfini hosts ‘Shuffle’, directed by world-renowned choreographer Lea Anderson
Showcasing the best of Bristol’s home-grown streetdance talent and a soundtrack from “benign, but occasionally temperamental” AI DJ – DJ Ipod, new interactive dancework Shuffle comes to Arnolfini on November 25.
The work will feature Bristol-born Frankie Johnson – aka The Red Dread House Head – and Lewis Norman, who first discovered his love of hip hop and street dance with Hype Dance Company, for whom he is now a teacher and mentor.
Performing alongside them is rising street dance star Chiara ‘Mash’ Saporito – so named because she draws from so many eclectic styles.
is needed now More than ever
Shuffle, directed by Lea Anderson – photo: Esther Lewis Smith
The trio are directed by world-renowned choreographer Lea Anderson, of The Cholmondeleys & The Featherstonehaughs fame.
“Working with Lea Anderson has honestly been such a bundle of joy,” reflects Norman. “Being able to be around her creative process, while expanding my own creativity in terms of how I move, it’s just been great.”
The work was created to connect the usually separate tranches of social and contemporary dance, and emerged out of the desire “to find different ways for people to help shape dance performance”.
Based on the call and response relationship between club DJs and dance floors, Shuffle invites audience members to vote on what they see, choosing to shuffle, or rewind the moves in front of them.
Photo: Ibolya Feher
It’s a dancefloor democracy that promises “no learning of dance moves, no potential to feel self-conscious, no right or wrong way to vote, and no complicated app to download”.
Audiences are requested to be ready to play along and to trust the DJ.
While the show has been touring since late September, it’s the Bristol date that both Johnson and Norman are most excited for.
“Naturally, it’s home,” Johnson smiles. “And so it really means a lot to be going back to where it all first started for us.”
Lea Anderson: Shuffle is at Arnolfini on November 25 at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from www.headfirstbristol.co.uk.
Shuffle is supported by Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grants with creation made possible by Pavilion Dance South West and partners: Arnolfini, Artspace Lifespace, Bristol Dance Futures, Chelsea Theatre, Lakota, Knowle West Media Centre and The Factory at Knowle West Media Centre and Trinity Centre.
Main photo: Esther Lewis Smith
Read more: George Orange and Jo Fong bring their life-affirming dance-theatre journey to Circomedia
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