It has been a pulse-raising year for Carole Blade, Creative Dance Producer of Coreo Cymru, the Arts Council of Wales initiative to encourage new dance activity and support existing companies and performers.
From the moment the curtain raised on the new venture Carole has been choreographing a variety and range of work in 2012 that has ranged from ensemble work, nurturing individual artists to bring fresh talent to Wales from abroad. Now she is ready embark on the next year’s projects that if anything are even more ambitious plans for 2013.
Carole works in partnership with her “home organization” Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, Wales-based organisations and international partnerships and co-producers. The remit is as broad as it is bold; to encourage and manage the creation and production of new dance activity and to support the development of Wales based artists and companies.
As Blade explained, “The heart of our strategy is connecting with audiences by offering a mix of inspiring ways to engage with the programme, and new accessible ways of presenting dance. We have seen new ways of working and new ways of taking dance to different audiences in 2012 and in 2013 we are going to explore new artistic collaborations, multimedia platforms and international partnerships.”
The production of three 360 degree dance films created by Wales-based choreographers and supported by a film crew from Wales and USA was an excellent example of the style and reach of Coreo’s work. More than 1,000 people watched the 10-minute programme inside a portable dome at festivals in Swansea and Cardiff. Film director Sandra Harnisch-Lacey said, "The Dome provided an amazing opportunity to work with an international and Hollywood-acclaimed film crew. We created a short film called 'The Sublime', which went on to win the Award for Innovation at the DomeFest International Film Festival in the US. It's been brilliant working with Carole and I've been inspired and encouraged by her belief in my abilities and her support of my work."
The programme has now also been show both at planetariums across the UK and internationally in Louisiana, New Mexico and Buenos Aires and there are plans for further screenings in the touring portable dome and planetariums across the globe. Carole said that a new film is also in development to be unveiled later this year which will also be screened at home and abroad.
On the dance performance front Coreo and Chapter brought artists from Canada, France, Italy, Holland and Wales together to present their work within a mixed programme of innovative contemporary dance under the Dance Roads international touring initiative. In contrast, choreographer Lea Anderson worked with six performers to create a 30-minute dance theatre piece foyer piece for Wales Millennium Centre’s Blysh Festival. Blade said, “There are plans to develop this work further. This year Blyshdance will provide up to six artists with performance opportunities leading to open-air festival touring during the following year.”
Partnership is clearly crucial for the success of Coreo’s groundbreaking plans for dance in Wales. So other planned collaborations include working with National Theatre Wales, supporting three work in progress projects that offer potential to be developed for a full-length co-production. “We’ve been inundated with really strong and imaginative proposals; Wales certainly has an innovative and inspiring creative community,” she added.
Likewise, Coreo will be working with Ballet Cymru, creating a new production based on 'Romeo and Juliet' using state of the art digital technology and fusing traditional Welsh clog dancing with Ballet, touring from May 2013 onwards and co-producing with WMC and Calon TV, a touring pre-school children’s show based on the popular animations series on Channel 5’s Milkshake and S4C’s Cyw.
For those fledgling dancers and dance audiences Coreo is also developing the Family Interactive Dance Exhibition (FIDE) with Pontio and Bangor University to create and tour an innovative exhibition aimed at children between 6 and 12 years old
Carole stressed that she sees supporting artists and companies to develop, market and “sell” their works as another key objective. Part of that work involves working particularly closely with three associate artists, Sandra Harnisch-Lacey, Jo Fong and Tanja Råman, includes helping with resources and advice to secure touring opportunities for their work. They are also involved directly in some of Coreo’s other projects that will develop across the year.
Carole added, “I am also making sure we get the word out that Wales is a dance nation.” That has involved presenting to presentations at UK and international promoters’ events, representing Wales at National Dance Network and Independent Dance Managers Network meetings. “I’m currently working with Dance Base to promote the presentation of Welsh work at British Dance Edition in Edinburgh and Glasgow later this year,” she added.
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