RAMBERT DANCE COMPANY
Seven for a Secret…
World premiere at The Lowry
Wed 21 - Fri 23 September 2011 , 7:30pm
Press Night: Wednesday 21 September 2011, 7:30pm
For the autumn season of Rambert’s 85th anniversary year, Artistic Director Mark Baldwin returns to the realm of childhood to create his fourth major work for the Company, reaffirming its position as a powerhouse of new choreography. Seven for a secret, never to be told will receive its world première at The Lowry in Salford on Wed 21 September 2011.
Seven for a secret, never to be told puts a child’s world centre-stage, transporting the audience back to those bygone days when playful abandonment sparks the imagination and stimulates the creative mind. Featuring design by Michael Howells and a newly commissioned orchestral score by Stephen McNeff adapted from Maurice Ravel’s L'enfant et les sortilèges, Seven for a secret, never to be told will be performed live by the acclaimed Rambert Orchestra.
Taking its name from the nursery rhyme about magpies, One for sorrow, Two for joy… Seven for a secret, never to be told presents the world as seen through the eyes of some mischievous children. Rambert’s world-class dancers capture the buoyancy and natural comedy of play in this uplifting work in 15 movements as the youngsters flit like grasshoppers from one idea to the next, moving seamlessly between reality and make-believe.
Following their successful collaboration on The Comedy of Change in 2009, Mark Baldwin has engaged the expertise of Professor Nicky Clayton FRS once again. Her extensive knowledge of the behavioural development of children, particularly the role of play in enriching cognitive development, firstly through imitation and then reinvention or innovation, has given the creative team valuable insight. Indeed three key themes relating to behavioural development have specifically informed Seven for a secret, never to be told:
Play: Children spend a lot of time in the act of play. Fun it might be, but we now know that play is very good for the brain and that it’s only the big-brained animals that spend much of their time playing. Young chimpanzees engage in rough and tumble play to figure out who the best fighters are and hone their own techniques, and young ravens, close relatives of the thieving magpie, pretend to hide their food to discover who is likely to steal. That is also why children often solve problems by playing games - by being little tricksters, just like those naughty magpies.
Inside vs outside: When it comes to cognitive abilities children are not miniature adults: they see the world quite differently. For a child my world is me, and my world and your world are one and the same. But as their minds develop the tension between the inside and outside world shifts in perspective, and slowly but surely children start to see the world as adults do.
Imitate or innovate: One thing that is thought to make human children unique from other animals is their spontaneous ability to imitate the actions of others, often meaningless ones – just for fun. But being a copy-cat only gets you so far; to be an individual you need to know when to innovate, when to do and see things differently and to think outside the box. That is what creativity is all about, something children have in spades.
Another strand of reinvention running through the work is a brand new score by Stephen McNeff adapted from Ravel’s rarely-performed one-act opera, L'enfant et les sortilèges. First performed in 1925, a year before Rambert was founded, McNeff has sought to reimagine the score as if Ravel was composing it today. Stephen McNeff has had past success re-inventing existing work; he was nominated for a RPS Award for his adaptation of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande that premièred at Sadler’s Wells in 2009.
Music: Stephen McNeff is best known for his music for the theatre as well as orchestral music. His operas Clockwork and Gentle Giant have been seen at the Royal Opera House Linbury Theatre, and in 2007 Tarka won the British Composer Award for best stage work. He was Composer in Residence with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra from 2005 - 2008 and is currently working with the orchestra on The Chalk Legends, a large-scale choral and orchestral work to be premièred in 2012. Last autumn saw the première of his colourful and energetic Double Percussion Concerto for the O Duo and BBC Symphony Orchestra. Future plans include the release of a CD devoted to his orchestral music and an opera based on Giles Foden’s novel, The Last King of Scotland.
Design: Michael Howells has a long-standing relationship with Rambert designing Cardoon Club, Constant Speed, Eternal Light and Lady into Fox. His past work encompasses a breadth of artistic disciplines including production design for films like Frank Oz’s Death at a Funeral, Stephen Fry’s Bright Young Things and Mike Figgis’ Miss Julie; design for theatre, ballet and dance productions; art installations like Robert Wilson’s HG and the Cinderella installation at the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo for the Florence Biennale; as well as design for fashion shows and magazines.
Scientist in Residence: Professor Nicky Clayton FRS is Professor of Comparative Cognition in the Department of Experimental Psychology at Cambridge University, a Fellow of the esteemed Royal Society and the newly-appointed Scientist in Residence at Rambert. Her studies focus on cognition, chiefly thinking, imagination and play, in both children and animals, particularly members of the crow family, including magpies – which inspired the title of the new work. Nicky's research has led to a radical re-evaluation of animal cognition and the evolution of cognition, as well as crucial insights into child psychology.
In addition to Mark Baldwin’s Seven for a secret, never to be told, Rambert will perform A Linha Curva by Itzik Galili and The Art of Touch by Siobhan Davies. The multi-award nominated A Linha Curva is filled with rhythmic pulses and sexual tension; irresistible samba-inspired lines and curves blending with a Brazilian style and contemporary dance technique. This new version for Rambert by Itzik Galili, one of Israel’s most talented choreographers, is a sensation and a real crowd-pleaser. The music is by Percossa (Holland) and performed by Rambert Orchestra.
Siobhan Davies returns to Rambert with a revival of her Olivier Award-winning work, The Art of Touch. The speed and wit of Scarlatti’s sonatas are the triggers for the irascibly fast footwork that propels the dancers across the floor, scooping the air as they go. (Music Matteo Fargion, Domenico Scarlatti ; Design David Buckland Costume design Antony McDonald; Lighting design Ian Beswick)
Listing Information:
Wed 21 – Fri 23 September
Rambert Dance Company
World Première
The Lowry,
Box Office: 0843 208 6005 / www.thelowry.com
Tickets £15 - £23
Lyric Theatre
Free Pre Show Talk Thu 22 September 6.30pm
Signed Performance Wed 21 September 7.30pm.
Sun 18 September
Rambert Dance Workshops
A great opportunity to develop skills, be creative and gain a deeper insight into Rambert’s work.
Times 11am suitable for intermediate levels aged 14-17, 2pm suitable for advanced levels aged 18+.
Tickets £12
-ends-
Media Enquiries:
Michelle Bowey, Head of Media Relations, The Lowry, Tel: 0161 876 2037, email: michelle@thelowry.com
Pictures
Pictures of theatre events and exhibitions in Adobe RGB format are available to download from our image library. Visit www.thelowryimages.com. New users need to register by clicking on ‘register’ on the left hand side of the page, fill in the required information (which includes creating your own password) and click ‘create account’. You will then have access to images via the log-in page. Theatres>Dance>Rambert Dance Company