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Hampshire Dance is pleased to announce that Oliver Gratton, from Eastleigh, has been selected as the young choreographer to work on an exciting new commission with Udifydance Company this summer.
The south east is starting to be recognised as one the leading regions for young people’s choreography, with many young choreographers from the south east being selected for Youth Dance England's (YDE) Young Creatives programme.
Hampshire Dance, with support from YDE and The Point, Eastleigh, decided to celebrate the young choreographic talent in the region by providing the opportunity for a young choreographer to create a piece of work for a professional dance company, Udifydance Company. This pioneering project provides an exceptionally talented young person with the opportunity to fully develop their choreographic skills, and have their work seen by as wide an audience as possible.
Udifydance Company perform contemporary dance. Their style is a collection of exciting floor work infused with the creation of a dynamic vocabulary. Oliver will create a 10 – 12 minute piece on Udifydance Company, which will be performed in their forthcoming autumn tour, including a premiere at The Point, Eastleigh and venues in London, the south east and south west.
Oliver will spend eight full days with the company creating the new piece. The commission will take place in the new Phase 3 space at The Point, Eastleigh. Phase 3 has state of the art facilities including living quarters for artists. Helen Parlor, former dancer with Motionhouse, will be mentoring Oliver to support him through the creative process.
Hampshire Dance received 18 applications for the Young Choreographer Commission from talented choreographers aged 16 – 19 years old from across the south east. Of these, seven were shortlisted to attend the selection day on 1 June. (See right to find out who was shortlisted.)
The Selection Day consisted of interviews and creative tasks based on Udify’s latest piece ‘All for a Few’ and the opportunity for each young choreographer to direct and choreograph the company based on their own ideas. All of the young choreographers displayed a professional attitude, achieving extremely high standards.
Oliver Gratton was selected for the youth dance commission by Hampshire Dance, Udifydance and Sacha Lee (Creative Producer for The Point, Eastleigh), as he stood out as a really strong director and communicated well with the dancers when he led the group. Oliver was very articulate in how he spoke about his ideas, and his choreographic style suited the company well.
Christopher Reynolds and Chay Burrows, artistic directors of Udifydance said "The selection day for the Young Choreographer was a fantastic experience. As a Company, we really saw amazing up and coming young choreographers to look out for in the future. All of the participants showed a maturity and commitment to the day not only in their own workings but with fellow peers. If we could, we would work with them all! Udify are really excited to work with a new choreographer and cannot wait for the process to start."
Youth Dance England's (YDE) annual performance and mentoring programme, YDE Young Creatives, this year partnered with the Royal Opera House and Royal Ballet School to create an outstanding opportunity for aspiring young choreographers.
YDE Young Creatives supports 15-19 year olds who have a passion for choreography and are looking to develop their skills in this field. The programme offers one-to-one mentoring from dance artists and choreographers.
A substantial part of the YDE Young Creatives programme is a three day residential which took place this year at The Royal Ballet School’s White Lodge, near Richmond. This former Royal hunting lodge is home to the Royal Ballet’s Lower School and has recently undergone an extensive restoration and redevelopment. The YDE Young Creatives were able to hone their choreographic talent in the high specification dance studios and residential facilities that White Lodge has to offer.
Applications for YDE Young Creatives 2010 have now closed but information about the 2011 programme will be available later this year.
Congratulations to all of our shortlisted young choreographers:
Danny Baker,18, Brockhill Performing Arts College in Kent
Brandon Clarke, 15, Thornden School in Chandlers Ford
Zack Dennis, 20, University of Chichester
Oliver Gratton, 18, Barton Peveril College in Eastleigh
Samuel Harbour, 17, Brockhill Performing Arts College in Kent
Annalise Hearn, 17, Peter Symonds College in Winchester
Hannah Pickett, 19, Roehampton University
17 year-old Sam Harbour, a student from Brockhill College of Performing Arts in Kent, has been selected as one of Youth Dance England’s Young Creatives 2010. He was handpicked by a panel of professionals from the Royal Opera House and the Royal Ballet School.
The YDE Young Creatives scheme supports the most talented and inspiring young choreographers in the country. Sam was one of five successful choreographers from the south east to make it through to the final thirteen selected nationally.
Sam completed a rigorous residential training course at the Royal Ballet School, creating challenging new pieces to develop his choreographic skills. He premiered his exciting new work alongside the other YDE Young Creatives at the prestigious Royal Opera House on 9 April 2010.
Sam’s piece, Triad, explores interruptions in dance.
Sam explains “I was interested in the idea that dancers can be interrupted during activities. Sometimes you can be semi-interrupted and can go back into your wave of thought. Or you can be completely interrupted and lose concentration. I conceptualised concentration as a line. When it is broken you can either return to the line, or start a new pathway and go into a different train of thought.”
Sam was excited about showing his work in London after meeting the other YDE Young Creatives on the training. “I’m really looking forward to seeing what they have choreographed. It will be a great experience”.