A festival of dance for 0s to 90s

Over 1200 performers ranging from ages 0 to 90 are to descend on Sadler’s Wells for the annual Connect Festival. From Saturday 23 February – Sunday 16 March 2008, local primary and secondary school children rub shoulders with Associate Artists and the Sadler’s Wells’ resident over 60s performers for three weeks of wide-ranging dance activities.

Now celebrating its fourth year, the festival is run by Connect, Sadler’s Wells’ community and learning department, whose work involves schools, colleges and community groups; using dance to develop confidence, self-awareness and creativity in people of all ages, levels and abilities.

This year’s Festival features such highlights as Angelmoth, Liv Lorent’s enchanting fairytale production which opens the Connect Festival from Saturday 23 – Tuesday 26 February. Suitable for children aged five and above, Angelmoth is an ethereal butterfly-like creature who, after a chance encounter, leads Pippanouska and the characters who inhabit her dusty old library on a fantastical journey. Featuring spectacular aerial choreography the absorbing story is narrated throughout by actor Ben Crompton.

On Thursday 28 February, Sadler’s Wells Associates unites some of Sadler’s Wells’ Resident and Associate artists as well as some guest visiting companies for a showcase of dance. Rambert Dance Company and Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures presents work created with London secondary schools, and Jonzi D Productions presents work created with Bishop Douglass School as part of Leaps and Bounds, a two-year dance development project funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

Five students from Ballet Central perform an excerpt from Choice by Russell Maliphant and students from the Centre of Advanced Training at The Place perform a special commission by Jasmin Vardimon Dance Company. The showcase also includes two contributions from Wayne McGregor / Random Dance; a collaboration with the Rambert School plus performances from a project involving over 60 pupils from Hugh Myddleton Primary and Stoke Newington School. The event also features a musical contribution from Opera North.

In response to the popularity of the Connect department’s Open Platform evenings, Sadler’s Wells launches Ascendance on Saturday 1 March. This performance platform offers eight emerging choreographers the chance to show their work in the180-seater Lilian Baylis Theatre. The programme celebrates London’s vibrant dance scene, presenting a diverse and imaginative mixture of works from some of the capital’s most exciting new dancemakers. The line-up is to be announced in early February.

Constantly inspiring, Sadler’s Wells' Company of Elders is the jewel in the crown of the theatre's Connect programme, returning to perform a triple bill of new and existing works on Thursday 13 and Friday 14 March. Drawn from the local community, this group of 25 performers discovered dance late in life and now enjoy the immense social and physical benefits of the art-form.

Established in 1992, the Company of Elders grew out of the Sadler’s Wells afternoon over 60s club. An acclaimed group spanning 60 to 89 years old, the Company has taken its original and moving performances to Duckie cabaret club, the National Theatre’s Watch This Space festival and international audiences in Venice, Lisbon and Moscow.

For this programme, 16 dancers perform Cheryl McChesney's lyrical In Fine Shape, 12 dancers perform Kali Dass' colourful Bollywood-inspired Chaya, and the group presents a premiere by Dance United, whose pioneering approach to dance-making has had an impact on both the streets of Ethiopia and some of the UK’s prisons.

Connect Festival
Saturday 23 February – Sunday 16 March 2008
Ticket Office: Sadlerswells.com