Details

CandoCo has gained a reputation as the world's leading company of disabled and non-disabled dancers. Let's Talk About Dis - In his first company commission Hetain Patel has created a humorous and intimate piece that builds on an exploration of the dancers' individual personalities and physicalities, interrogating questions of what identity is and how it is formed, challenging audiences to think beyond surface appearances. Hetain has worked closely with the dancers and is using their personal stories and experiences in the piece. He is also exploring Candoco's identity, how it is perceived both within and without the company. The piece is very tongue-in-cheek and leverages humour from poking fun at prejudice and the assumptions people make about disability. As many of the dancers are from non-English speaking backgrounds, foreign language also features in the piece, accompanied by 'translations' (perhaps deliberately inaccurate) into English and BSL. Hetain is a celebrated visual artist and one of Sadler's Wells' New Wave Associates. His TED talk ?Who Am I? Think Again', a performative interrogation of identity, inspired by Bruce Lee and performed with Yuyu Rau, has been an internet sensation with over 2 million views. Notturnino - Thomas Hauert's new piece Notturnino is a playful and poignant full company work that takes inspiration from the documentary Tosca's Kiss, a touching film that follows the lives of retired opera singers living in a nursing home in Milan. Using the soundtrack from the film, the piece is scored by fragments of conversation, reminiscences and great operatic works performed by the ageing singers. Through humour and melodrama Notturnino explores the fragility of the human condition. Hauert has created a tightly structured improvisational score with Candoco's dancers, resulting in a truly unique experience for each performance. Topical issues of ageing, vulnerability, fragility are all resonant within the piece and these are experiences shared by disabled and non-disabled people. CandoCo Dance Company website.

Cast/Performers

Tanja Erhart, Adam Gain, Andrew Graham, Mirjam Gurtner, Laura Patay, Rick Rodgers, Toke Broni (standby)

Creatives/Company

Choreographer(s): Hetain Patel (Let's Talk About Dis), Lorena Randi (Associate Choreographer - Let's Talk About Dis), Thomas Hauert (Notturnino)
Lighting(s): Jackie Shemesh (Let's Talk About Dis), Chahine Yavroyan (Notturnino)
Costume(s): Valentina Golfieri (Let's Talk About Dis), Natasa Stamari (Notturnino)
Dramaturg: Eva Martinez (Let's Talk About Dis)