Season 2019-20

Möbius Dance are delighted to launch our new season featuring an exciting selection of performances, exhibitions, classes, workshops and professional development opportunities.  

The season begins with a performance of ‘Time Moves Slow’ by Jamaal Burkmar & ‘Dramatis Personae’ by Douglas Thorpe in Sassari, Italy at ‘Corpi in Movimento – Festival della Danza D’autore’. 

We will carry on our work to creatively and practically support and nurture talented dance artists and choreographers by launching the Möbius Dance Atelier - An exciting new creative space for artists to develop their skills and artistry. Atelier is comprised of two strands, a series of weekend workshops and a choreographic intensive, including both open-access programmes as well as invitation-only opportunities. 

The workshops - will be taking place this winter in Yorkshire with invited specialists focusing on inclusive dance, wellbeing, as well as creative and technique practice. Our guests include Candoco Dance Company’s Research and Rehearsal Director Susanna Recchia, freelance disabled dance artist and researcher Dr. Kate Marsh, award winner choreographer Jamaal Burkmar, musician Azizi Cole, freelance dance artist and Certified RolferTM Jennifer-Lynn Crawford and somatic movement artist, therapist and educator Fabiano Culora.

Gianluca, our Artistic Director, has shaped the content of Atelier through conversations with artists, tailoring the workshops for different levels of experience. This will enable recipients to share practice, network, make work, refine their craft, gain exposure, and learn the business of dance relevant to today’s industry. 

The choreographic intensive - will be a week of Research and Development to create a new performance work for our touring repertoire with dance-maker Amy Voris and Young Associate Artist at Sadler’s Wells Wilhelmina Ojanen. 

Aside from Atelier, we are extending our film and photography portfolio by creating Encounter Three, commissioning a new choreographic work, offering internships and placement opportunities, and employing teachers and new dancers. 

This new programme of works and ideas extends from our recent month-long residency with Kenny Shim Collective in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. During this time we developed both a new piece and a relationship with our partners there, which will continue throughout 2019/20, hopefully leading to a presentation of our exchange here on UK soil. 

We are very excited about this new development period and cannot wait to share it, shape it and enjoy it with you! So whether you have already experienced our work or you are someone who has yet to find us, come and participate - we would like to think that there is a place for you here with us. 

More info about auditions and how to take part of Atelier coming soon.

Funded by Arts Council England

Supported by Leeds Dance Partnership, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Yorkshire Dance, Leeds City College, Kala Sangam, Moving Art Management, ProDanceLeeds, and Opposite Café Chapel Allerton. 

Photo: Monica Quintana

Tour Dates

Möbius Dance will soon set off to its first INTERNATIONAL TOUR! *woop woop*

The company will be travelling for over a month between Spain and Malaysia to perform our latest double bill by Jamaal Burkmar and Douglas Thorpe.

First stop is Figueres Es Mou Festival, Figueres, Spain– Wednesday 3 July 2019, Claustre institute Ramon Muntaner 21:30. During their week in Spain, the company dancers will also have the chance to work with international choreographers as part of their own professional development. 

The company will then fly to Malaysia for a residency and new creation with Kenny Shim Collective. Performances will take place on 2 August 2019 at 20:30, and on  3 – 4 August 2019 at 15:30 and 20:30 at Damansara Performing Arts Center, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

The creation of the double bill was funded by Arts Council England and supported by Leeds Dance Partnership, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Yorkshire Dance, Leeds City College, Phoenix Dance Theatre, Kala Sangam, Instituto Italiano di Cultura Londra, The Civic, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, York Dance Space, Moving Art Management and Sadler’s Wells. 

With great excitement we present you with the Kenny Shim Collective, the company we will collaborate with in July, while in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

WE ARE SO LOOKING FORWARD TO GET IN THE GROOVE WITH THEM and MAKE SOME AWESOME DANCE!

But, before we can get down there and get in the studios, we need some help to make this happen! 

PLEEEEEEEASE! help us buy donating to our crowdfunding campaign HERE

Any small amount COUNTS, many hands make light work! 

(Left to right)

LEE JIA XI
A Diploma graduate of New Zealand School of Dance, Jia Xi worked with Royal New Zealand Ballet and Singapore Dance Theatre from 2012-2013. She also participated in Danceworks Production (now KL Dance Works) since 2010, performing recently as a guest dancer for their annual academy showcase. Based now in PJ, she also performs regularly with Balletbase and Ellie Zhou Ballet Studio. Jia Xi continues her ballet training under Mr Zhou since returning to Malaysia in 2014. She is also currently pursuing her Bachelor Degree in Psychology and Communications while working part time as a dance teacher and coach on a freelance basis. 

KENNY SHIM
Completed his BA in Contemporary Dance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, and subsequently his Post Grad at London Contemporary Dance School (Masters in Contemporary Dance Performance). He joined the EDge Dance Company (London) 2016. During his training in the U.K., Kenny has worked with choreographers and company’s members from around Europe such as Wayne McGregor, Alexander Whitley, Phillipe Blanchard, Gary Lambert, Alison Curtis-Jones, Lea Anderson, Joseph Toonga, and Jeanne Yasko. Recently, Kenny produced his debut production: TRIPLE BILL of Contemporary Dance Works, featuring two new choreographies – Winged Wolves and the Bamboo Mew and Pieces of Three Movements. He is also the commissioned choreographer for the 15th Boh Cameronian Arts Award. He is also the movement director of the acclaimed musical The Edge, 10th Anniversary production written by Nick Choo, directed by Christopher Ling.

LIM HUI HUANG (WILL)
Born in May 1996, Lim started his dance training at the age of 16. He started his contemporary training with Wendon Dance Studio. During his time with Wendon Dance, Lim participated in the Crown International Dance festival and various showcases. When he was 17, he pursued dance as part of the Vocational Education and Training in the genre of Jazz and Contemporary. Furthermore, he was also a part of 3D Arts Company, and performed with the dance troupe in opening ceremonies for dance companies, and various organizations. He was accepted into VCA for dance in 2015, and trained in Classical Ballet and Contemporary. Lim has worked with various choreographers during his time at the Victorian College of the Arts, many of which were successful graduates from the VCA, these include Darren Vizer, Benjamin Hancock, Rochelle Carmichael, Kate Denbourough, and Alisdair Macindoe. 

LIM PEI ERN
Grew up in Sabah, Malaysia. She completed Advanced II in RAD Ballet, and represented her state in the Malaysian Sport Games, SUKMA 2006 in Rhythmic Gymnastics. She graduated from LASALLE College of the Arts with First Class Honour (BA) in Dance. She was invited to dance for Odyssey Dance Theatre in 2012 and performed for John Mead Dance Company and taken in as an apprentice for 2nd Company with T.H.E Dance Company Singapore. Pei Ern was with artistic director, Wong Jyh Shyong in DPAC Dance Company, Kuala Lumpur since 2015. In 2017, she works independently as a full-time artist. Her new work, You/Me was selected for M1 Contact Festival in Singapore. Pei Ern recently performed in Theater de la Ville for Pauline Rosolen and danced for Un Yamada from Japan in 2017.

ALISTAIR WROE

Originally from Worcestershire, Alistair completed his BA (Hons) Degree in Contemporary Dance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, and went on to join EDge where he worked with choreographers such as Alexander Whitley and Philippe Blanchard. Since recently completing a Master’s Degree at London Contemporary Dance School, Alistair has performed in London, Switzerland, Cardiff and is currently working with Jack Philp Dance.

#DancePassion is a new dance festival organised by BBC Arts in collaboration with One Dance UK along with leading names and exciting new talent from across the dance scene.

It will show just why this country is a world leader in dance. Aimed at ‘those who love dance as well as those who don’t yet know they love dance', #DancePassion will run across television, radio and online on the BBC from Sunday 31 March to Saturday 6 April, with a live streaming day on Friday 5 April.

As part of this country-wide event, Möbius Dance will show a 5 min extract of Time Moves Slow choreographed by Jamaal Burkmar.

The livestream will be hosted here from 1.15pm

Read more about the festival and find the full live stream running order here

Photo: Danilo Moroni

MÖBIUS DANCE & DOUGLAS THORPE
‘Behind the scenes’

By Anna Cabré-Verdiell Bosch

This is my second and last ‘Behind the scenes’ report for Möbius Dance, a collection of observations gathered over my time in the studio with the company. My role hasn’t changed, I’m still moving in and out of scene, understudying the dancers at times and sitting out a while later to eyeball in detail. The dancers are the same four magnificent movers and the artistic director is also the same one and only; however, there’s a new face in the room, a new choreographer, which leaves me with a whole new story to tell.

For two days the dancers have been learning material from videos; they are working on ‘Dramatis Personae’, a physical theatre piece by Douglas Thorpe which he created with Verve ’15. The piece was originally a quintet, two females and three males, but it will now be performed by three women and a man. Douglas comes in on the third day and appears to be content with the progress achieved by the Möbius crew. The performers are getting into their characters, each of them having to impersonate a highly peculiar being; they are also succeeding in getting the movement material off the ground. However, there is something that makes Douglas frown, something that isn’t quite right. 

Without removing his jacket and with his scarf still wrapped up around his neck, he gets on with it. Instead of readjusting, Douglas opts for remaking some sections from scratch, allowing the material to come from and to suit the current performers. He has an internal tempo, which he listens to and follows. Whilst choreographing, he needs to see the phrase over and over again, -like playing that bit of that song on repeat- so that he can gather its inner sense and pull out the movement which comes next. Long pauses fill the room with silence as Douglas asks the dancers to stay still and keep a position ‘if you don’t mind’. He then scrutinises the dancers made sculpture, hoping for the image to speak back at him. Everyone is highly attentive, respectful and supportive of the creator’s methodology.

In just three days an old piece is reborn; a familiar soul resuscitated, performed by fresh new bodies. Frantically rambling across the stage, a big-headed diva, a cocky macho, a bipolar chick and an electric narcissist dance their egos out, not able to coexist together or to exist apart. 

Artistic Director: Gianluca Vincentini
Dancers: Robert Anderson, Ana Fernández Melero, Stefania Pinato and Iolanda Portogallo
Apprentice: Charlie Hogan
Interns: Giulia Quacqueri and Benedetta Leso
Photographers: Elly Welford and Guy Kavanagh

MÖBIUS DANCE & JAMAAL BURKMAR
‘Behind the scenes’

By Anna Cabré-Verdiell Bosch

The last couple of weeks I’ve been witnessing the creative process between Möbius Dance and choreographer Jamaal Burkmar. I’ve been in this sort of limbo where you are not in, but you aren’t out either; at times actively involved in the creation, being in the dancers shoes, and stepping out at other times, being two big black observant eyes. This is therefore an attempt to blend the ‘in’ and ‘out’ experiences and share the overall outcome of my bipolar role.  

The regulars in the studio are the four company dancers, two interns, one apprentice, the choreographer, the artistic director and myself. Jamaal skips presentations and goes straight into the work. He knows what he wants as soon as he sees it, almost like if his gut feeling was whispering in his ear which threads to follow and which ones to dismiss. He often talks to himself in a permanent inner dialogue to either reassure or correct his decisions. 
The choreography gets built as a hybrid creature resulting from the combination between movement offered by the dancers and from Jamaal himself. He mix and matches, copies and pastes, deletes or loops moves responding to rhythmic or compositional demands of the section that is being worked on. 
As the days goes by, dancers and choreographer get to know each other’s ways which results in a quick and smooth working dynamic. A joke softens the environment here and there, however the dancers are thoroughly focused; they must be, as the material is detailed and extremely fast paced. Dancers, choreographer, artistic director and even sporadic visitors find themselves reciting counts out loudly as the piece is absolutely time codified. 

At the edges of the room, the artistic director works behind the shadow of his laptop. His head sticks in and out of the screen in an almost ritualistic way which unfolds the multitasking nature of his job. The guest photographers hide in the corners looking to capture moments for posterity.

The last day of the process is upon us before we know it. A frenetic two weeks are gone leaving behind a brand new piece ironically called Time moves slow; a hymn of praise to the unstoppable, relentless passing of time. 

Artistic Director: Gianluca Vincentini
Dancers: Robert Anderson, Ana Fernández Melero, Stefania Pinato and Iolanda Portogallo
Apprentice: Charlie Hogan
Interns: Giulia Quacqueri and Benedetta Leso
Photographers: Elly Welford and Guy Kavanagh

Mentoring and Developing Opportunities

Professional Development and Work Placement Opportunities for the Next Generation of Talented Dance Artists. 

Did you know that Möbius Dance also offers professional development and work placement opportunities to local, national and international dance artists?

We welcome to the company Anna Cabrè-Verdiell Bosch, a local professional dance artist and journalist; Charlie Hogan, third year student at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance; Alice Lovrinic, second year student at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance; and six international young dancers: Giulia Quacqueri, Benedetta Leso, Verdiana Cristaldi, Giosiana Pennisi, Nicole Maccarrone and Giorgia Fichera.

Anna will shadow our Artistic Director Gianluca, to learn more about his role as facilitator to both choreographers and performers. 

Charlie will shadow the company dancers as well as be part of the devising process with both choreographers to gain more understanding of what it means to work within professional company. 

As part of her studies, Alice has chosen Möbius Dance for her Dance Industry Engagement Module. She will spend 20 hours with us and then write a 1500 word reflective essay to contextualise her learning within the industry. 

Do you remember that in our Winter Newsletter we said that Gianluca had been teaching his socks off abroad during the autumn, reaching over 200 students? Meet six of them: Giulia, Benedetta, Verdiana, Giosiana, Nicole and Giorgia. These are the six young dancers who are looking to gain more experience within the dance industry while they are auditioning for Conservatoires and HE institutions in the UK and abroad. They will be taking class with Möbius Dance, learning new skills from our professional performers and will have the chance to network with current students and teachers. 

Gianluca will also mentor Samuel Burkett and Matilde Torres Laborde during their Graduate Mentoring Scheme offered by ProDanceLeeds. The scheme is an opportunity for recent graduates and emerging artists interested in developing their teaching skills to be paid to teach two days of professional level class for us.

Möbius Dance are proud to support so many young artists towards their future careers in the dance industry, and we value their contributions into our rapidly expanding team of diverse and talented artists. 

Welcome aboard all, and good luck for your next stage of development! 

Fundraising Launch

Mobius Dance will travel to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to work with local and regional dance artists for 4 weeks in July 2019. Our dancers will deliver workshops, create new work, perform for and alongside local dancers and audiences who share our passion for movement and cultural exchange.

However as a small non-profit organization we need extra help to make it happen.

Today we are launching a fundraising campaign on Indegogo as we need to raise £4000.

Although £4000 might seem a really big target, is only a small part of the overall budget. With the help and support of our international partners, we have already secured accommodation, per-diems, salaries and visas for the dancers and our artistic director. We now need extra help to contribute to the purchase of flight tickets for four dancers and our AD. 

We thank you, so so much, in advance for your support and generosity.

To donate click HERE

International Tour

We are delighted to announce our first International Tour. 

During 2019, Möbius Dance will undertake their first international tour heading to Malaysia for both performances and an extended residency. 

We will travel to Kuala Lumpur to work with local and regional dance artists for 4 weeks in July 2019. Our dancers will deliver workshops, create new work and perform for and alongside local dancers and audiences who share our passion for movement and cultural exchange.

Watch this space for more info and dates.

Premiere

Möbius Dance will present an explosive, passionate and highly physical performance featuring two robust contemporary dance works choreographed by celebrated artists Jamaal Burkmar and Douglas Thorpe, and a new film directed by Gianluca Vincentini.

Lovers of both dance and music will be enthralled by Burkmar’s Time Moves Slow, an incredibly passionate, fast-paced and dynamic work.A long serving ex-Phoenix dancer and Leeds-based artist, Thorpe creates a powerful, theatrical and compelling piece for the company formed of 4 international dance artists based in the North of England. Vincentini’s new film Encounter Two explores the entwined nature of men’s emotional states and their body.  

Come see our mixed dance programme on the Thursday 21st of March 2019 at Kala Sangam, Bradford or on the Saturday 6th of April 2019 at The Civic, Barnsley. 

Möbius Professional Classes

Professional Classes with Möbius Dance?

Come and shake your groove with us!

Also this year, Möbius Dance will offer local, regional, national and international freelancers and students the opportunity to join company classes. 

We will also continue our collaboration with ProDanceLeeds, who have programmed both our Artistic Director Gianluca Vincentini and Choreographer Jamaal Burkmar to teach a week each when Möbius is working in residence.

W/c 11 February 

Jamaal's classes are music led, through improvisation and set material dancers are made to focus heavily on the quality of sound as well as the structure of different musical styles. Dancers expend a lot of energy and are challenged to change qualities at a dramatic pace and switch between both super quick and super slow movements.

W/c 18 February

Gianluca leads a contemporary release based class with emphasis on a supportive dynamic centre and the efficient use of body weight. He encourages awareness of space, suspension, vitality and embodiment whilst challenging the participants to focus on clear phrasing and specificity of movement. 

Find info about times and locations here 

EXTRA WEEK! 

Gianluca will also teach company class during w/c 11 March at Yorkshire Dance - Keep an eye on our social medias for info about times and studios.

Unfortunately during this week ‘ProDanceLeeds Friends Cards’ are not accepted. You can pay £4 per a single class or sign up for a ‘Möbius Dance Class Pass’ for the week (5 classes) at £15 – Saving £5. The funds raised this week will be devoted and reinvested in Möbius Dance’s exciting future activities. 

Do I need to book in advance?
Classes run on a drop-in basis, so no need to book in advance - just turn up! 

Where do I pay? 
We are taking payment in the studio on the day. 

Can I pay by card?
Unfortunately not - the absolutely easiest for us is if you bring cash. However, you can do a bank transfer if you are able to show us on your smart phone that the payment has gone through before class. 

If you wish to read from a participant point of view – check out this review by Anna Cabré-Verdiell Bosch.

2019 Dance Artists Team

We are very pleased to introduce you to the artistic team for Möbius Dance new creation starting in February 2019.

Our performers Ana Fernández Melero, Iolanda Portogallo, Rob Anderson and Stefania Pinato will join choreographer Douglas Thorpe and Jamaal Burkmar for the creation of an explosive, passionate and highly physical new mixed bill.

Visit our About page to learn more about the artists. 

Photographic Exhibition

We are excited to announce that our Encounter Two Photographic Exhibition will be open to public from the 19th of January to the 15th of March at Opposite Café – Chapel Allerton.

 This is a series of five fine art prints by Gianluca Vincentini, artistic director of Möbius Dance, Ben Lewis, digital artist, and Stefania Pinato, performer and digital assistant of Möbius Dance, featuring Benjamin Skinner, performer and illustration artist.

 They have been created as part of Möbius Dance's second film project Encounter Two, which was shot at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.  The work explores what it means to be a man in today’s society, & why men are still discouraged from showing emotions. 

Leeds Dance Partnership Award

We were delighted to be nominated for the Leeds Dance Partnership Award, as part of the first One Dance UK Awards, which gave an opportunity for people in the dance sector to acknowledge and reward the people who have made an impact over the last 12 months in the UK’s vibrant dance scene.

The Leeds Dance Partnership Award recognises and celebrates an organisation or individual who has made a significant impact to dance in the local area. 

We would like to thank everyone who has nominated us. 

Audition Notice

Gianluca Vincentini is seeking applications for Möbius Dance’s new project from performers of all genders based in the North of England to create new dance works with Jamaal Burkmar and Douglas Thorpe.

Check our opportunities page.