Wednesday 12 September 2012

On the Brew


MARC BREW COMPANY – highly acclaimed contemporary dance:


October 26th, 27th: GLASGOW, Tramway at 7.30pm with world renowned percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie


MARC BREW COMPANY brings its excellent contemporary dance and music TRIPLE BILL to Glasgow Tramway on October 26th and 27th. The three pieces will be performed by choreographer and artistic director Marc Brew with company dancers Evi Chatzaki, James Cousins, Rebecca Evans, Kieran Stoneley, and Aaron Vickers; Dame Evelyn Glennie will join the company onstage.


The TRIPLE BILL programme features the exquisite soloRemember When performed by Marc himself; originally commissioned and presented by East London Dance as part of Big Dance 2008, Marc recently performed the piece to critical acclaim at the San Francisco International Arts Festival.


Nocturne is a contemporary dance quartet performed by Marc Brewand the company dancers which transports the audience into a meditative world of reflection, nostalgia, and stillness. Conceived and created by Marc Brew in collaboration with designer/dramaturg Luke Pell, Nocturne features an original score by Gary Lloyd and prose (written by Luke Pell) spoken by Iain Banks, author of the Wasp Factory.


Fusional Fragments is a unique collaboration between Marc Brew, world renowned percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennieand the prolific TV and film composer Philip Sheppard. Fusional Fragments is performed by five dancers in an exploration of the concept of fusing life fragments through classical ballet and contemporary dance. It investigates the influences and differences between the two styles, questioning whether these elements can be fused together or if they should remain as fragments in isolation.






“Having been the propulsive heartbeat at the centre of the Olympics opening ceremony, percussionist Evelyn Glennie adds decorative layers of sound to Marc Brew’s action-packed Fusional Fragments. The bedrock of the work is a series of solos, duets and trios performed with speed, agility and Olympian strength by five gladiatorial dancers against Philip Sheppard’s soundtrack of percussive electronica and vocals that switch from haunting wails to prayer-like mantras. Andy Hamer’s cubes and pyramids of golden light illuminate limbs and torsos in fluid fragments, while javelins of light thrust across the stage wall.


And all the while, the extraordinarily charismatic figure of Glennie traverses the stage hammering out thunderous beats from a variety of percussion instruments, or coaxing the softest whispering sounds from steel brushed on metal, temple bells or turning Japanese with the plaintive bongs of a glass bell jar...this is mesmerising and exciting beyond belief.” (The Stage)


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“The distinct movement vocabulary of Marc Brew is hypnotizing. It drags the audience into the intricate yet quirky folding and unfolding balletic lines and movement. The partnerwork in the duets and trios demand to be watched...Fusional Fragments will be performed at The South Bank Centre August 31st. You will be missing out if you don’t go and see it.” (Public Reviews)


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Fusional Fragments was commissioned by the Unlimited programme, part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Unlimited encourages collaborations and partnerships between disability arts organisations, disabled and deaf artists, producers and mainstream organisations to celebrate the inspiration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and to create original and exciting works.






Marc Brew: “As a resident of Dundee I’m absolutely delighted to be bringing my Triple Bill toGlasgow. The Tramway in Glasgow is a longtime favourite theatre – I’m very excited about presenting an evening of my work in such an atmospheric venue and I know Evelyn is really looking forward to performing to a home crowd!


“Fusional Fragments draws on my dance career in both classical ballet and contemporary dance. It's a strong abstract work that features five very talented dancers and a new score by composer Philip Sheppard and Dame Evelyn Glennie. I approached Evelyn as I have long admired her music and her physicality as a performer; I was so honoured when she accepted and when she suggested that we work with Philip Sheppard as co-composer I was absolutely delighted, as I had already worked with him on the 2008 Olympic London handover ceremony in Beijing. I’m also very pleased to be able to present my solo, Remember When, on this tour and I think Nocturne will really transport the audience into a different world with its combination of dance, beautiful design and prose.”






MARC BREW COMPANY – TRIPLE BILL


Remember When, Nocturne, and Fusional Fragments on tour:


September 14th Bristol, Circomedia www.circomedia.com 0117 922 3686


October 6th Leeds, stage@leeds www.stage.leeds.ac.uk 0113 343 8730


October 18th Aberdeen, The Lemon Tree www.boxofficeaberdeen.com 01224 641 122


October 26th 27th Glasgow Tramway (with Dame Evelyn Glennie performing live) www.tramway.org 0845 330 3501






MARC BREW: Choreographer and MBC Artistic Director Marc Brewtrained as a professional dancer at the Australian Ballet School and has been working in the UK and internationally for the past 17 years as a dancer, choreographer, teacher and speaker. He has worked with the Australian Ballet Company, State Theatre Ballet Company of South Africa, Infinity Dance Theatre in New York and for 5 years was with Candoco Dance Company. He was a guest performer, collaborator and media spokesperson for the London Handover Ceremony for the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony and was appointed Associate Director with Scottish Dance Theatre (2009/10).


Marc was the Victorian Arts Award Winner for the Young Australian of the Year Awards 2001 and received the Fringe Performance Award for Best Original Solo Work at the 2002 Melbourne Fringe Festival. In 2003 he was a recipient of the Shine On Award from Rotary International and received a Centenary Medal of Australia for outstanding service as a dancer and choreographer. In January, he received a bursary for a placement with Scottish Dance Theatre. Most recently Marc was featured by Time Out Magazine as the best of the new breed of London’s Rising Dance Talent.


Marc Brew Company has been collaborating with disabled and non-disabled performers/artists since 2001 to produce works of distinction for the UK and abroad. Marc has a thoughtful, precise choreographic vocabulary that explores the unexpected physicality of each performer he works with, helping them to find new ways to work with their bodies. Extensive experience as a dancer and choreographer with a disability, working with disabled and non-disabled dancers means that he challenges performers’ expectations of their own limitations. In turn this challenges and inspires both the company and its audiences.












Marc Brew is most familiar to Scottish audiences through his choreography for Scottish Dance Theatre: his collaboration with Caroline Bowditch and then artistic director Janet Smith, NQR was part of a trinity of pieces that clearly established SDT as a vital, forward looking company, and triumphed at the Fringe, a difficult place for dance to shine.






Brew's signature style - his contribution to NQR was easily spotted - combines the contemporary interest in working from the body of the dancers and a balletic elegance. His cheeky humour - his remix of Swan Lake's cygnets deconstructed the original into a series of sardonic glances and gestures - is balanced by a serious and passionate belief in dance as an emotional medium, capable of exploring ideas: his solo, Remember When is overwhelmingly moving, while NQR challenged notions of normal. And although technique is crucial to his pieces, it is always put at the service of immediate communication.




















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