Dance Consortium presents: A Sadler’s Wells Production
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui / Antony Gormley
Szymon Brzóska with monks from the Shaolin Temple
SUTRA
Wednesday 3 April – Saturday 6 April 2013
Performances at 7.30pm
Tickets: £12 – £38
Ticket Office: 0844 412 4300 or www.sadlerswells.com
Part of a Dance Consortium Tour. Full UK tour details: www.danceconsortium.com / www.sutratour.com
One of Sadler’s Wells’ most successful productions, Sutra returns to Sadler’s Wells from Wednesday 3 – Saturday 6 April on its fifth anniversary after touring around the globe to sell-out audiences – part of a Dance Consortium UK tour.
Seen by over 160,000 people worldwide in 55 cities across 27 countries, Sutra sees the award-winning choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui unite with Turner Prize-winner Antony Gormley, alongside 17 Buddhist monks from the Shaolin Temple in China in the first true collaboration between Western artists and the Shaolin Temple.
For Sutra, Antony Gormley creates a striking design of 21 wooden boxes which shift and evolve into an ever-changing environment for the performers – 17 monks from the original Shaolin Temple, alongside Ali Thabet (in the role originally performed by choreographer and Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui).
One of Europe’s most exciting choreographers, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui has made more than 20 choreographic pieces, including zero degrees (2005) with Akram Khan, Antony Gormley and Nitin Sawhney, Olivier Award winning Babel (2010), Faun (which premiered at Sadler’s Wells as part of In the Spirit of Diaghilev, and returns to Sadler’s Wells as part of Sadler’s Sampled on the 22 & 23 June), Dunas (2009) with award-winning flamenco dancer and choreographer Maria Pagés and TeZukA (2011) based on the iconic work of Osamu Tezuka. He was also choreographer on Joe Wright’s recent film Anna Karenina (2012). This year see’s Larbi’s latest production Puz/zle have its UK premiere at Sadler’s Wells on the 24 & 25 April.
Antony Gormley’s career has spanned almost 40 years; his works include Another Place, Domain Field, Inside Australia, Clearing, Breaking Room and Blind Light. Increasingly, he has taken his practice beyond the gallery, engaging the public in active participation, as in Clay and the Collection Body and the acclaimed One & Other commission in London’s Trafalgar Square. Last year he worked with choreographer Hofesh Shechter on Survivor at the Barbican. In November 2012 an exhibition of major new works, Model, opened to critical acclaim at White Cube. He was awarded the Turner Prize in 1994, the South Bank Prize for Visual Art in 1999 and the Bernhard Heiliger Award for Sculpture in 2007. In 1997 he was made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE). He has been a Royal Academician since 2003 and a British Museum Trustee since 2007.
The monks performing in Sutra are from the original Shaolin Temple, situated near Dengfeng City in the Henan Province of China and established in 495AD by monks originating from India. In 1983, the State Council defined the Shaolin Temple as the key national Buddhist Temple. The monks follow a strict Buddhist doctrine, with kung fu and tai chi martial arts forming an integral part of their daily practice. There are many martial arts schools that have also been set up in the region under the name of Shaolin, from which performers for many of the more commercial Shaolin Monk shows are drawn. The performers in Sutra however are all Buddhist Monks from the original temple itself.
Dance Consortium is made up of 19 large scale UK venues and is supported by Arts Council England.
Sutra is co-produced with Athens Festival, Festival de Barcelona Grec, Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, La Monnaie Brussels, Festival d’Avignon, Fondazione Musica per Roma and Shaolin Cultural Communications Company.
Sutra UK tour dates:
Cardiff Millennium Centre Fri 29 & Sat 30 March
Box Office: 029 2063 6464 or www.wmc.org.uk
Sadler’s Wells, London Wed 3 – Sat 6 April
Box Office: 0844 871 0090 or www.sadlerswells.com
Theatre Royal, Plymouth Tue 9 & Wed 10 April
Box Office: 01752 267222 or www.theatreroyal.com
Birmingham Hippodrome Tue 7 & Wed 8 May
Box Office: 0844 338 5000 or www.birminghamhippodrome.com
Brighton Dome Fri 10 & Sat 11 May
Box Office: 01273 709709 or www.brightondome.org
The Lowry, Salford Tue 14 & Wed 15 May
Box Office: 0843 208 6000 or www.thelowry.com
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh Fri 17 & Sat 18 May
Box Office: 0131 529 6000 or www.edtheatres.com
Further details can be found at www.danceconsortium.com
