Phoenix Dance Theatre are delighted to announce the release dates of the three films released as part of their Digital Programme, choreographed by Carlos J Martinez, Kennedy Junior Muntanga and Miguel Altunaga.
The Digital Programme aims to support new artists and support the production of digital dance content and is a creative response to the many difficulties this last year has presented. The COVID-19 pandemic has and continues to disproportionately affect Black and ethnic minority communities in the UK and across the globe. As a company founded by David Hamilton, Donald Edwards and Vilmore James, three Black British men from Harehills, the company sought to give a space and a platform to three Black choreographers and to nurture their talent and vision, in line with the ethos out of which the company was born almost forty years ago.
Three emerging/early career choreographers, Carlos J Martinez, Kennedy Muntanga and Miguel Altunaga, were invited to the studio in Autumn 2020 to work with the dancers, bringing their own original ideas and concepts. Following the studio and rehearsal period, all three choreographers were commissioned to produce short films. Through the pressures of multiple lockdowns and the precarious circumstance of life under a pandemic, they were able to explore their own practice and unleash their creativity as choreographers and artists. These exciting short dance films, each of them distinctly separate, are the fruits of this journey.
Release Dates
KARDEC by Carlos J Martinez
Released Monday 24th May 2021
The choreography was born from a dream, a dream of human rights, women’s power and an end to racism. Kardec was a man of change, a man of great knowledge and spirituality.
“We will meet in a better world, and in the great sky, where we will use our most precious faculties; we will continue the studies for which the Earth is not yet a prepared field. We are most grateful to know this truth, than to believe that the whole body and soul are annihilated with the cessation of an organ’s functioning. Immortality is the light of life, as this sun is the light of natureâ€.
EBÓ by Miguel Altunaga
To be released Monday 31st May 2021
EBO is inspired from Yoruba and Afro-Cuban ceremonies, tales and culture whilst paying tribute to our ancestors and to all those who have lost their lives in the current pandemic. This work evokes the Pantheon of Gods, superior forces, the energies to cleanse and heal the world from chaos. In order to achieve the great cleansing of the world from chaos and death, a God’s last dance of offerings and sacrifices is needed.
The Ones that Went This Way and That by Kennedy Junior Muntanga
To be released 7 June 2021
The Ones that Went This Way and That explores the never-ending cycle of the displacement of human beings all over the world. The film explores the rush, panic and unsettling experiences facing those who are displaced.
Kardec and The Ones that Went This Way and That were made in collaboration with students from Leeds City College. All three films will are free to watch and will be available on our website, Facebook and Instagram TV, but audiences do have an opportunity to donate to the company should they so wish.
