DeNada Dance Theatre Announced 2015-16 HAM AND PASSION Tour

DeNada Dance Theatre, headed by artistic director and choreographer Carlos Pons Guerra, will tour its dance triple bill Ham and Passion between 2 October 2015 and 26 February 2016 (tour schedule included).

UK-based choreographer Carlos Pons Guerra is from Gran Canaria, Spain. In Ham and Passion he has choreographed an evening of seductive, provocative and emphatically Spanish contemporary dance theatre that will subvert the senses. This gender-bending night explores the history of homosexuality in 20th century Spain, as well as commenting on current notions of gender and sexual identity. Kitschy, filmic and darkly comical, DeNada Dance Theatre's first triple bill promises to be an evening of luscious, thought-provoking entertainment- a feast of meaty and greasy dance soaked in a salsa of passion.

The triple bill opens with Passionaria, a fantasia of ham and sequins. Set to Manuel de Falla's haunting score for El Amor Brujo, it is a story of exorcism happening backstage in a dingy cabaret of Civil War Barcelona, where a drag artiste has just murdered her abusive fascist lover.

Next up is Young Man!.This tale of ham and passion is inspired by Roland Petit's ballet, Le Jeune Homme et la Mort, and is a duel of seduction that puts the figure of the Spanish macho to the test, delving into the fatality of innate passions.

Completing the triple bill is O Maria, a divine comedy of ham and bondage set in a stifling kitchen of 1950's Seville, where a divine apparition unleashes a torrent of unquenchable desires for a religious woman with a feeding fetish and her tightly bound husband.

These three explosive period pieces will excite adult audiences of all backgrounds. View the video trailer here: https://vimeo.com/117096717

Ham and Passion is performed by an international cast of dancers - Azzurra Ardovini (Italy), Victoria Da Silva (Spain), Phil Sanger (UK), Lisard Tranis (Spain) - to a soundtrack of Latin vintage classics and Manuel de Falla's El Amor Brujo, with costume and set design by Ryan Dawson Laight (Drunk, Le Gateau) and lighting by Barnaby Booth.

Pons Guerra has been working as a freelance choreographer since graduating from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in 2012. He was recently commissioned by Rambert to create work for the company's The Future programme and has also created work for Ovalhouse Theatre, Elmhurst School of Dance, and Northern School of Contemporary Dance amongst others. Since founding DeNada Dance Theatre in 2012, the company has performed his work internationally, in venues across the UK, Spain and Germany. He is a recipient of the British Council and Arts Council England's Artists' International Development Fund, through which he'll work with the National Dominican Ballet and the National Dance company of the Dominican Republic in 2016, and is an associate artist at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance through its Catapult Scheme. Hugely inspired by film, his Hispanic cultural heritage and with a keen interest in the study of sexuality and the history of dance, Carlos has been developing Ham and Passion over the last three years with support from Arts Council England and several UK and international institutions.

Ham and Passion Tour 2015-2016 is funded by Arts Council England and Cervantes Institute (a worldwide organisation for the promotion of Hispanic language and culture) and supported by Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Yorkshire Dance, Homotopia, DanceXchange, Theatre in the Mill, Ovalhouse Theatre, Pink Fringe and Spin Arts Management.

Kepa Gonzalez, Cultural Director at Manchester's Instituto Cervantes, said: "Ham and Passion brings fresh air into the dance scene, it's an original project with the perfect dose of irony. More than a must-see, I'd say it's a must-feel."

Pons Guerra said: "We are very excited about touring Ham and Passion, a show we hope will entertain and provoke reflection on current issues surrounding gender and sexual identity, sharing our own particular view of our Hispanic heritage. We feel very grateful towards our supporters in the UK- namely Arts Council England, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Yorkshire Dance and DanceXchange- who have given us invaluable opportunities to develop the work and grow as a company, and hope to reach, delight and move as many audience members with our tour as possible."

ENDS

For media enquiries please contact Simon Harper, Simon Harper PR 07810 863408 simonharperpr@gmail.com

Notes to editors:

Ham and Passion NATIONAL Tour 2015 - 2016 #hamandpassion

stage@leeds LEEDS

2 October at 7:30 PM

Tickets: 0113 343 8730 // www.stage.leeds.ac.uk

Blue Elephant Theatre LONDON (please note the London PRESS performance is 14 October)

14 & 15 October at 8:00 PM

Tickets: 020 7701 0100 // www.blueelephanttheatre.co.uk

The Performance Hub WALSALL

7 November 7:30 PM

Tickets: performancehub.eventbrite.co.uk

Harrogate Theatre HARROGATE

5 February 7:30 PM

Tickets: 01423 502 116 // www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk

mac birmingham BIRMINGHAM

25 February at 8:00 PM

Tickets: 0121 446 3232 // www.macbirmingham.co.uk

Theatre in the Mill BRADFORD

26 February at 7:30 PM

Tickets: 01274 233200 // www.brad.ac.uk/theatre

Recommended age: 14+ due to partial nudity and suggestive imagery.

Carlos Pons Guerra (Gran Canaria, Spain), began his ballet training at the Choreographic Centre of Las Palmas, under direction of Anatol Yanowsky, before moving to the UK to train at Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Leeds, and at the Royal Conservatoire for Dance of Madrid 'María de Ávila'. Since graduating in 2012 his work has been shown internationally, at venues including The Place, Sadler's Wells Mezz Foyer, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Homotopia Festival Liverpool, Theater in Pfalzbau, Ludwigshafen (Germany) and Eduardo Úrculo Theatre in Madrid.

He has been commissioned to create work by Rambert (as part of the company's The Future programme), Ovalhouse Theatre, Bradford Theatre in the Mill, Elmhurst School for Dance and Northern School of Contemporary Dance amongst others. He also works in opera, being currently involved in the production of Ice Cream Opera, a pop-up opera venture by Freedom Studios and Spin-Arts Management. In January 2013, Carlos was appointed 'Catapult Artist' in a professional development scheme designed by the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Yorkshire Dance and Spin-Arts Management, which has offered him artistic and production mentoring, as well as funds and creative space. Carlos' artistic mentor is Javier de Frutos.

Carlos is inspired by an ample variety of choreographers, ranging from Roland Petit to Frederick Ashton, John Neuemeier to Itzik Galili, Kenneth MacMillan to De Frutos. During his training, he simultaneously read for a BA (Hons) English Literature through the Open University, and the works of writers such as Virginia Woolf, Thomas Hardy, Elfriede Jelinek and Federico García Lorca also influence his work, as do the films of Pedro Almodóvar, John Waters, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Jean-Luc Godard.

DeNada Dance Theatre is a UK based dance company interested in exporting, exploring and subverting Hispanic and Latin culture in Britain and beyond. Directed by choreographer Carlos Pons Guerra, it entertains, provokes and inspires through vigorous physicality, extravagant theatricality, and the blending of dance vocabularies that creates its distinct style, offering work that is accessible, humorous and passionately poignant.

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