International Leaders In Performance And Dance Join Southbank Centre's Summer Programme

Today Southbank Centre announces a powerful international line-up for its summer performance and dance programme, with a host of UK premieres. Highlights from the April to August summer programme include CHRISTOPHER GREEN, THE CHITRASENA Dance Company, CIRKUS CIRKÖR, ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET, HONG KONG Dance Company, ICELAND Dance Company, NEEDCOMPANY, NIC GREEN, THE NRITYAGRAM DANCE ENSEMBLE, SIDDHARTHA BOSE, TERO SAARINEN, JYOTI DOGRA and more.

Southbank Centre will welcome artists from across the Nordic region, as part of its 2017 exploration of Nordic culture Nordic Matters. Iceland Dance Company presents the UK premiere of Sacrifice (18 - 20 August), a collection of four brand new creations, exploring the relationship between art, religion and rituals by artists Matthew Barney, Erna Ómarsdóttir, Ragnar Kjartansson, Gabríela Friðriksdóttir and Valdimar Johannsson. Scandinavia's leading contemporary circus company Cirkus Cirkör will present the UK premiere of their boundary-breaking performance Limits (13 - 16 August) and leading Finnish dance artist and choreographer Tero Saarinen will bring together seven men of wide-ranging ages and dance backgrounds to present the UK premiere of Morphed, a liberating performance exploring the shifting, mutating feelings of a man (10 August).

Pioneering dance and performance is further celebrated across Southbank Centre's festivals with Conditions of Carriage - The Jumping Project, part of this year's Alchemy - a unique dance experience choreographed by Preethi Athreya where 10 contemporary performers from across India negotiate the force of gravity within their bodies on the roof of Royal Festival Hall (21 May). All-female Dance Company Myself UK Dance Company (3 - 5 April) and female powerhouse House of Absolute (10 -13 April) will each train, rehearse and perform in residency in the Southbank Centre's Clore Ballroom as part of the sixth year of Southbank Centre's Urban festival.

Rupert Thomson, Senior Programmer for Performance and Dance at Southbank Centre said: "This summer sees a vibrant, innovative array of work by international leaders in dance and performance from across the world, celebrating a multiplicity of human experiences and modes of expression. Multilingual performance group Needcompany reflect on the notion of identity in today's Europe in the UK premiere of The Blind Poet and Scandinavia's leading contemporary circus company Cirkus Cirkör investigate movement and borders in today's world in the UK premiere of Limits. We're excited to welcome exceptionAl Nordic artists with incredible work from Iceland Dance Company and Tero Saarinen and we'll be harnessing the thriving energy that summertime generates at Southbank Centre within each show, with innovative performances right across the site, including unique roof-top dance experiences."

Further summer dance and performance highlights:

• Hong Kong Dance Company presents the UK premiere of its award-winning signature dance drama The Legend of Mulan, an inspiring re-telling of the household folktale of courage, love, peace and virtue starring Pan Lingjuan as Mulan and Huang Lei as Mulan's father (15 April).

• Nic Green presents her award-winning political piece c*ckand Bull, originally conceived for the eve of the 2015 UK general election, using the most heard phrases from Conservative governmental rhetoric to dismantle and redress dominant paradigms of power and politics (25 - 30 April).

• Olivier award-winning writer and performer Christopher Green presents the premiere of Prurience, an experiential theatre piece where audiences are invited to attend a self-help group for those who define themselves as addicted to pornography (18 - 30 July).

• English National Ballet performs the world's greatest love story, Romeo and Juliet, on the Royal Festival Hall stage, choreographed by Rudolf Nureyev, with Prokofiev's exhilarating score performed by English National Ballet Philharmonic. This run marks the 40th anniversary of Nureyev's award-winning production created especially for English National Ballet in 1977 to celebrate the Queen's Silver Jubilee (1 - 5 August).

• Multilingual and multidisciplinary performance group Needcompany presents a journey through the family trees of all Needcompany's members with the UK premiere of The Blind Poet. This explores the notion of identity in today's multicultural Europe through theatre, dance, music and performance (8 August).

• Leading Finnish dance artist and choreographer Tero Saarinen presents the UK premiere of Morphed, a liberating performance exploring the shifting, mutating feelings of a man (10 August) (Part of Nordic Matters).

• Scandinavia's leading contemporary circus company Cirkus Cirkör presents the UK premiere of their boundary-breaking performance Limits, a provocative exploration into migration and breaking through the ever-tightening borders in today's world (13 - 16 August) (Part of Nordic Matters).

• Iceland Dance Company transforms the Royal Festival Hall with a celebration of dance, art and music with the UK premiere of Sacrifice, a collection of four brand new creations exploring art and religion by artists Matthew Barney, Erna Ómarsdóttir, Ragnar Kjartansson, Gabríela Friðriksdóttir and Valdimar Johannsson (18 - 20 August) (Part of Nordic Matters).

Dance highlights by festival:

URBAN FESTIVAL (1 - 17 April)
Southbank Centre's Urban festival returns for a sixth year with an exciting programme of dance, performance, music, parties and workshops inspired by the city, with the majority of the events free. Taking place across the site for 17 days over the Easter period, the performance and dance highlights include Dance into Urban, the adult dance course with sessions in hip-hop, dancehall and house dance; the return of b.supreme Takeover, a day of workshops and dance battles celebrating the work of women within the hip hop culture (1 April); Hip Hop with a view, a workout where dancers can take in the iconic views of London as they dance on the Royal Festival Hall roof (8 April) and all-female Hip Hop Dance Company Myself UK Dance Company, who will train, rehearse and perform in residency in the Southbank Centre's Clore Ballroom (3 - 5 April). The full programme can be viewed here.

ALCHEMY (19 - 29 May)

Southbank Centre's Alchemy returns for its eighth year celebrating the cultural connections between South Asia and the UK. Showcasing contemporary and artistic work from seven countries, the eleven day festival celebrates an evocative programme of dance and performance from emerging and established artists. The London premiere of Ravi Shankar's first ever opera Sukanya, written just before his passing and inspired by his wife and drawing on mythical characters, is an innovative production directed by Leicester Curve Associate Director Suba Das, fusing Indian music with dance choreographed by the Aakash Odedra Company, production by The Royal Opera and the musicians of Southbank Centre's resident Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra (19 May). Powerful and innovative dance includes Conditions of Carriage - The Jumping project, a unique dance experience choreographed by Preethi Athreya where 10 contemporary performers from across India negotiate the force of gravity on the roof of Royal Festival Hall (21 May), Queen-size, a choreographed duet responding to Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalises homosexuality in India, played out on a charpoy, a traditional Indian bed (19 May) and The Nrityagram Dance Ensemble, one of the world's leading Indian Classical dance companies present their first international collaboration in Sa?hära, a union of two dance traditions that began in temples as ritual performance performed by The Nrityagram Dance Ensemble and The Chitrasena Dance Company (26 May). Southbank Centre's YUVA returns for the sixth year in a vibrant showcase of the best South Asian youth dance from across the country (29 May) and Choreogata, a scratch performance presents new dance works from five talented South Asian choreographers (29 May). Intimate theatre pieces will explore the power of personal stories of family, imigration and diaspora with the UK premiere of No Dogs, No Indians, a powerful new play by poet and playwright Siddhartha Bose (21 May) and the multi-award winning performance Labels, a funny, moving and honest story about mixed heritage and immigration from writer and performer, Joe Sellman-Leava (27 May). Jyoti Dogra's Notes on Chai, a collection of snippets of everyday conversations interwoven with abstract sound explorations attempts to relocate the audience's relationship with the quotidian (25 & 26 May) and The Diary of a Hounslow Girl, a provocative play told through the eyes of a 16-year-old British Muslim girl, highlights the challenges of being brought up as a young woman in a traditional Muslim family alongside the temptations and influences of London (23 - 24 May). The lives of Bangladeshi garment workers are explored in Made, a work in progress performance by Target Theatre Company (24 May) and actor, comedian and YouTube sensation Mawaan Rizwan returns to Alchemy with his brand new show Twerk in Progress, celebrating the profound meaninglessness of life (25 May). The full programme will be announced and on sale later this month.

For more information on ticket onsale dates, visit Southbank Centre's website on southbankcentre.co.uk or call 020 7960 4200.

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