CandoCo dance company bring double bill of works to Floral Pavilion in Wirral

Jan 28 2010 Chester Chronicle

Candoco, the leading contemporary dance company of disabled and non-disabled dancers, brings its UK tour to Wirral this week.

The company will present a dramatic double bill of fierce new work by top choreographers Nigel Charnock and Hofesh Shechter.

Featuring an outstanding company of seven performers, Candoco will present two challenging works of extreme physicality and intense performance punctuated by an eclectic choice of music.

Still by Nigel Charnock and The Perfect Human by Hofesh Shechter, are two contrasting pieces about the human condition, the inside, the outside, the inclusive, the exclusive.

Nigel Charnock, a founder member of DV8, formed his own company in 1995. A maverick performer, he uses different disciplines and media to redefine dance as a genre.

He has a string of internationally acclaimed shows to his name and was artistic director of Helsinki Dance Company 2002 to 2005. He is well known for his unique solo performances including Human Being, Hell Bent, Original Sin and Resurrection.

The Perfect Human choreographer Hofesh Shechter’s debut, Fragments, toured nationally and internationally and won first place in the third Serge Diaghilev choreography competition in Poland.

In 2007 London’s three major dance venues, The Place, Southbank Centre and Sadler’s Wells, collaborated on a unique producing venture, commissioning Hofesh to create his outstanding work, In Your Rooms, which was presented at all three venues.

Hofesh has also collaborated with the Royal Court Theatre when he choreographed Motortown by Simon Stephens and The Arsonists by Max Frisch.

Since its inception in 1991, Candoco has become the UK’s leading contemporary dance company of disabled and non-disabled dancers, through consistent touring, an ambitious policy of working with renowned choreographers and a renowned education programme.

In 2007 co-founder, Celeste Dandeker, retired as artistic director to become founding patron, and was succeeded by former Candoco dancers Pedro Machado and Stine Nilsen. Celeste was awarded the Critics’ Circle De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance in 2007.

Candoco recently created Moving Bodies, a dynamic regional arts development programme funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

Working closely with schools in five UK regions, Moving Bodies will involve primary school pupils, teachers, professional dancers and many more in a bid to continue the pushing of boundaries through contemporary dance.

The company is now project funded by the Learning Skills Council to work with vocational schools on developing accessible vocational training.

CandoCo’s latest double bill can be seen at the Floral Pavilion in New Brighton, Wirral, tomorrow. Ring the box office on 0151 666 0000 or visit www.floralpavilion.com.