Dance International Glasgow set to return to Tramway

Just some of the many higlights include:

• A slow motion, chaotic dance party at the end of a music festival.

• The Royal Ballet’s first black ballet dancer, in a work exploring black masculinity in the media and homophobia.

• Legendary New York artist Trajal Harrell in an autobiographical solo and new work from Judson Theatre Dance icon, Deborah Hay.

• Neurodivergent parents exploring a post- neurodivergent future.

• An emotional exploration of the Rwandan genocide, to work interrogating the bodies lived experience under occupation in Ramallah.

• Post human bodies moving in the interface between virtual and physical reality.

• A raucous collision of pop and Gaelic wake culture.

• Joyous subversions of societal expectations of the ageing body.

• Children taking over the stage in a show exploring the complexities of grief, celebratory dance and resistance on the streets of Pollokshields.

• And a Brazilian street-festival inspired Ceilidh!

Dance International Glasgow (DIG) is a biennial festival of dance for the city, with a programme that breaks new ground, featuring a clutch of new commissions, and a rich mix of established and rising stars of the dance scene.

From here at home, and as far afield as France, Australia, Canada, Palestine, Belgium, Nigeria and the US, the festival presents a cornucopia of exciting Tramway new work commissions, and Scottish and UK premieres.

Amongst the many highlights of DIG 2019 is the Scottish premiere of one of Gisèle Vienne’s most powerful and spectacular works thus far, Crowd, as part of a collaboration with the Institut français du Royaume Uni as part of their FranceDance UK Festival, with whom we also present legendary choreographer Emanuel Gat in a new work from Scottish Dance Theatre.

Colette Sadler returns to Tramway for the first time since the inaugural DIG programme, and internationally acclaimed Trajal Harrell presents a one-off performance.

Deborah Hay of Judson Theatre Dance works with Nora Invites to bring new work Where Home Is.

There will also be main stage performances from local artists such as V/DA, whose performance incorporating sound visuals and choreography subverts the hyper sexualised notions of African and Caribbean dances.

Rob Heaslip’s work Endling, due to take place in the iconic main theatre, is a colourful collision of popular and folk culture exploring the raucousness of Gaelic wake rituals.

The Tramway-produced festival is dedicated to pushing dance performance in new directions; our Dance in the Gallery strand will see artists including Louise Ahl, Lucy Suggate, Farah Saleh, and Zadie Xa present work in gallery spaces throughout the venue. DIG has also invited a selection of local artists and collectives to create responses to Tramway’s new installation from Chicago-based visual artist Nick Cave. Until (3 August – 24 November) is a spectacular exhibit that coincides with DIG, and some of these newly commissioned responses will be presented in the main gallery as part of the programme.

A dedicated off-site strand will further cement DIG’s commitment to finding new spaces and places for dance. This includes Moving Out, a collaboration between Tramway and The Work Room, which has commissioned two choreographers to adapt work for public sites and outdoor contexts.

These will be presented during the festival as interventions in the local area of Pollokshields. Also as part of this strand, New York artist NIC Kay will ask ‘Can resistance be choreographed?’ in a site responsive performance, pushit!! that will take place on the streets of Glasgow.

Tramway’s Senior Performance Curator, LJ Findlay-Walsh, said: “Tramway is thrilled to be bringing the third edition of DIG to the city. Dance International Glasgow will be a month-long journey through a spectrum of performance from 5 continents, alongside our most vibrant Scottish artists: Spirited works across text, film and installation, all with movement at the core.

“Tramway is our hub but we find ourselves across the city with large scale, era-defining works on main stages and gallery spaces, to outdoor work that animates the urban canvas of Glasgow. We see DIG as a meeting point that allows us to embrace everything from reckless abandon to our immersion in the quiet and considered, and through the body we embark on a celebration and exploration of global viewpoints and lived experience, unpicking the complexities of the 21st century.”

Dance International Glasgow 2019 will run from October 4 to 26. Tickets are on sale now at DI Glasgow