Let’s Dance International Frontiers (LDIF) is the annual dance festival in Leicester which opens every year on April 29th (International Dance Day) bringing diversity to the forefront with a strong programme of performances, workshops, films and discussion featuring dancers and choreographers from around the world.
Due to the current restrictions imposed on mass gatherings as a result of Coronavirus (COVID-19), the physical festival for LDIF20 will be postponed. However, in order to mark LDIF’s tenth anniversary this year, Serendipity, the producers of LDIF, is proud to present ALTERNATIVE LDIF20, a digital festival of dance, from April 29th – May 16th.
Pawlet Brookes, Artistic Director and CEO of Serendipity, (left) says: “LDIF is all about connections. For the last nine years, this festival has fostered creative collaborations and brought together the international dance ecology. We are excited to embrace the technologies that allow us to stay connected globally, and to continue sharing the incredible work of these artists in the face of an unprecedented situation that is impacting people around the world. We hope that Alternative LDIF20 will enable those missing out on cultural experiences to enjoy a diverse programme celebrating international dance, that can be accessed globally – safely and for free.”
ALTERNATIVE LDIF20 will feature dance performances, speakers, an online exhibition, film screenings, the launch of Serendipity’s podcast, and an enticing look behind the scenes with LDIF20 artists. The finale will be a collaborative programme allowing dancers from around the world to come together and showcase the power of movement. In celebration of LDIF’s ten-year history, the festival will also see the launch of a brand new book, LDIF: 10 Years in the Making written by Pawlet Brookes with a foreword by Gladys M. Francis, Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Georgia State University in the US and poetry by Norwegian dance practitioner Thomas Prestø.
Dance Dialogues is a daily programme presenting the thinking and practices of artists, choreographers and academics from the African and African Caribbean diaspora who have made a significant impact in shaping the international dance ecology. Talks will be aired daily throughout the festival at 11.00am BST. Featured speakers include Kyle Abraham, S. Ama Wray, Gladys M Francis, Thomas Prestø, Nora Chipaumire, Chester Morrison, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Ronald K Brown, L’Antoinette Stines, Joan Myers Brown.
Artists originally scheduled to appear in person at LDIF20 will be sharing more about their work in advance of their rescheduled performances. Alice Sheppard, award-winning disabled dancer and choreographer, will present a short video of her work in progress, Where Good Souls Fear, on Thursday 7 May 2020 at 7.00pm BST.
Annabel Guérédrat and Henri Tauliaut, of the Martinique-based Artincidence, will share their documentary Annabel the Rebel which explores Guérédrat’s practice and work, and the importance of establishing creative dialogue within and beyond the Caribbean. This will be presented as a double bill with Thoughts from FIAP, created by Serendipity CEO and Artistic Director, Pawlet Brookes, on Saturday 9 May 2020 at 7.00pm BST.
Yinka Esi Graves is sharing her developing work in progress, Disappearing Act, with a series of short films captured via performances and residencies from the last 12 months. There will be a performance of a new piece of work by Tabanka Dance Ensemble, shared online for the very first time, seamlessly merging ancestral movements, culturally contextualised vocabulary and Africana movement sensibilities, on Friday 8 May 2020 at 7.00pm BST.
The festival will culminate with the debut of a collective dance short film. The collaborative work, 30 Seconds of Freedom, will be comprised of thirty-second bursts of movement submitted by dancers, artists and enthusiasts from around the world. This is an opportunity to be part of the festival, and to take a step outside of reality to breathe, move and connect at a time of social distancing.
LET’S DANCE INTERNATIONAL FRONTIERS will return in its physical format in October 2020 for the LDIF20 Finale.
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Alternative LDIF Schedule – launching online 29 April 2020 on www.ldif.co.uk
LDIF20 Launch
29 April 2020, 7.00pm (BST)
Celebrating International Dance Day, Serendipity will host an innovative ONLINE launch for Alternative LDIF20. By logging onto www.ldif.co.uk viewers will be able to catch the premiere of a short documentary about the publication of a unique new book: LDIF: 10 Years in the Making, capturing the journey and legacy of Let’s Dance International Frontiers and the impact the festival has made on the international dance ecology. Plus, the launch of the online exhibition Black Men in Dance: Masculinity in Motion.
Black Men in Dance: Masculinity in Motion
29 April 2020 – 16 May 2020
Through stills, interviews and videos, Black men in dance describe in their own words how masculinity is portrayed and perceived in various genres of dance.
Dance Dialogues
Tuesday 5 – Saturday 16 May 2020
Daily throughout the festival, 11:00am (BST)
Featuring archival footage from past conferences, Dance Dialogues presents the thinking and practices of dancers, choreographers and companies from the African and African Caribbean diaspora who have made a significant impact in shaping the international dance ecology. The Dance Dialogues programme features speakers Kyle Abraham, S. Ama Wray, Gladys M Francis, Thomas Prestø, Nora Chipaumire, Chester Morrison, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Ronald K Brown, L’Antoinette Stines, Joan Myers Brown
Serendipity Podcast Launch
Tuesday 5 May 2020, 7:00pm (BST)
Serendipity launch their new podcast, exploring the issues, stories and people behind LDIF.
LDIF20 Short Film Screening
Wednesday 7 May 2020 4:00pm (BST)
Enjoy a diverse programme of short films exploring dance, storytelling, identity and expression. Through flamenco, street and contemporary dance forms, these short films use dance to express fear, sadness, joy, pride and more. Following the screening, take the opportunity to delve deeper through a discussion of the work.
Featuring: The Man Who Travelled Nowhere In Time (2019), SAETA: The Mourning (2016), PRIDE.forms. (2018), EXILE (2017), HOME (2019), Midnight Bloom (2017), Lil Buck with Icons of Modern Art.
Alice Sheppard: Where Good Souls Fear
Thursday 7 May 2020 7:00pm (BST)
Award-winning choreographer, Alice Sheppard, creates movement that challenges conventional understandings of disabled and dancing bodies. Where Good Souls Fear is an investigation of colonial excess, provoking questions about who or what is too much. Ranging from spoken memories of growing up to lyrical floorwork to an explosion of furious movement, Where Good Souls Fear challenges our notions of propriety for queer, Black, disabled women. Get a unique insight into the development of this work, ahead of the performance in LDIF21.
Tabanka Dance Ensemble
Friday 8 May 2020 7:00pm (BST)
Seamlessly merging ancestral movements, culturally contextualised vocabulary and Africana movement sensibilities. Tabanka Dance Ensemble present a new work, shared online for the first time.
Annabel the Rebel
Saturday 9 May 2020 7:00pm (BST)
Annabel Guérédrat and Henri Tauliaut from Artincidence present their short documentary Annabel the Rebel, exploring their artistic practice of live art and movement in Martinique. Followed by Thoughts from FIAP, a short film created by Pawlet Brookes following her trip to the festival last year, and the importance of establishing creative dialogue within and beyond the Caribbean.
Please note this film contains some nudity. In French with English Subtitles.
Yinka Esi Graves: The Disappearing Act (Work in Progress)
Tuesday 12 – Friday 15 May 2020, 7:00pm (BST)
With a short film each evening, flamenco dancer Yinka Esi Graves explores the constant play between being seen and invisibility. This work is created as a response to sites in Spain once connected to their Afro-Andalusian population. Although now forgotten, it is through this absence that Graves explores her physicality.
30 Seconds of Freedom
Saturday 16 May 2020, 7:00pm (BST)
Inspired with conversations had in with artists in the midst of the current situation, 30 Seconds of Freedom is a collective dance short bringing together dancers from around the world in an expression of movement, a step outside of reality and a breath in a time of social distancing.
Anyone is welcome to submit 30 seconds of movement, in any style or genre. Movements can be grand or small. Films should be made in a horizontal aspect ratio and emailed to 30secondsoffreedom@serendipity-uk.com by Monday 27 April 2020.