National contemporary dance company ŻfinMalta is setting up for a busy 2016 with a full calendar of projects that include local premieres and performances, education and outreach work, as well as tours that include both the full time company members and the apprentice dancers.

The company will be undertaking a number of foreign engagements.

The company kicked off the new year with the Kreattiv funded project, Dancing Texts, in collaboration with Stella Maris College. During the workshops, English grammar lessons are linked to dance. Tthe aim of the project is to show that dance can be incorporated into many diverse needs. More importantly, the project also aims to expose boys to dance.

A new educational programme, Aspire, has also been launched. The programme presents a series of dance classes/workshops delivered throughout the year by ŻfinMalta’s company members. This programme is targeted to aspiring young dancers chosen from schools from around Malta and Gozo, who would like to pursue a professional career in contemporary dance.

Another outreach programme earmarked for launch later this year is Jump, a project aimed at creating an independent youth dance troupe from the community. This project is funded by Valletta 2018 and will be carried out in collaboration with the Salesian Theatre.

This year, ŻfinMalta will also be leading Big Dance, a world-wide community project. Every year a choreographer from a major dance company is asked to create a short choreography that can be taught to dancers and non-dancers alike. This year’s chosen choreographer is the internationally acclaimed choreographer Akram Khan.

ŻfinMalta, in collaboration with the Dance Studies department at the University of Malta, will be responsible for teaching this year’s choreography to various school students around Malta and Gozo. Students will then have the opportunity to perform the choreography together to an international audience on May 20.

Other education projects include two Toi Toi performances at the Manoel Theatre on March 6 and May 22, as well as Dance 4 All, a series of five three-day residences scheduled throughout the year with various community groups.

ŻfinMalta will also be premiering two new productions. The first one will be a full-length piece entitled Home (choreographed by Mavin Khoo and the company dancers) and will be premiered at the Manoel Theatre on April 29 with a Gozo debut at the Astra Theatre on May 7.

The second production will be a triple bill, Tlieta(3), featuring three choreographies by three female choreographers (Rachel Calleja, Francesca Tranter and Athanasia Kanellopoulou) accompanied by three female composers (Jess Rymer, Veronique Vella and Konstantina Polychronopoulou). Tlieta(3) premieres locally in July.

The company will also be taking part in a number of foreign engagements, heading off to Serbia in April to perform at the 13th Belgrade Dance Festival. Other tours include Palermo (October/November), France (November) and a possible eastern European tour at a later stage.

During the workshops, English grammar lessons are linked to dance. The aim of the project is to show that dance can be incorporated into many diverse needs

This year will also see ŻfinMalta entering into an agreement with two associate partners. Iván Pérez Avilés will act as associate choreographer from now until 2018, while Jose Agudo’s stint lasts until 2017. Both artists will develop a new work within their respective periods with the company.

Pérez will also be restaging his fourth full-length production, Exhausting Space, while Agudo takes on a duet that will premiere internationally. Both associates will also mentor emerging young Maltese choreographers identfied by the Artistic Director of ŻfinMalta.

The company also introduces Niels Plotard as creative resident artist. Plotard will be working directly with the artsitic director to develop elements of film, photography and sound for the company. He will continue to dance in some works within the repertoire and assist the artistic director as repetiteur and choreographic assistant to some works, supporting and co-leading the apprenticeship programme and leading outreach initiatives.

ŻfinMalta’s apprentice dancers will also be engaged in Tennessee Williams’ play The Rose Tattoo, alongside local established and upcoming actors. The play will be performed in Frankfurt as part of the European Cultural Days of the ECB – Malta 2016. The apprentice dancers, alongside artistic director Mavin Khoo, will also be performing in the opera Orphée et Eurydice taking place at the Manoel Theatre in March.

The group will also work in outreach initiatives going into schools and into the community. The aim of the apprenticeship programme is to provide a 10-month development period for dancers who have just graduated from a dance programme and require an first-hand experience of professional life in a company setting.

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