DASH05

DASH ARTS presents

DASH 05: a new season of music, theatre, dance and visual art for London

September 2005 sees the launch of a season of work by contemporary Jewish artists from the Middle-East, Europe, America and the UK.

The season offers a rare chance to experience the vivid and dynamic work of a new generation, showcased at some of London’s most exciting venues. The season will offer music, theatre, art, dance, photography, film and debate – work that is international, diverse and cross-disciplinary; politically-engaged and rooted in the here and now.

DASH 05 is co-directed by two of the London art scene’s most dynamic producers – Josephine Burton and Tim Supple. A former Artistic Director of the Young Vic, Tim Supple is a director of theatre, opera and film, who has created work for the National Theatre, the RSC, the ROH and Channel 4. Tim has directed extensively abroad including in Berlin, New York, Norway, Tel Aviv and India. Josephine Burton is the founder and Creative Director of YaD Arts, a consultancy and production house that has created arts and education projects nationally and internationally, including, most recently, the Barbican, the ICA, the South Bank Centre, tours of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland and the Kennedy Center in Washington.

Josephine and Tim have a clear vision: “Dash Arts is about collaboration, investigation and understanding. It runs across art-forms, traditions and nations. Every year we will bring artists together from different continents to create new work for the UK. DASH 05 will surprise and delight audiences with the vitality, range and bold curiosity of contemporary Jewish artists."

DASH 05 launches on 13th September with a blistering contemporary classical concert, Elida, at LSO St Luke’s – featuring the premiere of a collaboration by Czech star Iva Bittova , who wowed London audiences during the Barbican’s X Bloc Reunion in 2003, with the internationally-renowned New York-based Bang on a Can All Stars.

Also in September, an exhibition of radical new Israeli photography, Uncovered, opens at The Menier Gallery. Next door The Menier Chocolate Factory will premiere 'What We Did To Weinstein', the fierce new play by North Londoner Ryan Craig. In October, three remarkable live art events will inhabit Hackney's 291 Gallery featuring artists including Marisa Carnesky and Sigalit Landau while La Scala is the venue for Balkan Beat Box, an event which brings together electronic and acoustic musicians from New York, Israel and Europe including Oi Va Voi, the Dohl Foundation and the Bollywood Brass Band.

In November, Israel's most important young choreographer, Yasmeen Godder, will bring two new works to The Place. Throughout the month there will be a number of unmissable late-night gigs at Momo's in Regent's Street.

DASH 05 will climax on 3rd December at the ICA with a wild performance of Jewish Gypsy Punk from New York's Gogol Bordello.

Throughout the season there will be a series of debates with our artists sharing the platform with interesting figures in the arts, literature and politics while students, young artists and audiences will be able to participate in events in art and photography, dance, theatre and music.

The full programme will be available from end of July at www.dasharts.org.uk

notes to editors:

DASH 05 is one aspect of the work of DASH ARTS, which creates new theatre, music, dance and visual art for the UK, work that connects artists, cultures and cities from different art forms, traditions and continents, and which nurtures investigation, collaboration and understanding.

DASH 05 is the first of what DASH ARTS hope will be regular seasons bringing new work to London, initially rooted in the work and concerns of Jewish artists.

Plans for 2006 include UK and international tours of the Indian 'Midsummer Night's Dream' and 'Beasts and Beauties' – a theatrical collection of eight classic European folk tales, originally created in Norway and re-created to great acclaim at the Bristol Old Vic in Bristol Old Vic.