Global talent heads to Leicester for major festival of dance

Let’s Dance International Frontiers celebrates dance, cultural diversity and artistic innovation through live performances, workshops and conferences. The festival was founded 16 years ago by its artistic director, Pawlet Brookes MBE.

It features dancers and choreographers from the UK as well as Barbados, Cameroon, Cuba, Gabon, Jamaica, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa, Martinique, Uganda, and the USA. Premieres include Becoming by Tanzanian dancer and artist Samwel Japhet, who will open the festival, and Océan Brun, a duet reflecting on the impact of environmental change, which will be performed by Martinique’s radical Compagnie Kaméléonite.

Pawlet said: “I’m very excited for this year’s festival. We have some thrilling live performances which I think will entertain as much as challenge our ever-growing audiences.”

Talent from Leicester will be celebrated too, including work by Leicester-born West End performer Dak Mashava, who is currently in the cast of Cabaret. Dak has also just become associate artist at the Curve.

The festival will close with the much-anticipated return of the New York based collective, Shamel Pitts|Tribe and the UK debut of Marks of RED, which weaves together exquisite performance with bold visual design.

As founder, chief executive and artistic director of Leicester-based Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage, Pawlet launched Let’s Dance International Frontiers in 2011 to showcase high-quality dance from around the world.

The festival has become a crucial platform for the arts, showcasing more than 340 artists and dance companies including 92 UK premieres and 49 world premieres.

Let’s Dance International Frontiers runs from April 29 to May 9 at the Curve and other city venues.

Visit serendipity-uk.com to book tickets and for more information.