Jamaal Burkmar, the 2016 winner of Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures Choreographer Award, will present three World Premieres at the Platform Theatre at Central Saint Martins London from Wednesday 21 September to Saturday 24 September 2016, with press night on Thursday 22 September 2016. The triple bill features Jamaal Burkmar Dance’s “16 BARS”, “STORM” on Shoreditch Youth Dance Company and “THE CALM” on the newly formed Batch Ensemble.
“16 BARS” has been created for Jamaal Burkmar Dance with original music score by Otis Jones. Surrounded, haunted by visions and voices we are slowly taken into the recess of our mortal man’s mind. “16 BARS” will be performed by Robyn Byrne, Lucia Chocarro, Emilie Karlsen, Ashleigh Musk, Natasha Jane Smith, Clementine Telesforte and Zane ‘Skitza’ Burkmar.
“STORM” has been created for Shoreditch Youth Dance Company. Much like the Windows Media Player Visualizer I remember, the young dancers will rise, fall, twist, swirl, cut, and slash their way through every note of the music. “STORM” will be performed by Joey Barton, Dylan Canton, Gaby Conn, Molly Danter, Sebastien Kapps, Jacob Lang, Harry Ondrak-Wright, John Sawney and Jim Scott-Berry.
“THE CALM” has been created for Batch Ensemble. Two inherently different yet similar memories separated by 30 years: My father sat in front of the radio with a compact cassette and me sat in front of my laptop with limewire and a Hard Drive. “THE CALM” will be performed by Jordan Ajadi, Solomon Berrio-Allen, Seamus Condon, Kassi O-j and Leon Poulton.
Artistic Director of New Adventures, Matthew Bourne, said: “Jamaal is an exceptional new voice. His exploration of movement through eclectic music choices coupled with his desire to share his personal journey through his choreography make him an exciting and deserving winner.”
Jamaal Burkmar is a graduate from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance and an alumnus of ACE Youth Dance and Music in Birmingham, where he began his dance journey back in 2005. During his time as an undergraduate, Jamaal enjoyed great success particularly with his first piece of work, “Ocean”. It was performed in various venues across the North of England, before then being reworked on Verve, the postgraduate company of NSCD. This commission marked the first time an undergraduate had been given the opportunity to work with the company and led to “Ocean” being toured across the UK and Europe alongside 3 other works by Lea Anderson, Ben Duke and Goddard/Nixon.
In 2013, Jamaal was commissioned by ACE dance and music to create a piece on their youth group, to be showcased in both Birmingham and Nottingham. Most recently, he was commissioned to work on a piece at the Shawbrook School, Ireland, with a group of 9 dancers. Jamaal created a piece entitled “Istanbul”, which was toured in Slovenia and performed in Ireland in August 2014.
Headshots: Danilo Moroni
