Image of choreographers outside The Place celebrating The Place's 40th anniversary

Dozens of the contemporary choreographers who have made the biggest impact on dance in Britain over the past 40 years gathered at The Place today, recreating Art Kane’s famous “Great Day in Harlem” 1958 photo of jazz musicians.

As the original photo has come to symbolise the first full flowering of a nascent art form in America, so the new photo serves to illustrate the maturity and diverse success of contemporary dance in Britain.

The gathering was part of The Place’s celebration of its 40th birthday this year. At the centre of the photograph is Robert Cohan, who was invited by Robin Howard to leave the Martha Graham Company in New York and come to London to establish “a distinctively British form of contemporary dance.” Cohan became the founding artistic director of The Place.

Also captured in the picture are Richard Alston, Cohan’s successor as artistic director of The Place, and many of the leading figures in the development of British contemporary dance, including Lea Anderson, Mark Baldwin, Matthew Bourne, Christopher Bruce, Siobhan Davies, Anthony van Laast and Wayne McGregor.

The choreographers are joined by pupils from the nearby St George The Martyr Church of England Primary School who are involved in dance education projects organised by The Place, and observed from an upstairs window by some current students of The Place’s London Contemporary Dance School.

The artists pictured in “A Great Day at The Place” are (back – front, left – right):

Mark Baldwin  Luca Silvestrini  Jacky Lansley  Raquel Meseguer

Shobana Jeyasingh  Christopher Bruce  Gaby Agis  Adam Benjamin

Matthew Bourne  Siobhan Davies  Robert Cohan  Richard Alston

Freddie Opoku Addaie  Ben Duke  Sue Maclennan  Laurie Booth  Tom Roden  Christopher Bannerman  Anthony van Laast  Steven Hoggett Wayne McGregor  Mayuri Boonham  Frank Bock  Jasmin Vardimon

Jonzi D  Kate Prince  Lea Anderson  Rosemary Lee  Subathra Subramaniam  Maresa von Stockert  Yael Flexer  Aletta Collins  Scott Graham  Nina Rajarani  Darshan Singh Bhuller  Arthur Pita  Bawren Tavaziva  Martin Lawrance  Adam Linder

pupils from St George The Martyr Church of England Primary School, London

The photo is by Hugo Glendinning.

The Place’s 40th anniversary celebrations continue this week with This is The Place, a newly commissioned show inspired by the performances and artists of The Place and directed by Aletta Collins, which has three performances from Thu 20 – Sat 22 May.

For further information and high res version of the image, contact Tim Wood, Director of Communications on 020 7121 1021 or tim.wood@theplace.org.uk

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