The Place

The line up for the Semi-Finals for The Place Prize for dance, sponsored by Bloomberg, has been announced. The 16 entrants competing for the biggest prize in British dance will premiere their works at The Place's Robin Howard Dance Theatre in September.

The Semi-Finals feature four mixed bills, each including four newly created works (Sat 15; Tue 18; Thu 20; Sat 22 September), encompassing a wide range of contemporary styles, and reflecting the diversity of today's British contemporary dance scene. Ahead of the Semi-Finals, the 16 pieces will preview at The Place from Thu 6 to Thu 13 September.

Three of the four works that will be chosen to go through to the Finals, in April 2013, are selected by a panel of dance experts, chaired by Eddie Nixon, Director of Theatre and Artist Development at The Place. The fourth finalist piece will be the most popular one as voted by the audience, over the course of Semi-Finals. The four finalists for The Place Prize for dance will be announced following the last Semi-Final performance on Sat 22 September.

The judges for the Place Prize for dance Semi-finals 2012 are:

Roberto Casarotto, Artistic Director, Operaestate Festival Veneto (It)
Sarah Crompton, Chief Arts Editor, The Daily Telegraph
Jonzi D, Artistic Director, Breakin' Convention
Siobhan Davies, Artistic Director, Siobhan Davies Dance
Stine Nilsen, Co-Artistic Director, Candoco Dance Company

The Finals, which will be judged by a different panel, will see the four works competing for their chance to win a £35,000 in prize money (Wed 17 to Sat 27 April 2013).

The Place Prize, sponsored by Bloomberg, is the biggest private source of commissions for new short works in British dance. By the end of this edition, it will have enabled the creation of 92 original pieces of choreography, many of which have remained in the artists' repertoire, and have been toured in theatres and festivals nationally and internationally. The Place Prize has already invested over £1m in new British dance, and has brought leading artists, including Rafael Bonachela, Hofesh Shechter, Nina Rajarani, Adam Linder and Ben Duke & Raquel Mesenguer (Lost Dog), among others, to international attention.

Line Up
Sat 15 September 
    Moreno Solinas, Life Is a Carnival
    Riccardo Buscarini, Athletes
    Tony Adigun, The Lake
    Joe Moran, Obverse
Tue 18 September
    Mamoru Iriguchi, One Man Show
    Dog Kennel Hill Project (Ben Ash), Execute Now
    h2dance (Hanna Gillgren & Heidi Rustgaard), Duet
    Rick Nodine,Dead Gig
 Thu 20 September
    Nina Kov, Copt
    bgroup (Ben Wright), A short lived alteration of an existing situation
    Neil Paris, The Devil's Mischief
    Darren Ellis, Revolver
Sat 22 September
    Goddard Nixon (Jonathan Goddard and Gemma Nixon), Third
    Seke Chimutengwende, The Time Travel Piece
    Robbie Synge, Flux
    Eva Recacha, The Wishing Well

Listings
The Place Prize for dance, sponsored by Bloomberg
Previews: Thu 6 - Thu 13 September 2012; Tickets £12 (conc. £9)
Semi-Finals: Sat 15 - Sat 22 September 2012; Tickets £ 17 (conc. £14)
Performance start: 8pm
Address: The Place: Robin Howard Dance Theatre, 17 Duke's Road, London WC1H 9PY
Nearest tube: Kings Cross St Pancras, Euston Square
Box Office: www.theplace.org.uk / 020 7121 1100

Contacts
For further information, use of images, interviews, please contact:
Marta Bogna, Press and Media Manager at The Place
020 7121 1025/
TW: @theplacelondon; #placeprize