Le Patin Libre: Vertical Influences, London
The experimental Canadian ice-dance company makes its London debut in a new double bill that challenges every convention of traditional figure skating. The five members of Le Patin Libre (Free Skate) Collective are all prize-winning competitors but as a group they started out performing on frozen ponds and canals in their home town of Montreal. They aimed to forge a whole new connection with their public, which they develop further in this work for the 2014 Dance Umbrella programme, which has the audience actually seated on the ice.
Alexandra Palace, N22, Tue to 31 Oct
Thomas Adès: See The Music, Hear The Dance, London
The second subject of the Wells’ excellent Composer Series is Thomas Adès, one of this century’s most fertile sources for contemporary dance music. The mixed bill features two new creations: a trio exploring obsession and transformation choreographed by Alexander Whitley to Adès’s Piano Quintet, and an epically scaled response to Adès’s Polaris by the magnificent Crystal Pite. Completing the programme is Wayne McGregor’s Outlier, plus the Karole Armitage duet Life Story, which is based on words by Tennessee Williams.
Sadler’s Wells, EC1, Thu to 1 Nov
