Jonathan Burrows
Type of work
Contemporary dance
Jonathan Burrows was born in 1960. He started his career as a soloist with the Royal Ballet in London, but formed the Jonathan Burrows Group in 1988 to present his own work. The company travelled widely and gained an international reputation with pieces such as Stoics (1991), Very (1992), Our (1994), The Stop Quartet (1996) and Things I Don't Know (1997). Since 2000 Jonathan has worked with other performers. In 2001 he presented Weak Dance Strong Questions, a collaboration with the Dutch theatre director Jan Ritsema, followed in 2002 by Both Sitting Duet with the composer Matteo Fargion. These pieces toured to 14 and 17 countries respectively, including Brazil, Canada, Japan and the USA. Since then he has worked again with Matteo Fargion on The Quiet Dance, which opened in Munich in 2005 and began its touring in Brussels and London. Other high profile collaborators include Sylvie Guillem's performance of his choreography in Adam Robert's film Blue Yellow in 1996, and his invitation in 1997 to choreograph for William Forsythe's Ballet Frankfurt. He was an associate artist 1992- 2002 at Kunstencentrum Vooruit in Gent, Belgium, and was Artist-In-Residence at London's South Bank Centre 1998/9. In 2002 Jonathan was given an award by the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts In New York, in recognition for his ongoing contributions to contemporary dance. Both Sitting Duet was the winner of a 2004 New York Dance and Performance 'Bessie' Award.
Review extracts
of Speaking Dance
"Absurdist self-indulgence you'll be thinking, but what you see is revelation
and joy.' The Evening Standard
"Captivating, inscrutable , dazzling' The Daily Telegraph
"Burrows and Fargion seem to have got in touch with some basic and fundamental truths about relationships - between each other and between themselves as performers and us in the audience. This is what, in my view, makes 'Speaking Dance' such a fine work." criticaldance.com, October 2006
'This is 50 minutes of highly intelligent fun' The Independent On Sunday
of The Quiet Dance
'A surprisingly endearing conceptual comedy' The Times, October 2005
'How refreshing to encounter modern dance promising something other than bodies
in high velocity, bullet-like action...' The Guardian
of Both Sitting Duet
'It was certainly one of the funniest and most ingenious dances seen in New York
in a long time.' The New York Times
'The great thing about imaginative dancemaking is that it reminds you not just of the possibilities of the body in motion, but of the potentialities of life itself. I emerged from the French premiere of 'Both Sitting Duet' in a veritable glow, my world expanded, its walls tumbling down.' The danceinsider.com
'An unspectacular spectacle.' Financieel Economische Tidj, Belgium
Production highlights
Production by Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion:
Speaking Dance (2006)
Choreographer Jonathan Burrows and composer Matteo Fargion present the final
part of a trilogy of performances, which began in 2002 with Both Sitting Duet and continued last year with The Quiet Dance. This latest piece continues their gentle exploration into how the relationship
between music and dance is perceived, and the fragile but permeable boundaries
between the two worlds. Their performances are a formal but humourous meditation
on the nature of communication, and the relationship between each other and with
the audience.
Production by Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion:
The Quiet Dance (2005)
Choreographer Jonathan Burrows and composer Matteo Fargion are among the most
widely travelled of UK performance artists and have gained an international reputation
for the intelligence, humour and musicality of their shows. At the heart of their
work is a love of rhythmic form and the quiet intensity of communication this
allows them to share with each other and with the audience. The Quiet Dance is just what it says it is.
The Quiet Dance is co-produced by Dance 4 Nottingham, Dance Umbrella London, Joint Adventures
Munich, Kaaitheater Brussels and supported by Arts Council England and the Jonathan
Burrows Group.
Production by Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion:
Both Sitting Duet (2002)
Sitting on chairs drawn up close to the audience, and with music scores at their
feet, the two men draw us into a silent, unexpected and often funny conversation
for two pairs of arms.
Weak Dance Strong Questions (2001), a collaboration with Dutch theatre director Jan Ritsema.
Contact
Nigel Hinds
86 Yoakley Road
London N16 0BB
tel 07818 067044
nigel@nigelhinds.co.uk
Image:
Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion in The Quiet Dance. Photo: Chris Nash
