Dance Umbrella announces the UK premiere of Oona Doherty’s new work Navy Blue at Sadlers Wells!

Award-winning choreographer Oona Doherty makes her Dance Umbrella return with a Sadler’s Wells debut following critically acclaimed productions Hard to Be Soft (named Best Dance Show of 2019 by The Guardian) and Hope Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus (also included as part of Sadler’s Wells and BBC Arts’ Dancing Nation series).

Using her distinctive and visceral choreographic style, Doherty creates an unsettling atmosphere for latest work Navy Blue as a dark night descends and a group of 12 dancers generate a sense of dread, trapped within a destructive algorithm. Featuring music from Sergeï Rachmaninoff and Jamie xx this compelling new piece considers where we have been and where we are heading, as it urgently appeals for societal change.

Dance Umbrella Artistic Director Freddie Opoku-Addaie said ‘We’re thrilled to get our first show for 2022 announced. After her captivating 2019 festival debut travelling Zone 1 -3, it’s great to be partnering with Sadler’s Wells to see Oona’s work on London’s biggest contemporary dance stage. We look forward to announcing the rest of this year’s pulsating festival programme across our global city in June - watch this space.’

Doherty is a Big Pulse Dance Alliance selected artist and Associate Artist at Dublin Dance Festival. Her ambitious work has drawn international attention and in 2021 Doherty was named winner of the Venice Biennale Danza Silver Lion Award. Doherty has collaborated with numerous artists, recently creating music videos with Jamie xx and Rubber Bandits.

Oona Doherty has been performing dance-theatre internationally since 2010 with companies including: TRASH (NL), Abattoir Fermé (BE), Veronika Riz (IT), Emma Martin/ United Fall (ROI), Enda Walsh and Landmark Productions (ROI).Doherty’s ground-breaking choreography has earned her multiple awards and prestigious opportunities both in Ireland and abroad. Her solo work Hope Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus (2015) earnt her Tiger Dublin Fringe Festival Best Performer Award in 2016 and won the Total Theatre Dance Award at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017. Her first group piece Hard to Be Soft – A Belfast Prayer was voted no.1 UK dance show of 2019 by The Guardian. In 2019 she created Lady Magma: The Birth of a Cult and 2021 saw her first collaboration with (La) Horde, collective at the helm for Ballet Nationale de Marseille (FR).

Oona Doherty was awarded the Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale Danza in 2021.

5th May 2022

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