At the end of 2005, Sadler's Wells announced a major creative initiative in association with the Jerwood Charitable Foundation. With an emphasis on collaboration with other art forms, including visual arts, theatre and music, Jerwood Studio has been set up to allow artists the freedom to explore ideas with collaborators outside of tightly schedule production processes. The first year of the Jerwood Studio programme took place during 2006. Now well in its stride, the Jerwood Studio has given rise to many productions and fruitful connections over as the past four years. In our Spring 2010 Season, four productions on the Sadler's Wells stage have come about as a result of the Jerwood Studio support.

The two main strands of activity are cross-art form collaborations that run throughout the year, and a four-day Big Intensive course, held each December for experienced professionals. A third strand is an informal, thrice-yearly meal Dinner Dance introducing a range of artists interested in dance to choreographers and producers, to which over a 100 people have now attended. And finally the most recent, and only public element, is a series of talks under the banner body:language, which take place each autumn in the Lilian Baylis Studio.

The cross-art form collaborations encourage artists to extend the range of those they work with on large-scale projects, both in theatres and off-site. The timing, location, and numbers of artists participating in the research is dictated by the artists involved. Therefore the only real parameter is that these collaborations are intended to explore whether an idea has potential, rather than as a pre-rehearsal to a show, so no performances can be pending.

The Big Intensive, held each year at Sadler's Wells since December 2006, involves with a series of workshops, masterclasses and discussions with accomplished artists both within choreography and from other disciplines. Last year, 19 international artists came from all corners of the world to take part, with very positive results. Another spectacular international line-up will be attending in December 2009.

Artists who have taken part in the Jerwood Studio at Sadler's Wells include Gauri Sharma Tripathi, Nitin Sawnhey, Sue Buckmaster, Arthur Pita, Stephen Clark, Isaac Julien, Russell Maliphant, onedotzero, Akram Khan, Juliette Binoche, Hofesh Shechter, Matthew Bourne, Javier de Frutos, Pet Shop Boys, Matthew Dunster, Flawless, Wanted Posse, Frantic Assembly, Enrique Cabrera, Siobhan Davies, Ruth Little, Liz Lerman, Wayne McGregor, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Shantala Shivalingappa, Maria Pagés, Fin Walker, Michael Keegan-Dolan, Marc Minkowski, Martin Creed, Lone Twin, Daniel Kramer and Frauke Requardt.

Jerwood Charitable Foundation »

Wanted Posse & Flawless
photo: Ben Dowden

Martin Creed
photo: Ben Dowden