“An exhilarating hour in the presence of six superhero dancers who couldn’t be more utterly human, made of flesh, sweat, muscle and endless striving.”
Hurtling onto the stage with explosive physicality, six performers challenge their physical and mental limits in a genre-bending new work named one of New York Times’ ‘Best Dance Performances of 2022.’
Drawing influences from street dance, synchronised swimming, post-modern dance, tap, football, martial arts and contemporary African forms; Radioactive Practice from award-winning American choreographer Abby Zbikowski and crew, shatters movement expectations and explores our instincts for survival.
With audiences seated on multiple sides, this powerful piece incorporates the work of Sengalese dance artist Momar Ndiaye as dramaturge to interrogate the complexities of contemporary living.
Abby Zbikowski and her company Abby Z and the New Utility create contemporary dance works that pay homage to the effort of living. Zbikowski’s rigorous training in African and Afro-diasporic forms, playing sports and performing manual labour informs her craft.
In 2018 Zbikowski was nominated by Stephen Petronio as a ‘Choreographer of the Future’ for Dance Umbrella’s Four by Four commission. Following the global pandemic, Radioactive Practice now makes its European premiere at Sadler’s Wells as part of Dance Umbrella Festival 2024.
Pre-show playlist
Gallery
About Abby Zbikowski
Credit Maddie McGarvey
Choreographer Abby Zbikowski creates dance works that pay homage to the effort of living and tactics of survival. She founded Abby Z and the New Utility in 2012 with founding members Fiona Lundie and Jennifer Meckley to explore the potential of bodies pushed beyond perceived limits. In 2017 the company premiered abandoned playground to sold-out audiences at Abrons Arts Center in NYC, earning Zbikowski a Juried Bessie Award. They have been presented at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, New York Live Arts, ICA Boston, American Dance Festival and Walker Arts Center. In 2020 Abby was the recipient of an United States Artists Fellowship and is a 2024 Guggenheim Fellow for choreography.
About the company +
Choreographer Abby Zbikowski created Abby Z and the New Utility in 2012 with dancers Fiona Lundie and Jennifer Meckley to experiment with the potential and choreographic possibility of the body being pushed beyond perceived limits, creating a new movement lexicon that triangulates dancing/moving bodies across multiple cultural value systems simultaneously.
In 2016, Abby expanded the company to nine performer/collaborators for her first evening-length commission. abandoned playground premiered to a sold-out run at the Abrons Arts Center in New York in April 2017, leading to Zbikowski being honored with the Juried Bessie Award, and was awarded the inaugural Caroline Hearst Artist in Residence at Princeton University, along with commissions from national and international organisations.
Abby Z and the New Utility have been presented at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, the Boston ICA, 92nd St Y, Movement Research at Danspace Project, Gibney Dance Center, Bard College, New York Live Arts, and the Fusebox Festival in Austin, Texas, among others. In 2021 the company was granted residency support at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio to rebuild work following a year long pandemic shutdown. Currently, they are working out of Columbus and New York City with collaborators locally, nationally, and internationally.
Cast & Creative +
- Abby Zbikowski
Choreographer / Director - Indya Childs, Fiona Lundie, Mya McClellan, Jennifer Meckley, Benjamin Roach, jinsei sato
Performers / Collaborators - Fiona Lundie, Jennifer Meckley
Rehearsal Directors - Momar Ndiaye
Dramaturg - Jon Harper
Lighting Designer - Sarah Chapin
Touring Technical Manager - Matthew Peyton Dixon
Original Music
Credits +
Presented by Dance Umbrella and Sadler’s Wells. Supported by The Linbury Trust.
The creation of Radioactive Practice was supported in part by a commission from New York Live Arts’ Live Feed Residency program with additional support from the Joseph and Joan Cullman Foundation for the Arts, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council with special thanks to Council Member Corey Johnson, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, the Jerome Robbins Foundation, the Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, the Scherman Foundation, and the Shubert Foundation.
Radioactive Practice is a National Performance Network/Visual Artist Network (NPN/VAN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by New York Live Arts, Dance Place, American Dance Festival, Wexner Center for the Performing Arts and NPN/VAN. The Creation & Development Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information: www.npnweb.org.
Radioactive Practice is commissioned by ADF with support from the Doris Duke/SHS Foundations Award for New Works. Additional commissioning funds provided by the Caroline Hearst Choreographer-In-Residence Program at Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts, Dance Umbrella’s Four by Four program, United States Artists Fellowship, the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and the Wexner Center for the Arts.
Venue & Access +
Venue
Address
Rosebery Avenue
Clerkenwell
London EC1R 4TN
Sadler’s Wells has been located in Islington, near Angel, since 1683. The site has two theatres; Sadler’s Wells Theatre and the Lilian Baylis Studio.
Getting there
By Bus
Numbers 19, 38 and 341 travel from the West End to the theatre’s own bus stop. Many buses travel from Waterloo, Liverpool Street, Euston and Kings Cross stations to the Angel.
By Tube
Angel (Northern Line City Branch) is a 250-metre walk from Sadler’s Wells. Trains run every few minutes northbound to Kings Cross and Euston, and southbound to Bank and London Bridge.
By Bike
There are plenty of bike racks outside and opposite the theatre. There are several Cycle Hire stations within 5 minutes walk.
By Car
There are no turns into St. John St from Pentonville, City and Goswell Roads. The easiest route is from Pentonville Road into the west side of Claremont Square and down Amwell Street.
Access information
Sadler’s Wells commits to making their spaces and artistic programme accessible.
Visit Sadler’s Wells website for detailed access information.
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