Four by Four Commissions

In 2018 all three of Dance Umbrella’s Artistic Directors – Val Bourne CBE, Betsy Gregory and Emma Gladstone – invited an established artist from their time at the helm to nominate a ‘choreographer of the future’ as part of a new commissioning project, Four by Four, to celebrate Dance Umbrella’s 40th anniversary. Four by Four is a transformational intervention for these young artists as they emerge as dance makers and create a piece of repertoire which, after premiering in London, is then available for touring worldwide.

To change and to diversify audiences for dance in the future, Four by Four disrupts the top-down approach to curation, introducing more creation and risk into our programme. It gives four artists, previously unknown to DU, a platform at one of the world’s leading dance festivals. Their fresh perspectives will help us continue to attract new and younger attendees for dance while providing bold work for established audiences.

The artists selected for Four by Four:

Mythili Prakash – nominated by Akram Khan
Georgia Vardarou – nominated by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker
Jon Maya Sein – nominated by Rocío Molina
Abby Zbikowski – nominated by Stephen Petronio

Thanks to your generous funding and support, we presented two new works at the 2019 Dance Umbrella festival from our first two Four by Four artists: Here and Now by Mythili Prakash, which premiered at Fairfield Halls and Why Should It Be More Desirable … ? by Georgia Vardarou at the Lilian Baylis Studio, Sadler’s Wells.

A specially filmed version of Abby Zbikowski‘s Radioactive Practice will premiere at Dance Umbrella Festival 2022. Watch the film online with a Pay What You Can Digital Pass, 7-31 October. Learn more