BalletBoyz promise “bold, boisterous and beautiful” for Horsham

BalletBoyz founders Michael Nunn and William Trevitt

Eight young dancers will feature in an explosion of mesmeric dance, fused with the witty and distinctive BalletBoyz trademark use of film and behind the scenes content.

Winners of numerous awards across the world, BalletBoyz are regarded as one of the most cheekily original and innovative forces in dance, thrilling audiences and critics with their unique style.

The show Deluxe features work by some of the world’s most exciting artists including choreographer Xie Xin, composer Jiang Shaofeng, Punchdrunk’s Maxine Doyle and jazz musician and composer Cassie Kinoshi of the Mercury-nominated SEED Ensemble.

Michael Nunn, who founded the company with William Trevitt, said: “We have just done a few dates on this tour so far so we will wait and see how it goes.

“Nationally people are saying that audiences are down about 50 per cent but I think we are doing OK at the moment. I do think eventually people will come back but people are quite rightly still a little bit cautious about being out in crowds and also you’ve got the situation that is going on in Ukraine. People have not got their minds on theatre really.

“We had just started this tour when we had the first lockdown. We were three or four performances in and we were in Leicester when the news came out that everything was going to be shutting down.

“We lost about 30 to 35 dates but we were able to quickly adapt. We did dance films and we suddenly started making more online content. We also helped other companies so we did manage to keep ourselves busy.

“We just managed and hopefully this year and next year will help us get back to normal. We did lose an enormous amount of money. We had already booked all our trucking and all our lighting and all the stuff we needed for the tour. Some of them were able to refund. Some of them were not able to. We did lose a lot of money but we did get a little bit from the Cultural Recovery Fund as well. Really we just hunkered down. And really I just felt for all the free-lancers that were not able to do what we do. A lot of the dancers had to find other jobs. They were doing delivery jobs and all sorts of things but it is all looking much better now.

“But it did give us time to take stock and think about what we do a bit. As a company we were working with a lot of dancers for a long time.

“We relied on them and they relied on us but this gave us an opportunity to really refresh the company.

“This is an all-new company for us now which gives us a whole new vocabulary and vision, I think. I would not say that it is better. They are all about the same ages and standards, but they are coming to the work fresh. They did not create the work. They are just coming to it now. I do understand that times are hard for so many people. People are trying to pay their gas bills and are worried about the cost of living and I suppose the fact is that going to the theatre is just not the top of the list but somehow the arts have to survive in this country and they always do, no matter how much we are cut down.

“And the good thing is that dance is getting more and more popular with more and more people taking part. We’ve been touring now for nearly 20 years but it still feels like yesterday.

“We arrive at a place and it still feels very fresh and even if we arrive there and the audience is only 50 per, then the chances are still that some of them are completely new to us and who knows, maybe the audience will be 75 per cent next time.

“You’ve just got to keep hoping.”

www.balletboyz.com

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