Two festivals that will inspire, uplift and get you feeling the groove – you won’t want to miss these two events in Aberdeen.
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Looking for something different to do this October? Put down the remote and get moving with some of Scotland’s most impressive performing arts festivals, brought to you by Citymoves Dance Agency and sound.
Michelle Soto, Citymoves marketing executive said: “The Anatomy Rooms becomes the beating heart of Scotland’s Festival Spirit each October, with Citymoves’ DanceLive Festival 17-20 October and soundfestival 19-27 October; it is definitely ‘The Most Wonderful Time of the Year’ here.
“It is a time when people from all over Aberdeen, and the dance and music communities from across Europe can come together and share the joy of live performance with each other.
“This year’s DanceLive festival explores themes of community, shared-experience, and togetherness in a way that carries on from the community’s warm embrace that we experienced during last year’s festival, and I cannot wait to see the phenomenal musicians who come in for sound too. Who needs a trip to Edinburgh in August when we have such a rich cultural offering right here in Aberdeen!”
Don’t miss Citymoves annual festival of dance from 17-20 October or Sound’s 2024 soundfestival, taking place 19-27 October.
Citymoves presents DanceLive 2024
Citymoves Dance Agency is excited to present its annual festival of dance from Thursday 17 – Sunday 20 October.
In its DanceLive 2024 Festival, Citymoves Dance Agency will showcase creatives that bring an innovative selection of dance performances to venues across Aberdeen. After last year’s festival was unfortunately hampered by Storm Babet, Citymoves is determined to continue its legacy of bringing dance to your doorstep this year.
With a programme supporting local, national, and international artists, DanceLive 2024 showcases work from world-class dance artists and production companies while creating opportunities for audiences to journey into the heart of Aberdeen to witness the joy of dance on their doorstep. The festival features free outdoor community performances, five performances in Cheerz Nightclub, and a mainstage partnership with Aberdeen Performing Arts to bring the Scottish Premiere of NOW from The Jasmin Vardimon Company. Main stage performances feature a variety of locations in Aberdeen and across partner venues while some will take place within their own space at The Anatomy Rooms.
Lynn Shaw, Citymoves DanceLive manager said: “This year’s DanceLive Festival offers a rich array of dance styles, exploration and storytelling, making it a great opportunity to celebrate dance with everyone in Aberdeen.
“DanceLive 2024 is filled with colourful and lively performances ideal for families, adults, and everyone in between. We have created a festival that celebrates connection and honours the longevity of the body and shared human-experience.
“For example, My Friend Selkie welcomes children into the world of folktales and dance, Small Town Boys tells the story of the LGBT+ Community coming together as they face the 1980s AIDs Epidemic, and we have even joined with Aberdeen Performing Arts to present the Scottish Premiere of NOW by Jasmine Vardimon Company, which celebrates their 25th anniversary. And, If you want to get moving there are even company classes to sign up for! There really is something in the programme for everyone.”
Highlights of DanceLive 2024
Small Town Boys by Shaper/Caper| 17-20 October; 20:30 and 19 October; 16:00 at Cheerz
Small Town Boys is an interactive show exploring the escapism of queer nightlife during the 80s AIDS crisis through dance and spoken word. The show beautifully blends lively action and tender vignettes, breathing life back into memories of the time, and all the joy and tragedy they contain. Winner of the Proud Scotland Creative Arts Award 2024.
NOW by Jasmin Vardimon Company | 19 October; 19:30 at His Majesty’s Theatre
This Scottish Premiere comes to DanceLive Festival in Partnership with Aberdeen Performing Arts. NOW celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Jasmin Vardimon Company and reflects on the current moment, the present, the now, and the continuous movement of time.
TREAD by WALKER Movement Theatre Company| 17th of October, 19:00 at The Anatomy Rooms
An empty space, but from its centre comes the cyclic whirring of a standard-size treadmill; this is WALKER Movement Theatre Company’s vehicle for thought provocation. TREAD intertwines stunt performance techniques, contemporary dance, and minimalist development practices to create a mesmerising exploration of the Black moving body that invites audiences into a realm where joyful fantasy and brutal realities transcend and coexist.
My Friend Selkie – What Moves You | 20 October @ 14:00 at Fittie Community Hall
A 50-minute dance theatre show with live music for 3 – 8 years “A child-like delight that encourages audience interaction and offers a charming introduction to Scottish folk tales” The Skinny, EdFringe August 2023
Sense Of Centre- Jack Webb in Association with Feral Arts | 18 October; 19:00 at The Anatomy Rooms
After having to cancel Citymoves’ performance of Sense of Centre due to Storm Babet, award-winning choreographer, Jack Webb returns to DanceLive with a moving dance solo where dance, object manipulation and projection combine to explore our longing for home, our need for connection and the body as a place of sanctuary from the modern world. A compelling meditation on our increasing sense of loneliness and isolation and the basic human need for a centre of gravity. In a world that is fractured and breaking apart, Sense of Centre is a powerful return to the simplicity of nature and the importance of belonging.
Sound presents soundfestival 2024
soundfestival takes place in venues across Aberdeen 19-27 October with its community celebration on 20 October.
sound celebrates 20 years of championing new music with this year’s soundfestival in Aberdeen. A diverse mix of concerts and workshops will celebrate innovative music by contemporary composers performed by local and internationally renowned musicians, including include a celebratory commission from Graham Fitkin and a performance featuring Dame Evelyn Glennie CH.
Established in North East Scotland in 2005, over the last 20 years sound has become one of Europe’s leading new music organisations offering a year-round programme of events, workshops, composer support programmes and projects with school pupils and young people, as well as staging the annual soundfestival each autumn. Over the years it has commissioned over 200 new works and supporting both established and emerging composers.
Director Fiona Robertson said: “When we put on our first festival in 2005 little did we think that 20 years later we would not only be continuing to champion new music in an annual festival, but we would also running a year-round programme of activities introducing new generations of people to new music whilst supporting both established and emerging composers.
“When we put on our first festival in 2005 little did we think that 20 years later we would not only be continuing to champion new music in an annual festival, but we would also running a year-round programme of activities introducing new generations of people to new music whilst supporting both established and emerging composers.
“For our 20th anniversary programme we are delighted to be welcoming back so many of our old friends including Graham Fitkin, Ruth Wall and percussionist Joby Burgess (who were among the performers at Upbeat! the four-day “taster” event we held in November 2004), our patron Dame Evelyn Glennie CH, our Associate Ensemble Red Note, composer/singer Laura Bowler, and North East Scotland’s new music ensemble, Any Enemy.
“International partnerships have always been at the heart of our programming and this year is no exception. As part of the Northern Connection programme launched in 2023 we will see the UK debuts of defunensemble (Finland) and Ensemble Temporum (Norway). Meanwhile, continuing our long and fruitful relationship with French musicians, this year we welcome lovemusic, a collective of musicians from Strasbourg. Kirkos Ensemble from Dublin will join also us.”
Highlights of soundfestival 2024
Graham Fitkin | 20th Anniversary Celebration Concert | 20 October, 3.30pm, Cowdray Hall, Aberdeen | FREE
Returning for the 2024 festival is Graham Fitkin, who was among the performers at Upbeat!, a four-day “taster” event held in November 2004. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the festival, Graham Fitkin has been commissioned by sound to write a work for the combined forces of Aberdeen’s new music ensemble, Any Enemy, the young musicians of Get Creative, and the Con Anima chamber choir. Two days later Fitkin and harpist Ruth Wall will perform Harpland, exploring issues of migration, loss and longing.
Dame Evelyn Glennie CH | Thu 24 Oct, 6pm, Music Hall, Aberdeen | £20, £12.50, £5
Also returning in 2024 is sound Patron, Dame Evelyn Glennie CH, who performed the first ever sound commission (by Sally Beamish) at the first soundfestival in 2005. The acclaimed percussionist will be joined by the members of the New London Chamber Ensemble in a programme of works for percussion and wind quintet. Joby Burgess, a percussionist who is equally celebrated for his virtuosic performances as his extensive education work has appeared in five festivals both as a solo performer as well as with the Colin Currie group and the Fitkin band. In 2024 he will give a family concert and a solo recital featuring works by Graham Fitkin, Dobrinka Tabakova, John Metcalfe and Gabriel Prokoviev amongst others.
Northern Connection | Sat 26 Oct, 6pm, Lemon Tree, Aberdeen | £12, £8, £5, free
sound’s 2023 festival opened with the Scottish performance of the Northern Connection project. An international collaboration, Northern Connection is a partnership between Scotland (sound, Red Note Ensemble and Scottish Music Centre); Finland (Music Finland, Musica nova Festival and defunensemble) and Norway (Music Norway, Ultima Festival and Ensemble Temporum) in which each nation is represented by a composer, an ensemble, a national music organisation and a festival. The 2024 festival brings together the three ensembles in a joint concert featuring specially-commissioned works by Tine Surel Lange (Norway), Lisa Robertson (Scotland) and Lauri Supponen (Finland). Additionally, defunensemble will give a concert of works by Finnish Composers and Ensemble Temporum will perform four compositions by composers from cities along their train route to get from Oslo to Aberdeen! Red Note, meanwhile, will join forces with Laura Bowler in a new work for voice, flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano, and in another concert give a platform to five emerging composers who have written pieces for marimba and viola.
Dialects of the Deep | Installation, to run in Academy Shopping Centre Thurs 24 – Sun 27 Oct, 10am – 5pm | FREE
Running throughout the festival in Academy Shopping Centre will be John Andrew Wilhite’s immersive experience Dialects of the Deep which combines glass sculptures with sound. Using old glass net floats from 19-20th century, that have been drifted ashore, visual artist Anastasia Savinova has created monumental sculptures which evoke the life cycles of fish and investigates how they are symbolically and physically connected to human life. Meanwhile, for his sound-scape John Andrew Wilhite uses sounds of the sea including that of the fish who contribute to a complex underwater society. The sounds vibrate the wooden boat-bodies creating fascinating harmonies. The work is commissioned by Nordic Music Days.
Book your tickets for Citymoves DanceLive now. Tickets for the Mainstage Performances start at £15, and Citymoves has created a special ticket deal where you can book 2 shows for £25!
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