After its World Premiere in December, National Dance Company Wales will be performing it’s family fun dance experience, Zoetrope for more families to see this April at the Dance House, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff.
This entrancing family experience combines all the fun of the fair with acrobatics and dance to explore the meaning of life, the origins of film and our attraction to magic.
Zoetrope was the brainchild of legendary chorographer Lea Anderson MBE who worked with the talented dancers from National Dance Company Wales (NDCWales) in 2023 to create the company’s very first show especially for families.
Renowned pioneering choreographer, Lea Anderson is known for her ground-breaking work in making dance more accessible and inclusive for audiences, for which she was awarded an MBE in 2006. Lea’s inspiration for Zoetrope started during her residency at the Bill Douglas Film Museum where she became fascinated with pre-film animation devices such as Zoetropes – also known as ‘Wheels of Life’. To bring those ideas to the stage, Lea is working with designer Simon Vincenzi to create a cast of brilliant creatures from different periods in evolutionary history with costumes based on the black and white drawings used in zoetrope machines. The cast changes costume on stage, with outrageous outfits that represent the evolution of man all the way from the first cell, through to lizards and monkey masks to atom-inspired headdresses and eventually to long boney fingers and skeleton heads where that wheel of life ends, before beginning again.
Lea was the co-founder and artistic director of The Cholmondeleys and The Featherstonehaughs companies which were founded in the 1980s. Since then, she has toured extensively throughout the UK and overseas. The companies were renowned for their pioneering work in non-theatrical spaces and venues – as some parents and maybe some grandparents may have seen across Cardiff and the South Wales more than two decades ago.
“I don’t speak down to younger people, because they’re just like me. I always make work that I would like to see…… it’s got something in it for everybody… I’ve tried to make something that’s very open and a great deal of fun”
Zoetrope will be performed one evening on Friday 26 April and one matinee on Saturday 27 April. Zoetrope is not just a performance: for families on Saturday 27 April, 2.30pm there will be a free family fun day with activities taking place before the performance at the Dance House, Wales Millennium Centre. The Zoetrope themed Family Fun Day is free to attend with tickets purchased for the show, where children can make their own Zoetrope, learn how to juggle, have a go at ribbon dancing and even learn a sequence of moves from the show, before enjoying the performance together.
Parents will also have access to fun and varied activity sheets about Zoetrope to make and do at home, whilst schools will be provided with specialised flexible lesson plans incorporating various subjects such as science and art, as well as dance, which is now a part of the National Curriculum for Welsh Schools.
“Zoetrope is the perfect family treat,” says Maris Lyons, Engagement Producer NDCWales. “Our offer extends beyond the show, with free family activity going on all afternoon at The Dance House. For families wanting to dance, we are offering a free family dance session where you will be able to learn some of the choreography from the show. This hour of dance fun is for all ages and fitness levels. We’re also offering audience members the chance to have a go at making their own Zoetrope too and so if you enjoy arts & crafts this is a great opportunity for you to make something and take it home!”
Zoetrope will be at the Dance House, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff from 26 to 27 April. Tickets are £12 and £6 for under 26s.
National Dance Company Wales is supported by the Arts Council of Wales and Welsh Government.
Box Office Booking information can be found at https://zoetrope.my.canva.site/