Artist Commissions

We are very excited to have commissioned three artists to make new online dances. The dances will premiere in September 2024.

Anjana Bala

A black and white image with a black background with lights with Anjana, an Indian female, at the center of the photo. Anjana’s body is cropped, but hands are presumably stretched upwards in a circle. Her hair is loosely tied in the back in a low bun and she is wearing a black shirt with a multicolored dupatta.

Credit: Ravi Chandarana

As a dance artist and anthropologist, Anjana Bala explores mediums that facilitate imagination and resignification. She is mostly curious about the relationship between singularity and collectivity in performance and what kinds of politics aesthetic forms enable.

Anjana’s commissioned piece:

Optics 

Light draws us in: its gloss, its shine, its optics. Yet, light might also deceive, guiding our sight, reflecting only what is seen.

Kat Hawkins

Black background, with Kat, a white human with a dark brown mullet, leaning forward and gazing at or through the silver spokes of a wheel on a wheelchair that is on its side (can only see part of the frame and wheel). Their hands are holding on to the metal propelling part with arms outstretched. They have blue tattoos, like line drawings, that are on their right shoulder and side of their back, and trickle down the outside of their arm. They are wearing black cycling shorts, and a beige sports top, with white socks over their knees that enter into carbon fibre prosthetics.

Credit: Camilla Greenwell 

Kat is trying their best to navigate the slippiest of experiences – being a human. And a human writing succinct bios at that. 

They are currently bobbing about the world integrating trauma, materiality, eroticism, digging things up from the roots, and the blurring of binaries. The(ir) Crip experience keeps coming to the surface in it all. 

They are an artist and PhD researcher at the Centre of Dance Research (C-DaRE), Coventry University, partnered with Candoco Dance Co. looking at the role of an understudy as an undervalued and complex position of care in dance (particularly those settings where disabled artists are).  

 Kat’s commissioned piece:

Tying in themes of ownership and representation, Spectator on your own (Self) [working title], sees three humans meet and move together for the first time. Working with reclaiming the landscape of expectation present when we watch dance, this film explores what happens when disabled artists (specifically three wheelchair users) are given the steering wheel/knob/button/clamp/camera.  

Brooke Milliner

The image features a mixed-race man in his 30s, with short stylised facial hair. He is wearing a cream flat cap, collared shirt and necktie. He is smiling as he stands in front of a light brown wall.

Credit: Naomi Patterson 

Six-time World Hip Hop Champion Brooke Milliner has been one of the leading influences on the international Popping circuit for 15+ years. As one of the top Popping dancers in the world, Brooke is renowned for his incredible musicality & intricate choreography, as well as his effortless technical skill. Brooke’s work to date challenges perceptions of what Popping and other underground Street Dance Styles can do, through storytelling and digital media. 

Brooke has featured in countless stage shows, TV projects, films & commercials, such as: Street Dance 3D (2009), Olivier Awards (2016) & Old Jamaica commercial (2021). He has extensive accolades under his belt, including representing the UK & winning the World Hip Hop Championships five times leading his two prestigious crews Prototype & Plague (2005-2017). Under Brooke’s expert guidance & choreographic talent, Prototype are the only UK Street Dance Crew to have won three world titles. 

Since 2021, Brooke has expanded his creative practice spanning dance, music and technology. Brooke received a commission from Birmingham International Dance Festival to create a brand new screendance film ‘Don’t Play With L(kn)ives’, produced by Motion Dance Collective examining the impact of knife crime on communities. Since its premiere in 2021, the film has been screened at numerous international festivals including Hip Hop Cinefest (Italy, 2023); Denton Black Film Festival (USA, 2023); and Cine Dans Fest (Amsterdam, 2022). 

Following a successful DYCP Grant to explore Music Production for Dance, all of Brooke’s commissions also feature his own soundtracks, even receiving Honourable Mention for Best Music/Soundtrack at Exeter Dance International Film Festival 2022. 

Brooke was commissioned by BBC Dance Passion to create short documentary film ‘A Decade Later’ which premiered March 2022 in celebration of ten years of Prototype; in addition to a Pavilion Dance Digital Commission (November 2022) to create ‘Swipe Right’, a piece that highlights the effects of digital connection and is the first Hip Hop screendance film to use branching. 

Through his company When Time Was New, Brooke’s recent Hip Hop Theatre work includes ‘PSYCHE’ presented as part of Resolution at The Place in 2022 exploring toxic masculinity; in addition to ‘What’s Your Power?’ a new show for children that celebrates difference, commissioned by Artists 4 Artists, Yorkshire Dance, The Place, South East Dance and DanceEast – set to premiere in 2025/6. 

Brooke is a role model for Poppers all over the world. Committed to supporting the next generation of dance talent, Brooke set up world-renowned collective Fiya House in 2012 alongside Dickson Mbi. For over 10 years, they have provided a platform for dancers to showcase their talent, network with other artists, & promote growth for the UK Hip Hop scene through classes, bespoke training intensives & large-scale international battle events working with partners Team London Bridge, Ugly Duck, Shoreditch Town Hall and Summer by the River Festival. 

Brooke’s commissioned piece:

As Within, So Without

As Within, So Without, delves into the Cherokee legend of two wolves battling within each person, symbolising inner conflict. The wolf that prevails is the one you choose to nourish.

The original call for commissions can be seen here.

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