See www.southbankcentre.co.uk for all the details.

Events include:

Spring Season 2013

Friday 31 May 2013, 7.30pm
MERYL TANKARD’S THE ORACLE – UK PREMIERE
£20, £15 £10
Southbank Centre will stage the UK premiere of The Oracle by acclaimed Australian choreographer Meryl Tankard, a long-time star of Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal. Inspired by the groundbreaking first performance of Nijinski’s choreography for Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, which caused an audience riot when first performed on 29 May 1913, The Oracle will mark this centenary when it comes to London direct from a US tour. This sensual and intense dance work, featuring soloist Paul White, explores the conflicting forces of nature and man, masculinity and femininity, violence and nurture, strength and vulnerability. Southbank Centre also presents the Philarmonia Orchestra’s Rite of Spring conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen in Royal Festival Hall on Thursday 30 May. Tickets are available to members on Wednesday 6 February and go on general release on Thursday 7 February.
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Wednesday 10th until Wednesday 31st July 2013
Press Night: Thursday 11th July 2013

Cirque Alfonse present:

TIMBER!

A circus show featuring a family from the remote forests of Québec, who juggle axes and perform daring aerial acrobatics and stunts with lumberjack saws, alongside clog-dancing, tight-rope walking, cooking, vegetable chopping and story-telling. Timber! is set to traditional music, with fiddles, banjos, a jaw harp and rowdy singing as the live accompaniment to this daredevil, heart-warming show.

Cirque Alfonse is made up of three generations of one Québecois family – 66-year-old Grandfather and amateur clown Alain Carabinier, his two children, Antoine, 32, and Julie, 29, who are a trained circus acrobat and a trained dancer respectively, Julie’s partner Jonathan, 32, a trained circus acrobat who has performed in Cirque Du Soleil’s Love, and their 2-year-old son, Arthur. The family are supported by live musicians, two of whom are friends of the family who grew up in villages nearby. Members of Cirque Alfonse have worked with some of the world’s most renowned companies including Cirque du Soleil, Cirkus Cirkör and les 7 doigts de la main.

The company hail from an area rich in roots music, call-and-response singing, fiddle and banjo playing and traditional dance. The show is steeped in the folklore, traditions and aesthetic of Québec’s lumberjack, logging and farming heritage. Music is at the heart of the show – with traditional songs mixed with new numbers composed by violinist David Simard and David Boulanger, of hit Québecois folk band La Bottine Souriante. The action is set in a lumber-camp, where there is merriment and mischief on an outhouse and the company juggle and chop vegetables at high speed for the family stew pot. Beards, muscles, checked lumberjack shirts and long-johns abound, and staying true to their roots, the axes, saws and knives used in the show are genuine and sharpened and the cast don’t wear steel toe-capped boots or any protection other than gloves. Taking authenticity to new heights, when Cirque Alfonse rehearse in their unheated Québecois barn, they saw wood as a warm-up to their rehearsals.

The story of how the family circus troupe was formed is a charming one. When grandfather Alain Carabinier was growing up in Switzerland in the 1950s, his dream was to run away with the circus. Instead he became a champion skier, then travelled round the world as something of a hippy, meeting and falling in love with his future wife when he was horse riding in Ecuador. The couple returned to her native Montréal and settled on a farm in the woods of rural Québec where they had two children; Antoine and Julie. Alain coached the local football team and the children grew up putting on little plays as fundraisers, eventually going on to train professionally in circus and dance.

As a 60th birthday present for their father, and as a thank you present for the hours he spent ferrying them to and from circus and dance school, the siblings created a circus show for Alain to star in, which was performed in 2006 under a big top in their local village. Alain finally got to run away with the circus in his 60s. He had never been on stage before in his life. As a surprise, all his friends and family travelled from Switzerland to Québec to see the show, and it was such a success that Cirque Alfonse was born. The family named the company after the village near their farm: Saint Alphonse-Rodriguez. The siblings’ mother, Alain’s wife, Louise Lépine, has also come out of retirement to look after the finances and be the tour manager for the company, and babysitter for Arthur.

Timber! comes to Southbank Centre after its world premiere at the Montréal Completely Circus Festival in 2011, and extensive touring in Québec, Switzerland and France. A programme of participatory workshops will run alongside the Southbank Centre shows.

Timber! is part of Southbank Centre’s Festival of Neighbourhood with MasterCard this summer from 4th May to 8th September. The festival will celebrate neighbourhood in all its meanings and explore what it is to have and be a neighbour. Communities who live close by and partners from across the UK and abroad will participate in creating the festival – from nearby Elephant and Castle in South London to young people from Pelhourino in Salvador, Brazil – with a diverse programme of events including poetry, discussion, visual arts, performance and art installations across Southbank Centre’s 21-acre site.

Suitable for ages 9 and over.

Cast and Crew:
Alain Carabinier, clown
Antoine Carabinier-Lépine, acrobat (Trained at Montréal National Circus School, Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Eloize, Les 7 doigts de la main/The Seven Fingers, Cirkus Cirkör)
Julie Carabinier-Lépine, dancer and singer (Trained at Montréal School of Contemporary Dance, Circus Knie)
Jonathan Casaubon, acrobat (Trained at Montréal National Circus School, Cirque du Soleil, Les 7 doigts de la main/The Seven Fingers, Circus Knie)
Arthur Casaubon, acrobat
Matias Salmenaho, acrobat (Trained at Kiev National School of Circus, Cirkus Cirkör, Cirque Aïtal)
Josianne Laporte, banjo-player, accordion-player, percussionist, jaw-harp player, harmonica player (Cirque Eloize)

André Gagné, guitarist
David Simard violinist, composer
David Boulanger composer
Alain Francoeur, director (Trained at Montréal National Circus School, Cirque Eloize)
Nicolas Descôteaux, Lighting and set designer (Robert Lepage, Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Eloize)
Lionnel Dechamps, sound and technical director
Jean-Louis ‘Jello’ Robert, lighting operator

GROOVE ON DOWN THE ROAD
written and directed by Kate Prince

Kate Prince and her award-winning dance company ZooNation return to Southbank Centre following their 2010 hit show Into The Hoods with the world premiere of Groove on Down the Road (10 – 31 August 2013). The company behind Some Like It Hip Hop give their unique twist to the classic story of The Wizard of Oz, which comes to the Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of Southbank Centre’s Festival of Neighbourhood with MasterCard.

Set in a fantastical urban world, ZooNation’s Groove On Down The Road tells the story of Dorothy and her adventures with Toto, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion on their journey to Oz. The audience join Dorothy, complete with ruby sneakers, and friends in this hip-hop dance production as they follow the yellow brick road in a quest to find happiness and family.

Written and directed by Kate Prince and commissioned by Southbank Centre, the production will include music from the 1978 film The Wiz, re-mixed with current hits by DJ Walde. The Wiz starred Michael Jackson and Diana Ross, with Quincy Jones overseeing the film’s music adaptation including the tracks Ease On Down The and You Can’t Win. The film celebrates its 35th anniversary this year.

The cast of Groove On Down The Road is made up of young dancers from across the UK, all under the age of 19, showcasing the exceptional talent of ZooNation’s next generation of dancers. The role of Dorothy will be shared by two 11-year old dancers, Arizona Snow and Portia Oti.

Kate Prince said:
"Working with the ZooNation Academy of Dance is the highlight of my week. I oversee their training every Saturday and they never fail to amaze me with how much they know and are capable of at such a young age. They have been born into an environment where access to hip hop dance and culture is at the simple touch of a button and they are saturated with information. As a result they are a whole new breed of dancers who have a raw, authentic and fearless skill and passion for dance. They give our adult company a run for their money! We better watch our backs."

SUMMER 2013: FESTIVAL OF NEIGHBOURHOOD

www.southbankcentre.co.uk/neighbourhood

A summer-long celebration of neighbourhoods and communities

The site transformed into a neighbourhood with allotments and fruit trees, a local pub, large-scale murals, flags created by Bob and Roberta Smith and a complete Beanotown.

Programme highlights include: the UK premiere of lumberjacks-inspired circus show Timber!; the world premiere of ZooNation’s Groove On Down The Road; Yoko Ono’s Meltdown; and the Hayward Gallery’s Alternative Guide to the Universe.

Themed weekends throughout the summer, from a celebration of street culture to a village fair.

What makes a good neighbourhood and what does it mean to live side by side? This summer, Southbank Centre’s Festival of Neighbourhood with MasterCard will celebrate the idea of neighbourhood and explore the concept of what makes a good neighbourhood and what it means to be a good neighbour. Local communities and partners from across the UK and abroad will participate in creating the festival – from Lambeth and Brixton in South London to artists and young people from Pelhourino in Salvador, Brazil – with a wide-ranging programme of themed weekends, performances, talks, outdoor art installations and urban greenery across Southbank Centre’s 21-acre site. The outdoor festival landscape opens on 1st June 2013.

Jude Kelly, Artistic Director, Southbank Centre, said: “Last summer Southbank Centre ‘hosted the world’ in order to celebrate the ideals of the Olympics and Paralympics. This year we focus on neighbourhoods; both our own – telling the story of Southbank Centre as a neighbourhood, a place of intimacy, friendship and community – and others farther afield. Festival of Neighbourhood will be a space for artists and visitors to ask what it means to live side by side and will explore if, why and how we want to support community endeavours and a sense of belonging. This exploration will be made possible through collaboration with hundreds of artists and organisations and thousands of participants of all ages. I’d like to thank all the partners who have this possible, in particular MasterCard for generously supporting the festival.”

From 1 June 2013 visitors will feel that they have stepped into a neighbourhood as Southbank Centre is transformed with neighbourly activity, greenery and colour. Neighbourly pop-ups will include a fruit and veg stall by The Cherry Berry Company, a traditional pie shop brought to Southbank Centre by Hartland Pies and designed by RIBA students, and the community-based cycling cafe Look Mum No Hands!, in addition to weekly markets. The riverside Queen’s Walk in front of the Royal Festival Hall will see the return of the popular urban beach – this year taking the shape of a miniature town in the sand – and be home to allotments created from reclaimed wood and windows in collaboration with award-winning London-based landscape practice Wayward Plants. The allotment project, Queen’s Walk Window Gardens, will provide opportunities for volunteers and communities to be involved in building and tending to plants. More areas of the site will be blooming with flowers and greenery and provide volunteering opportunities: the Queen Elizabeth Hall roof plants, created in partnership with the Eden Project and cared for by Providence Row, will be expanded to include a shade garden; the Festival Terrace connecting Waterloo with the river will be lined with more than 20 mature fruit trees in a collaboration with the National Trust; there will a trail of 60 wheelbarrows planted as mini gardens; and on the Riverside Terrace there will be a herb garden, with its produce being used in the food served by the Royal Festival’s Hall’s cafe run by Company of Cooks.

New outdoor art installations include Grow Your Own Ideas, a series of flags adorning the roof of the Royal Festival Hall by artist Bob and Roberta Smith, with questions that will encourage people to think about the meaning of neighbourhood; large-scale murals on the facade of the Queen Elizabeth Hall by acclaimed mural artists, including ROA, Bread Collective, Grems and Phlegm; the creation of large topiary-like figures – one depicting two people sweeping, a tribute to the volunteers who helped clean up London after the riots in August 2011 – on Jubilee Gardens and overlooking Waterloo Bridge by Pirate Technics, the artists who created Susan the Fox in 2011; the return of Jeppe Heine’s Appearing Rooms fountain; poetry installations across the site; and a Bell Tower created by architecture collective The Decorators.

Communities local to Southbank Centre will be celebrated as part of Festival of Neighbourhood, with an exhibition dedicated to Lambeth, created in collaboration with The Building Exploratory, in the Spirit Level of Royal Festival Hall (25 May – 8 September) and special weekends celebrating Lambeth & Brixton (13 – 14 July) and Deptford (27 – 28 July), as well as Vauxhall in collaboration with Vauxhall-based Duckie (10 – 11 August). Looking further afield and building on Southbank Centre’s ongoing relationship with artistic communities in Brazil, the festival will also include a weekend dedicated to the historic neighbourhood and UNESCO World Heritage site of Pelourinho in the city of Salvador, Bahia, which will bring a carnival atmosphere to the South Bank with Afro-Brazilian dancing and an all female drumming group (17 – 18 August). Prior to welcoming Pelô artists to London, Southbank Centre will in June be collaborating with the local artists to stage Southbank Centre in Pelourinho, a one day festival taking place on 15 June.

Celebrating the 75th birthday of The Beano, Festival Village in the undercroft of the Queen Elizabeth Hall will be transformed into Beanotown - an imaginary neighbourhood – in a collaboration of The Beano publisher DC Thomson and HemingwayDesign. The fictional home town of Dennis the Menace will feature a museum showcasing, for the very first time, The Beano’s archive and previously untold stories dating back to wartime Britain. There will be opportunities to get creative with comic drawing sessions expertly lead by The Beano’s illustrators and to visit the ‘Prank You Very Much’ stage where you can learn the history of The Beano pranks before unleashing them on your unsuspecting mates or parents. The Beano Social Club will host fun and games including ‘Table Dennis’, our very own version of Table Tennis, and themed food including ‘The Beano Breville Bar’ where you can make your own toasted sandwiches.

Other Festival of Neighbourhood programme highlights include:
· Chorus (4 – 6 May) – a mass-sing of Jerusalem (4 May at 1pm) will ring in the festival with more than 120 events exploring how signing brings communities together.

· Udderbelly (until 14 July) – the purple cow is back for its fifth summer with a programme of comedy, circus and family shows, and this year featuring The Neighbourhood Arms on its pasture.

· London Wonderground (6 May – 29 September) returns for a second summer of circus, cabaret and sideshows, including LIMBO (10 May – 23 September), a new show of scintillating circus and wondrous illusion from the creators of last year's smash hit Cantina.

· London Literature Festival (20 May – 5 June) – with more than 100 events, it is the largest to date, and this year London will take centre stage through a special series of events, including London walks (and runs), writer Craig Taylor returning with One Million Tiny Plays About London, and award-winning author China Miéville unearthing some of London’s lesser known literary visionaries. The start of Festival of Neighbourhood will be marked with a keynote conversation with Richard Sennett, examining the art of cooperation and living side by side.

· The Alternative Guide to the Universe at the Hayward Gallery (11 June – 1 September) presents maverick creations by outsider artists. This major summer show brings together contributions from self-taught artists and architects, fringe physicists, street artists, dreamers and visionary engineers. Eccentric and inspiring, their work ingeniously departs from accepted ways of thinking in order to re-imagine the rules of culture and science.

· Worldwide cultural icon Yoko Ono brings a lifetime of achievement in music, visual art and peace activism to Southbank Centre. Yoko Ono’s Meltdown (14 – 23 June) will be led by the artist’s dedication to music across all genres, environmentalism, feminism and peace, and feature iconic names from the world of music and arts, including Siouxsie, Peaches, Reggie Watts, Patti Smith and Iggy and the Stooges.

· Differently-themed weekends throughout the summer, including Inbetweeners (10 – 13 July), focusing on the sub-cultures and tribes who live on the outskirts of society curated by drag artist Dickie Beau and featuring Le Gateaux Chocolat; and Urban – A Festival of Street Culture (3 – 4 August), exploring the world of skateboarding, BMX, parkour, street dance, graffiti and basketball.

· A number of shows across the summer, including the UK premiere of Timber! by Cirque Alfonse – three generations of a family circus troupe from Québec (8 – 31 July); the world premiere of Groove On Down The Road by Kate Prince and her award-winning dance company ZooNation (10 – 31 August) and L’Orchestre d’Hommes-Orchestres perform Tom Waits (2 – 7 July), a colourful tribute spectacle to the world of Waits using 100 objects and invented instruments.

· One Bowl Feast (7 – 8 September) – marking the grand finale of Southbank Centre’s Festival of Neighbourhood, Clare Patey will curate a weekend of sharing food, dancing and making merry. In 2011 Clare Patey curated ‘Feast on the Bridge’, which transformed Southwark Bridge into a giant banqueting space.