The renowned Amici Dance Theatre Company, the world’s first disability-inclusive professional dance company, will celebrate their 40th anniversary with the world premiere of One World: Wealth of the Common People.
After delaying the much-anticipated premiere from 2020 due to the pandemic, this pioneering dance-theatre company are bringing together an 80 strong cast of disabled and non-disabled performers. Many of the performers and companies have been invited by Amici from across the globe for a timely exploration of unity and tolerance amidst the ongoing global refugee crises.
Choreographed by acclaimed Wolfgang Stange (Director, Founder and Principal Choreographer at Amici) and devised by the performers themselves, One World is a vital and moving production that looks through the eyes of those who have experienced first-hand what it’s like to be marginalised by difference. This ambitious spectacle masterfully mixes projection, dance, spoken word and live music in an explosive celebration of joy, life, protest and the beauty of uniting people from different cultures across the globe. Amici’s stunning work continues to subvert stereotypes and challenge conventional attitudes to disability and the arts breaking both barriers and new ground. Alongside One World, there will be a programme of performances from the invited companies and artists, as well as workshops and films from Amici’s repertoire.
Amici will be inviting guest performers from Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Scotland, Wales and the USA. Welsh dance company Dragon’s Heart & Dragon’s Soul will present two pieces; Casanau Du (Black Kisses), which tells the stories of Welsh coal mining communities; and T4, which tells of the harrowing start of Berlin’s ‘final solution’, when they euthanised people with disabilities, and displays the humanity of the people considered imperfect by the Third Reich. Jolt Dance
from New Zealand will present a talk and their work Takiwatanga. Sri Lankan dancer Eluwana Mudiyanselage Pushpasiri will perform and present a talk about being a dancer in Sri Lanka. Scottish company Indepen-dance will show a short film and facilitate a creative movement and exploration workshop. From America, Brio Theatre will present The Real Me, including a monologue by a British actress and a poem performed by an Amici member. Wolfgang Stange and Amici members will run an open workshop for people to learn their innovative methods and practises.
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Wolfgang Stange comments, Two years ago I was pushed to make work that raised awareness of the atrocities that are plaguing our planet after the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka and the current refugee crisis on Europe’s shores. The conflict zones with wars raging in far away places have arrived in Europe and bring the horrific suffering of ordinary people into our living rooms via the TV screens. Like most people I have been deeply affected by the innocent lives that have been lost and the tragic exodus of mothers trying to escape the onslaught protecting their children seeking refuge in foreign countries. It is more important than ever to remind ourselves that in order to change things, we must relive some of those horrors, but we must not lose sight of hope. Without hope we would be very lost indeed. Amici shows that sharing and celebrating each other’s differences is the only way forward.
Amici are a unique integrated-arts company that have, over the years, inspired thousands of people to look at art (and the world) from a new and magical perspective. With a focus on individual talent regardless of ability, they help performers to realise their latent gifts as artists. They run weekly classes for its 40+ members, organise open-workshops, residencies, and student placements and stage performances throughout the year including their biennial full company show, performed in the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre’s Main House, where they are a Lyric Partner Company.
