SLUMDOG Millionaire director Danny Boyle is to direct a hip hop dance film.
The Oscar-winning filmmaker will work with hip-hop dance company Boy Blue Entertainment for his first dance film after collaborating with them for the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics.
The new project is one of a raft of commissions announced by The Space, an agency for the arts founded by Arts Council England and the BBC, which also includes live theatre experienced in the gaming platform Minecraft.
Boyle, from Radcliffe, first worked with the dance company when founder Kenrick “H2O” Sandy choreographed hundreds of young dancers for the segment in the ceremony entitled Frankie And June Say Thanks Tim.
They also worked together on the staging of the handover of the Olympic torch and the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron.
Playcraft, a new play from award-winning children’s writer Alex Scarrow, will be produced and will premiere on the creative gaming platform Minecraft as well as live on stage at the Derry Playhouse in Northern Ireland.
The Royal Ballet’s resident choreographer Wayne McGregor will make his debut as a director with Atomos, which will be filmed at the BT Sport Studios, while Newcastle’s balletLORENT will produce Rumpelstiltskin, the third in their trilogy of collaborations with author Carol Ann Duffy.
Other productions include Key Change, a look at lives of women in Britain’s prisons, and Stadium, a Birmingham Rep show that will explore the world of football fandom with supporters from across the city in the theatre, online and in football stadiums.
International touring company Cheek by Jowl will live-stream their acclaimed production of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale simultaneously in English, French and Spanish from London’s Barbican Theatre.
The commissions were announced alongside Culture UK, a new partnership between the BBC, Arts Council England, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the Arts Council of Wales, the British Council and Creative Scotland to cultural activity.
The Space chief executive officer and creative director Fiona Morris said: “We are delighted to announce such a wide range of commissions in terms of the arts organisations involved across the UK and the different types of project they are undertaking.”
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