BE FESTIVAL 2015 - BE FESTIVAL

Falling into Flow with Kip Johnson

This workshop, featuring a mix of contact work and guided improvisations, will explore the cause and effects of movements and how to create a relaxed efficiency whilst moving. Participants will learn how to control movements, to articulate and flow with momentum. Since graduating from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance…

Through the Voice with Simon Ratcliffe

How can the voice add a new dimension to improvisation and help develop new theatre works? Through this workshop, you can learn about how the voice can be used as a starting point to generate and develop a concept for improvisation. It begins with vocal preparation, progressing on to solo,…

Multimedia Programming with Pure Data with Antonio Roberts

Pure Data is a visual programming language that allows visual artists, performers, musicians, researchers and developers to create software in a visual, graphic way, without writing lines of code. Pure Data has numerous applications, including for live visuals, electronic music, websites and games. In this workshop participants will learn how…

What do we see? with Antonio Tagliarini

This workshop sets out to explore the relationship between the visible and the invisible, and how the two intertwine to form the way we perceive the world around us. In ‘The Visible and the Invisible’ Maurice Merleau-Ponty locates tissue between visible things, something that “sustains them, nourishes them, and which…

The Cultured and the Wild with Blanch and Shock

Blanch & Shock will present a workshop on their approach to cooking, discussing and sampling some ingredients and recipes that they find particularly exciting. This will include thinking about wild British ingredients as spices, various fermentation projects including vegetables, vinegars and cultured dairy, and interesting ways of delivering flavour such…

All In with Atresbandes

The phrase ‘all in’ has numerous applications: it can refer to a poker player gambling all their chips, but it has also been used as an advertising slogan by the likes of ADIDAS, and the name of a Paris strip club. This workshop will explore the multitude of possible meanings…

Pilfered Performance Process with Mish Weaver

Using theft, mimicry, adaptation and guile we will look at different performance and learning methods taken from theatre, dance, gymnastics, visual arts and anywhere else we choose to enhance circus devising processes. This workshop will involve improvisation and will be physical from the outset. Prepare to work fast and surprise…

Corporeal Improvisation & Wham Bam! with Won Kim

Budding actors, musicians and dancers of all backgrounds are invited to play together using the language of body and movement. The goal of this workshop is to establish a common ground for listening where different styles of movement can come together. Participants will discover the differences between dramatic movement and…

Feedback Café 2015

Feedback Café is a unique and invaluable opportunity for audiences, artists and practitioners to discuss and evaluate the previous evening's performances with a coffee and a pastry. Taking place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 3pm, and Sunday at 12pm. All events will be chaired by Simon Day.

Networking Meeting

This year we’re hosting another of our popular networking meetings where artists, promoters and producers can introduce themselves, their work, and connect with like-minded professionals from across Europe.

Chaired discussion with visual artists

A discussion with visual artists An Wei, Adam J. Scarborough, Natalie Linda Jones and Keith Dodds, Laurence Price and Cathy Wade's collective, introducing their practices and debating the potentials and risks digital technology poses for modern democracy. This year's discussions on democracy will be chaired by Nick Booth, a BBC…

Panel discussion: Art and Democracy

Panel discussion with Nick Booth, María Delgado, Giorgio Ursini and Hans-Werner Kroesinger about the role art can play in shaping society, how political responses can be expressed creatively and how citizens have become empowered to participate in social movements such as Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring and 15-M.

Visual Arts

BE’s Visual Arts Programme is a two-year cycle exploring a particular theme. In 2015-2016 we aim to gain insights into the concepts of democracy, citizen participation, and to explore the risks and benefits of digital technology as a democratic tool. Across the world there is a changing societal shift in…

Before by BE Next Youth Performance Group (UK) – 30 min

Would you die for me? To be or not to be? That is the question. There are heroes who die in the name of their country, in the name of justice and humanity. Usually in the movies, the soldier is beautiful, strong, brave. He risks his own life to save…

Collage by Bot Project (Spain) – 30 min

An outdoor spectacular featuring Catalan company Bot Project who will be jumping their way through gravity with the help of some giant trampolines and a large dose of humour. Collage has been performed the length and breadth of Europe, won awards and is terrific fun. The show is accompanied by…

Acrophobia by Liv & Tobi (Germany) – 15 min

A delicious wee tale about overcoming fear and the pleasure it brings. If you have vertigo, what better way to face your demons than to jump from a sky-high trapeze? Acrophobia is sweet and daring in the same breath featuring some phenomenal trapeze work from this young German pair. Liv…

(Don’t) Trust Me by Danielle van Vree (The Netherlands) – 30 min

Featuring seven students from the mime department of Amsterdam Theatre School, this fast paced physical theatre show is striking, poetic and poses question about trust and distrust. How can eye contact and the reaction to a quick glance or glaring stare say so much? A live camera feed plays with…

Tristissimo by C&C (Italy) – 25 min

A dance portrait of a couple who seek contact, seek to touch but repel each other’s every move. As the dancers gravitate towards each other’s desire the reality of their separation becomes relentless, tender and touching. Based upon Wagner’s nineteenth century romantic tragedy of Tristan and Isolde, Tristissimo relays the…

Locus Amoenus by ATRESBANDES (Spain) – 60 min

Following BE FESTIVAL Jury 1st Prize in 2012, ATRESBANDES were invited to a residency at mac Birmingham where they created this piece of charming and comical theatre. Every step we take, we are struggling to reach paradise. Our paradise. An idyllic place where everyday problems disappear. This struggle is a journey…

Correction by VerTeDance / Jiří Havelka / Clarinet Factory (Czech Republic) – 30 min

Imagine a world where you can’t progress despite your best efforts to push forward. Award winning contemporary dance company VerTeDance have created a beautifully poignant piece about our lack of freedom, reclusion and our power to make decisions. The cast weave around their own shadows whilst a live modern minimalist…

Dévoration by Théâtre du Balèti (France) – 30min

Dévoration or Devouring act is a hard hitting and highly visual theatre piece exploring our relationship with violence particularly how pain and pleasure can merge together. Straddled between myth and reality it plays with the idea of torturer and victim as one, asking questions about power abuse and injustice. Devoration…

MOUVMA! by Collectif Corps Citoyen (Tunisia/Italy) – 30 min

Before the dust had settled, the media proclaimed the start of the revolutionary Arab Spring as the region’s stability vanished and violence exploded. Three actors take us back to the beginning, to Tunisia, and ask questions about political change, society and the future. Torn between a desire to witness change…

Quintetto by TiDA – Théâtre Danse (Italy) – 30 min

Imagine a car factory devoid of workers leaving just a solitary engineer to run the floor. A perfect analogy for a stage show as the protagonist explains a few teething problems he’s having with the performance due to the financial crisis in Italy. The show must go on. Everyone in…

Translating Lola by Margo van de Linde (The Netherlands) – 30 min

This performance piece, transferred from a street encounter to the stage, documents two women working in the area of sex and seduction. Lola is a Spanish prostitute in Amsterdam and Margo an ex-stripper and Burlesque MC. The topics of sex, ethics, power and womanhood are discussed, translated and debated giving…

Interval Dinner

Menu: TuesdayBraised beef with British spices, served in flour tortillas (v = mushrooms)Tomato and red onion salsaCrushed pea saladSour cream WednesdayRoast lamb with fermented black beans (v = charred aubergine)Spicy bean stewSmacked cucumbers with clover, chilli and garlicCarrots with sweet miso dressing ThursdaySalt cod and potato stew with capers (v…

Athletes by Riccardo Buscarini (UK/Italy) – 20 min

Set in a sparsely beautiful and futuristic landscape, Athletes poses questions about whether the competition between man and machine is leading to alienation and destruction. Led by a trio of other-worldly dancers, the award winning show is dark, dystopian and develops a tense narrative ultimately leading to self-destruction. Kubrick and…

SHOW by Antonio Tagliarini (Italy) – 60 min

BE FESTIVAL 2014 1st Prize winner returns to Birmingham to perform the full version of his wonderful and wacky, SHOW. Directed, performed and choreographed by Antonio Tagliarini, SHOW is an attempt to paint a self-portrait with the help of you, the audience. Funny, tragic, ironic, charismatic and in demand around…

The Whistle by Squarehead Productions (Ireland) – 30 min

The Whistle is characterised by quick fire scene changes and several often funny and poetic narratives. A juggler, a whistle and the audience together create a multitude of moments. The concept of The Whistle is almost genius in its simplicity: the performer on stage has a whistle. When he blows…

Atávico by Cía Poliana Lima (Spain) – 15 min

A dark and reflective reminder of how past violent experiences stay with us, Atávico combines physical theatre, dance and a choking soundtrack to create a harrowing and evocative experience. Originally devised to explore the relationship between the dictatorships of Brazil and Spain and how citizens deal with the violence around…

#sobrejulieta by Grumelot (Spain) – 30 min

#sobrejulieta is a one-woman show craving to be a dialogue. It is a love story and one of excess. Using a rather famous bard as a way to the audience’s heart using English, Spanish and projected texts the biochemical process of love in the audiences bodies may get out of…

Tortured Mind by InPulse (Germany) – 30 min

Tortured Mind is a topsy turvy story that follows the attempts of a psychiatrist to treat his patient through a series of creative games. We’re hastily journeyed to another world where physical theatre, breakdancing, circus, comedy and some blistering sound effects combine and draw out an imaginary playground, the deepest…

Game by Unstable King (UK) – 30 min

Unstable King will stop at nothing to defeat evil. Even if they have to blow this world apart. Game is a madcap three man circus theatre show exploring how video games shape our lives. Played out through circus feats, live gaming and sketch inspired comedy plus Napoleon Dynamite-esque dance routines,…

Of Miracles and Wonders, Optimistic Conference by Fundación Collado Van Hoestenberghe (Spain) – 30 min

An unusual business conference taking place in a remote village in Spain providing a funny and light-hearted theatre piece showing what happens when you keep asking, why? The conference that you’d expect to give answers asks only questions lending to a joyous feast of contradiction happily littered with outbreaks of…

O No! by Jamie Wood (UK) – 30 min

Mad as a box of frogs and determinedly optimistic, this new show follows on from the success of Beating McEnroe which received high praise during its run at Edinburgh Fringe. Employing his signature blend of anarchic comedy, fandom and emotional terrorism, Jamie Wood has created a psychedelic ride and wonky…

Opening Party: Gabbidon Live

UK reggae royalty Basil Gabbidon was an original member of Grammy award winning outfit Steel Pulse who were central to the UK reggae movement of the 1970s. Basil has previously performed live with Bob Marley, The Police & The Stranglers.

Post Show: Didier Kisala Band Live and DJ Ginger Dread

Didier Kisala Band Congolese gospel is happening at BE! Led by Didier Kisala, part of Celebrating Sanctuary (a music support organisation for refugees), Didier’s quartet will mix gospel with traditional sounds of rumba, sebene, zouck jazz and more. DJ Ginger Dread BE FESTIVAL’s marketing man by day and DJ by…

Post Show: Mellow Peaches Live

Taking inspiration from the gutsy blues of America’s yesteryear, the organic rootsy sounds of Mellow Peaches mix with their own exotic flavours to create a potent musical brew.

Post Show: DJs Glyn Phillips & Ginger Dread

Glyn is a pioneer of tropical music in Birmingham since the ‘80s. Afro-Latin grooves meet the music of five continents and a thousand islands in an exuberant global soundclash that will have you racing for the dance floor.

Post Show: Awards Ceremony & DJ Willitsasecret

As the festival draws to a close we invite our jury panel to assess and award some of the brilliant acts at this year’s festival. The awards ceremony kicks off with a special line-up of interactive entertainments including real-life video games courtesy of Unstable King, Adam J Scarborough’s Democracy Machine…

Archive 2015

Falling into Flow with Kip Johnson

Through the Voice with Simon Ratcliffe

Multimedia Programming with Pure Data with Antonio Roberts

What do we see? with Antonio Tagliarini

The Cultured and the Wild with Blanch and Shock

All In with Atresbandes

Pilfered Performance Process with Mish Weaver

Corporeal Improvisation & Wham Bam! with Won Kim

Feedback Café 2015

Networking Meeting

Chaired discussion with visual artists

Panel discussion: Art and Democracy

Visual Arts

Before by BE Next Youth Performance Group (UK) – 30 min

Collage by Bot Project (Spain) – 30 min

Acrophobia by Liv & Tobi (Germany) – 15 min

(Don’t) Trust Me by Danielle van Vree (The Netherlands) – 30 min

Tristissimo by C&C (Italy) – 25 min

Locus Amoenus by ATRESBANDES (Spain) – 60 min

Correction by VerTeDance / Jiří Havelka / Clarinet Factory (Czech Republic) – 30 min

Dévoration by Théâtre du Balèti (France) – 30min

MOUVMA! by Collectif Corps Citoyen (Tunisia/Italy) – 30 min

Quintetto by TiDA – Théâtre Danse (Italy) – 30 min

Translating Lola by Margo van de Linde (The Netherlands) – 30 min

Interval Dinner

Athletes by Riccardo Buscarini (UK/Italy) – 20 min

SHOW by Antonio Tagliarini (Italy) – 60 min

The Whistle by Squarehead Productions (Ireland) – 30 min

Atávico by Cía Poliana Lima (Spain) – 15 min

#sobrejulieta by Grumelot (Spain) – 30 min

Tortured Mind by InPulse (Germany) – 30 min

Game by Unstable King (UK) – 30 min

Of Miracles and Wonders, Optimistic Conference by Fundación Collado Van Hoestenberghe (Spain) – 30 min

O No! by Jamie Wood (UK) – 30 min

Opening Party: Gabbidon Live

Post Show: Didier Kisala Band Live and DJ Ginger Dread

Post Show: Mellow Peaches Live

Post Show: DJs Glyn Phillips & Ginger Dread

Post Show: Awards Ceremony & DJ Willitsasecret