Barbican Theatre is excited to be returning to Plymouth City Centre’s Piazza, on Thursday 10 December from 5:30pm – 7pm with a vibrant programme of dance celebrating rhythm.  Our ReBels dance talent development groups, will be performing with energising rhythms and fused dance styles. Joining them in the lineup are professional dancers in Afro Beat, Commercial, Flamenco and Bharatanatyam. Together they will fill the piazza with sound, dance and the joy of movement, as shoppers enjoy the Christmas market and the other late night shopping. 

Suzie West, Barbican Theatre’s ReBels Dance Lead, says 

“We’re really excited to be bringing these performances to the people of Plymouth during late night shopping. We’ve got so many dance styles to entertain the shoppers including Afro Beat, Bharatanatyam, contemporary and Flamenco. It’s the ideal way for our dancers to perform and people to watch in a socially distanced way.”

There will be three opportunities to see the performances; 5:30pm, 6pm and 6:30pm (each lasts around 20 minutes) and they’ll be dancing on the Piazza on Armada Way, where there is plenty of space for social distancing. 

Performances and performers include

Open Circle with ReBels Choreography & Composition. 

Our Choreography and Composition ReBels (age 15-25)  have been working with percussion and dance to explore time signatures, rhythm, and composition in music and dance. Working with drummer Ben Isbell, the group are sharing an energetic, rhythmical response to themes of communication. For this performance ReBels training group Choreography and Composition have joined forces with two members of Barbican’s Open Circle. 

Open Circle is a group of community dancers who work with rhythms from varied dance and movement styles. The group finds common ground by finding a pulse within music and movement, celebrating all their similarities and differences. These two groups have common ground in their explorations of rhythm, and will come together to present an explosive celebratory performance.

ReBels ‘What’s Your Style’ – Group Performance

This group of dancers ages 12-15,  have been exploring dance in different styles, taking influence from technique and choreography in contemporary, Bollywood,  Afro Beat and commercial. The ReBels team will be joined by Afro Beat dancer Beryl Tebug, featuring her own solo performance.

Beryl Tebug  – AfroBeat soloist performing with ReBels 

Beryl,  also known as Lyrebs universe is a 22 year old dancer from Cameroon. She has been teaching herself to dance and specialises in open style dancing and Afrobeats dance styles. Dance has helped her with confidence, mentally and physically. Beryl teaches at Rhythm City, Barbican Theatre & 4FS.

Mercedes Romero – Flamenco  Soloist 

Mercedes Romero is a professional Flamenco dancer, teacher and choreographer. She graduated from the Conservatory of Alicante, Spain in Spanish Dance & Flamenco and Classical Ballet. She has performed and taught for over 25 years. Performing in Spain, Mexico, France, Italy and England with various dance companies 

In Plymouth,  Mercedes has taught and performed at The Barbican Theatre for many years and created a small Flamenco group performing at various theatres and venues in Devon and Cornwall. Mercedes’ dancing is dynamic and engaging with full body strength. She uses a mix of traditional and modern Flamenco to show her audience the roots and styles adding a new dimension to this passionate and vibrant dance. 

Vibha Selvaratnam – Bharatantyam Soloist 

Vibha is recognised as one of the up and coming young dancers in the UK having been invited to perform at several young dancer showcases by Akademi (London), Milapfest (North East) and Nada Nrityotsava Festival (India). 

Born into dance with her mother Kiran Ratna as her Bharatantyam Guru, Vibha has now grown into a performer and choreographer developing and presenting her own work. Vibha currently heads India Dance South West. As well as a performer, Vibha has a great interest and ability in passing on the art form through leading regular classes in Exeter and Plymouth and is taking students through the ISTD dance exams.  

All performances in ReBels with Rhythm are free to watch. However if audiences would like to donate to support young and emerging artists such as these (and Barbican Theatre so we can continue to create unique and enjoyable performances such as these and offer employment to local freelance artists) they can donate any amount at barbicantheatre.co.uk/donate. We’lll also have a team with donation buckets and a contactless card reader on the night 

We’d like to say a big thank you to our ReBels team and Plymouth City Centre Company for their support of this production. For more information on Barbican Theatre’s forthcoming plans and events please visit barbicantheatre.co.uk