by Lea Anderson
Zoetrope
Roll up, Roll up: Be amazed and amused in the wonderful world of Zoetrope!
Is an hour enough to learn the whole of human history? Probably not.
Is it enough time to be amazed, intrigued, and delighted? Definitely.
Imaginations will run wild as Chimps, lizards and skeletons leap and cartwheel across a stage exploding with clever effects and music.
This entrancing family experience combines all the fun of the fair with acrobatics and dance to explore the meaning of life, the origins of film and our attraction to magic.
Choreography by the legendary Lea Anderson MBE.
“With its musical whirrs, clicks and glitches Zoetrope opens up a strange world…the show was very funny. An amusingly offbeat creation from an artist as imaginative as ever.”
The Guardian
“it reminded me how brilliantly playful dance is as a medium, it was funny, it was silly and playful but it was also clever”
Lead Curriculum Achievement Officer, Welsh Government
"Absolutely loved it. Surreal cabaret dance show doesn’t do it justice. Bonkers and stylish."
Audience Member
"An excellent show from NDCWales Zoetrope was amazing and the children loved it!"
School
“fun, weird and funny”.
Young person
What is a Zoetrope?
A zoetrope is a pre-film animation device that produce the illusion of motion by displaying a sequence of drawings or photographs showing progressive phases of that motion.
About Zoetrope
Length: 50 minutes
Dancers: 5-7
Choreographer: Lea Anderson MBE
Composer: Steve Blake
Designer: Simon Vincenzi
Lighting Designer: Marty Langthorne
Costume Supervisor / maker: Deryn Tudor
Costumer Maker: Danial Thatcher
Props Maker: Johanna Lloyd
Lea Anderson
Lea Anderson MBE
Lea Anderson is an independent artistic director and choreographer based in North Devon.
Lea is a co-founder and artistic director of The Cholmondeleys and The Featherstonehaughscompanies. As well as touring extensively throughout the UK and overseas, the companies are renowned for their pioneering work in non-theatrical spaces and venues.
In 2002 Lea was awarded an MBE for her services to dance, and in 2006 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Dartington College of Arts. In 2014 Lea was appointed Regents Professor at the University of California, in Los Angeles.
Lea’s notable recent work includes:
2022: Shuffle: touring interactive dance work that sees the audience take part as voting club-goers. Part performance, part game
2020: Elvis Legs (Quarantine Mix): a distanced ensemble dance work, funded using Kickstarter and filmed on Zoom during the Covid lockdown.
2019: Los Amores de Marte y Venus: commission for Danza Contemporanea de Cuba, Havana, Cuba.
2019: Laberinto: commission for Compania Danza PUCP Peru
2019: The Alien’s Guide to Dance Gone Wrong, commission for Maiden Voyage, Belfast (2019).
Duckie Loves Fanny, a commission by Duckie 2019
Digital and film work includes:
Dance:Capture:Chelsea-21, 2021. commissioned by Chelsea Theatre London, a filmed collection of found dances.
Pans People Papers, 2015. A transmedia project with Marisa Zanotti
How to Talk to Girls at Parties 2017, feature film, written by Neil Gaiman, director John Cameron Mitchell
The Lost Dances of Egon Schiele 2000, BBC. Co-directors: Lea Anderson and Kevin McKiernan.
Velvet Goldmine 1997, feature film, directed by Todd Haynes
Lea has a special interest in intangible cultural heritage and living collections and has created performed exhibitions at the V&A museum (Hand in Glove, 2016), at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery (Trying it On, 2018), and in an archeological site in Lima, Peru (Huaca, 2017). Lea was artist in residence at the Horniman Museum, London in 2019 and a Creative Fellow at The Bill Douglas Film Museum, Exeter 2019-2020.
Parents
We’re offering free workshops to audiences to Zoetrope, our brand new show for schools and families.
Those attending on Saturday 27 April can enjoy a prop making workshop followed by a chance to boogie, before watching a brilliant performance.
11am-12pm: Make Your Own Zoetrope
12pm-1pm: Family Dance Workshop
2.30pm – 3.30pm: Performance
No need to book.
Workshops will take place in the Wales Millennium Centre on the Glanfa stage and Lolfa - simply turn up to take part.
These workshops are free to ticket holders for the Zoetrope performance.
Schools
Dance is one of the five disciplines of the Expressive Arts Area of Learning and Experience – and is an artform that can be used to motivate and encourage learners to develop their creative, artistic and performance skills, as well as assisting coordination, numeracy and physical education.
Zoetrope is our new show for schools and families
Our performance package includes lesson plans covering points across the cirriculum.
Learn more about our schools package for Zoetrope
Supported by:
