Blue Elephant Theatre, Camberwell

Blue Cloud Scratch is an exciting new dance scratch night, showcasing works in progress from a diverse range of choreographers, and is curated by Blue Elephant Theatre and Cloud Dance Festival. Blue Cloud Scratch aims to encourage and provide emerging dance artists with opportunities to present their works in progress and receive feedback from audiences and peers.

For more about the Blue Cloud Scratch and Cloud Dance Festival, click here.

The Left Hand Path - Lucy Palmer Dance

Walking through life with socially acceptable masks, pulling the veil across each urge we choose to suppress. The Left Hand Path will explore the dark side of the psyche through an intrinsically woven male trio. Three bodies in space discovering their shadow side, unable and unwilling to accept the animalistic nature, envy and rage.

Lucy Palmer's choreographic work includes: 140BPM, The Latest Pair of Jimmy Choo’s, To See, Scratch Mark and How am I not myself? These have been presented at: The Crypt Gallery, The Place, and Woking Dance Umbrella. Lucy achieved her MA in Choreography from Middlesex University mentored by Christopher Bannerman, Emilyn Claid and Angela Woodhouse.

Choreographer: Lucy Palmer
Performers: Joey Barton, Harry Parr and Riley Wolf
Photo credit: Yulia Antonov

Wom(b)an – Mητ(έ)ρα - Despina Mavrou

Woman – mother – creator.

In the UK, 1 in 5 women are likely to have a hysterectomy by the age of 60. What does it mean to have/not have a womb and how is one's identity affected by it? Exploring the ways a body can create, the loss of the ability to create life enables the creation of this piece.

Choreographer & Performer: Despina Mavrou

Despina Mavrou is artistic director and co-founder of Piece by Piece dance company. She trained in classical, modern and contemporary techniques and choreography in Cyprus and London. Despina's choreography is concerned with issues that affect her personally, as well as societal matters that affect women widely, and tries (and occasionally succeeds) to inject some light-heartedness and humour into her work.

This solo was created through a one year residency at Space@Clarence Mews, with mentoring and support from Caroline Salem.

Photo credit: Despina Mavrou

Living is Dancing - Justine Reeve and Company

Living is dancing explores the desire that dancers have for finding performance work, voyeuristically watching four dancers trapped in the audition process. It embodies a time when you are at your most optimistic, naive, venerable, self-conscious but determined to spend a lifetime in dance, before you grasp that nettle. Performed by dancers from companies apprentice programme and aimed at KS3/KS4.

Choreographer: Justine Reeve
Performers: Xanthe Wilson, Hester Gill, Ella Fleetwood, Vicky Mead & Katherine Voget
Music composed by: Paul Sandrone
Voice: Justine Reeve
Film/photos: Jeremy Reeves

Justine Reeve and Company make work that reveals the diverse state of existence exploring the unhinged aspects of the human condition. There is an on-going exploration of the relationship between movement, text, music and comedy and how these forms can be used to reveal a mischievous and poignant expression. This has been revealed more recently in her irrepressible web series Smacks of Naff.

aLove Story - MCDC

Are we more devoted to gadgets than our loved ones, seeking positive reinforcement and emotional attachment from our phones in place of other human beings? aLove Story takes you on a journey we can all relate to. In a digital age, this piece explores the attachment love can bring.

Choreographer & performer: Michaela Cisarikova
Spoken word artist: Malin Smedhagen
Photo credit: Imoje Aikhoje

MCDC was founded by Artistic Director and Choreographer Michaela Cisarikova in 2014 in London. Commissions and other Performances include: Breaking Convention 2017 at Sadler’s Wells, Emerge Festival 2016, Resolution 2017, The Living Advent Calendar at Folkestone, East London Dance, Junction Dance, The Space Theatre, The Broadway Theatre, The Longfield Hall, Stara Arena (Czeck Republic), Dom Kultury Cadca (Slovakia), Nakuru Players Theatre (Kenya), Footprint Festival and others. MDCD’s mission is to challenge creativity; explore diversity and broaden audiences within dance.

Return to Troy - Sarah Louise Kristiansen

Return to Troy is inspired by Homer’s Odessey. In an abstract dreamlike state Ulyssus returns to a destroyed Troy, aware that in any war that is won, a loser also exists. The piece is inspired by current global political affairs which relates to Homer’s Odessey by sharing stories of belonging, displaced bodies and desolate memories.

Choreographer: Sarah Louise Kristiansen
Image credit: Muhannad Shono

Danish-born choreographer Sarah Louise Kristiansen has worked internationally in prestigious venues including The Royal Albert Hall, The Kremlin Theatre, The Gwangju Biennale, The ICA and has completed further training at Millennium Dance Studios and EDGE Pac in Los Angeles. Additionally she has spent time in the Shaolin Temple in China, researching Shaolin Wushu martial arts. Sarah Louise has travelled the world dancing and running successful projects globally, including with her company Making Dance Happen, which she decided to establish to promote community development through international research excursions for young artists.