CALLING ALL PERFORMANCE PROFESSIONALS
Wed 13 Sep 2023
Transform 23 international festival will take place across Leeds, UK from 11-22 October. Get ready to lose yourself in epic odysseys and dark woodland, hear unspoken secrets, meet iconic orphans, join ceremonial concerts and unite in shared euphoria… Transform 23 is here.
Featuring international performance, dance, music and interventions, Transform 23 is our most ambitious edition yet. As the festival draws closer, we’re extending an open-hearted invitation to performance professionals across Yorkshire, the UK, Europe and beyond to gather with us in Leeds.
We are excited to be drawing together a community of artists, programmers and wider performing arts professionals in Leeds for the festival – and we invite you to join us.
Read more and register below.
Transform 23 runs across two long weekends. The first weekend, from Wednesday 11 – Saturday 14 October features…
- Brand new Transform co-production SECRETS by Ásrún Magnúsdóttir (Iceland) working with young people across Leeds alongside an audio exhibition by Transform’s Young Curators
- Large-scale public intervention Public Trust by Paul Ramírez Jonas (USA) and opening concert by Desire Marea (South Africa), in collaboration with citywide light festival Light Night
- UK premiere of Transform commission OH DEER! by APHIDS (Australia)
- UK premiere of
DARKMATTER by dance artist Cherish Menzo (Netherlands)
The second weekend, from Thursday 19 – Sunday 22 October features…
- UK premiere of ONE SONG by Miet Warlop (Belgium)
- UK premiere of Transform co-production Pumpitopera Transatlantica by MEXA (Brazil)
- Alongside Pumpitopera, specially commissioned Leeds based artists present short performances and interventions before the show
- Hannah Buckley, Hollie Miller & Craig Scott (UK) present durational dance work Blood Bone Breath
- Katy Baird (UK) presents the world premiere of new commission Get Off
- Wider international programming includes Out of the Blue by Silke Huysmans and Hannes Dereere (Belgium), SOTTOBOSCO by Chiara Bersani (Italy) and Songs for No One by Nastaran Razawi Khorasani (Netherlands/Iran)
- An intimate encounter Photos of Sichovykh Striltsiv Street by Dmytro Levytskyi (Ukraine)
- Our final night party CLUB ODYSSEY features explosive acts from across Leeds and beyond exploring their inner myths and monsters
In addition to the programme of shows, we are hosting the following special events for visiting professionals…
- Professionals Lunch
Fri 20 Oct, 2.30–4pm
Join us for a late lunch – gathering festival artists, the Transform team and visiting professionals for a bite to eat on us. - Horizon Moment
Sat 21 Oct, 12–1.15pm, CLAY: Centre for Live Art Yorkshire
In collaboration with Horizon: Performance created in England, watch a work in progress by Yorkshire based artist Popperface (AKA Gareth Chambers) followed by a conversation with Transform‘s Creative Director Amy Letman.
We have a limited capacity for these events, we will ask you to RSVP as part of your registration. There will also be a number of pre and post show drinks events throughout the festival which registered professionals will be invited to attend.
We are pleased to be working with a number of local hotels to recommend accommodation for varying budgets, including with the Art Hostel who we have a rate with. Details will be sent following registration.
Tell us your dates and plans by registering here and we’ll be in touch.
If you’re an international professional, we are thrilled to let you know that our friends at Take Me Somewhere (Glasgow), Dance Umbrella (London) and SPILL Festival (Ipswich) also have festivals happening in October, so we encourage you to also engage with their programmes and visit them if you can.