1995
Retina Dance Company was founded in September 1995 by Filip Van Huffel and Sacha Lee.
1996 - 1998
Battery was premiered at The Place Theatre, London on 20th January 1996. This was followed by the creation of Crave, Pit and Tweeling with support from Whitethorn Strategic Development, ABSA, London Arts, Vlaamse Gemeenschap and Kunstencentrum Vooruit. This early period enabled Retina to identify their strengths in producing work that evokes a sense of narrative in an abstract form.
1999 - 2002
Since 1999 Retina has been supported by both British and Belgian funding organisations. Through their support they have created full-length productions: Hard Shoulder, a hard-hitting, brash, funky quintet with live music.
In 2000, Oxygenius, a visually stunning quartet that explored the human reactions when the body is starved of oxygen.
In 2001, Filip, now sole artistic director, created Toxin. Two natural poisons played against each other - the liquid environment of Inkt, and the acidic and vivid Fungus.
In 2002 Retina created X:, abstracting our obsessions with game shows in TV culture.
With over 150 performances and numerous education residencies throughout the UK, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, India, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland and Venezuela, audiences, press and participants have commented on the inventive movement vocabulary, humour, energy and high quality performances from the dancers.
2003 - 2004
Me:Mo was created and performed 28 times. A work inspired by memories of people and places, Me:Mo was a great success. Beautiful and inspiring performers, live music from Jules Maxwell and film by Lucy Baldwyn collectively came together to create a work that nudged the memories of the audience, making them laugh and cry.
Starting with a solo from Filip inspired by a Copenhagen dockyard, Antwerp train station and the glamorous Flanders beaches, Me:Mo developed into a group work that drew on personal memories of the performers and highlighted their individuality. A collage of memories from Gary Clarke, Maria Palliani, Mitsiko Shimura, Elisabetta d'Aloia and Jules Maxwell.
Also during this period, Filip was commissioned to choreograph works for other dance companies, most notably Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company, StopGap Dance Company and Verve, the graduate students from Northern School of Contemporary Dance. All distinct from one another, Filip enjoys the challenges provided by working with other companies and has received critical acclaim for such productions.
Also in 2003 Retina created Freeze, a Dance for the Camera BBC/ACE production with director Lucy Baldwyn and composer Jules Maxwell, a beautifully serene film screened on BBC2 in March 2003.
In 2004 Retina moved their office base from London to Nottingham after receiving funding from Arts Council England East Midlands for organisational development and research. This led to new and positive relationships in the region as well as providing an opportunity for Filip to take time out of a production process to explore his choreographic potential.
2005
The year began with the production of a new work for students at the Higher Institute for Dance in Antwerp, Belgium set to Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint which premiered with live music at De Singel in Antwerp.
This was followed by Retina continuing to enjoy their research period, before embarking on a three production exploration of the body using three different starting points or influences.
The first, Eleven stories for the body, distance to our soul used eleven different texts created specifically for the piece. The second work This is not a body uses surrealist art and will be touring from Spring 2007 and the final work, Corpuralis uses architecture as its inspiration and will tour in 2008. The inclusion of artists from other fields throughout these projects has taken the company’s creativity even further and has widened the target audiences considerably.
2006
Eleven stories for the body, distance to the soul toured until the summer, followed by Retina’s graduate training project PAGE1 throughout the autumn. A professional development opportunity for 6 graduates to create a new work The boy who never grows old, as well as a teacher training and performance project across the East Midlands region. Over 1000 participants and audiences enjoyed workshops and performances across the region while the dancers developed their skills teaching and performing to 9 to 90 year olds. Additionally PAGE1 provided an opportunity for a trainee administrator and trainee film-maker to learn the tasks related to their fields.
2007
The year began with the production of This is not a body. The second work in the triptych that Eleven stories for the body, distance to our soul began. After the hugely successful PAGE1 project, Retina decided to employ the 6 graduates for this touring production. The work premiered at ccbe, Antwerp, Belgium on March 27th/28th to an excellent response, with audiences commenting on the beauty, the integration of the dance, visual art and new music and the performance standards of the dancers.
During Easter 2007, Retina led their first Easter dance festival in Nottingham, Retina Springs 2007. Based at several venues around Nottingham, this participatory event offered the opportunity for young, old, amateur and professional dancers to work with the Retina company for two weeks to create a performance work. Enjoyed by all involved, Retina Springs 2008 was immediately put in the diary!
A choreographic commission for Filip for Scottish School of Contemporary Dance was followed by another for DanceKiosk in Hamburg. Both culminating in great performances with excellent feedback.
The 2006 project PAGE1 saw the production of The boy who never grows old, and the feedback from this work led Retina to keep the production in the repertory. From October onwards Retina is performing both The boy who never grows old and This is not a body nationally and internationally.
2008
The year began with the culmination of Filip’s choreographic commission on EDge Dance Company, the post-graduate performance company from London Contemporary Dance School. INStill is touring as part of their repertory throughout the year. Rohanna and Matt, two of the Retina dancers were also engaged in a large scale performance project with the final year degree students at Brooksby Melton College, creating a work based on surrealism that was performed in April this year.
The whole company led a fantastic participatory project RAUW in ccbe, Antwerp in February. 79 participants from age 12 to 59 took part for one week to create a site-specific performance event in all the spaces in ccbe.
Touring then took over the companies next few months with performances and projects across the UK and Belgium. Hundreds of workshops have been taught alongside performances of both This is not a body and The boy who never grows old.
Retina Springs 08 took place during the Easter holiday with participants from across Europe all working together towards a final performance. This incorporated a Choreographic Laboratory for Eleni Edipidi and Antje Hildebrandt, where they created their own work guided by Filip and Natalie.
In September Filip created a new company work Relative Danger. A 30-minute dynamic work to reach a wide-ranging audience group, Relative Danger was performed alongside a lecture demonstration that illuminates the choreographic process in a fun and interactive approach. Look at the current production pages for more information about this work.
The year ended with a choreographic commission from Filip for Verve, the post-graduate performance company at Northern Contemporary Dance School. This is not a love song was created with music by Jules Maxwell and toured internationally until summer 2009.
2009
The year began with an audition for a new company. 600 applicants from across the world applied and after a long but enjoyable process 4 men were selected for the creation of a new work Antipode. This production premiered in July in DanceKiosk Hamburg and is a raw and exhilarating production inspired by extreme opposites. Go to current productions to check out the tour schedule.
Retina were also partners in Dance Beyond Borders this year. This European professional development project funded by the European Commission was a collaboration with ArtEZ danceacademie in Arnhem Netherlands, DanceKiosk Hamburg, Escola Superior de Danca Lisbon, London Metropolitan University and SharingArts ev Hamburg. Ten aspiring choreographers came for a two week residency in Antwerp for classes and mentoring from Filip and Natalie before a culminating 2 weeks in Hamburg with performances of their work.
September begins with a RAUW project for dancers over age 50 in cc Deurne, Belgium followed by an autumn tour of Antipode and Relative Danger. Performances are accompanied by workshops for all ages and abilities. Check out the workshop page for more info.
