Since 2005, Street Stories has brought together professional artists and young people from east London, with the shared aim of creating high-quality new work inspired by the Royal Opera House’s repetory. Integrating the expertise of both organisations, Street Stories projects draw on dance, drama, classical opera, music production, singing, design and film to create new and exciting collaborative work.
Projects to date include:
Street Stories: Dance Collaborations (2013-14)
A two part project that built on our learning from 2012, offering a major artist development programme for emerging artists, followed by a commission for 3 of those emerging artists to make a new work for the Linbury Theatre, inspired by Faust. Kerry Nicholls led the whole project, and mentored the artists throughout.
Inspired by Shakespeare’s Othello (2012)
In 2012 we hand-picked six emerging choreographers and composers/music producers who we paired to create new collaborative partnerships.
Working with young performers aged 13 – 22 from across east London, the collaborative teams worked intensively with each other and the young people for 6 months. Mentored by choreographer Kerry Nicholls and composer Paul Griffiths, each team worked with specialist guest artists from choreography to spoken word, and dramaturgy to film making, to create new work based on the theme of Shakespeare’s Othello.
Three pieces were presented in the Clore Studio Theatre.
The Last Genie (2008)
The Last Genie was devised as a response to Will Tuckett’s 2008 Royal Opera House Christmas show, Thief of Bagdad.
Over eight months a team of prestigious artists worked with ambitious young people to create this 40-minute production. It was performed on the same set as Thief of Bagdad, at the Linbury Theatre at the Royal Opera House.
Demon Juice (2007)
Demon Juice was a dance-opera, translating the Mozart classic, Don Giovanni, into the modern-day story of Juice, a free-running bad boy from “No-Go Estate, London East”.
Demon Juice brought together 60 young East Londoners, and inspiring artists from the worlds of opera and hip hop. The scale of the production was one of the most ambitious youth projects delivered by East London Dance and Royal Opera House Education.
It was performed at both Stratford Circus and the Clore Studio at the Royal Opera House in November 2007. The result was a thought-provoking, shocking, but ultimately beautiful piece of Urban Dance Opera.
See interviews with some cast members at London Youth Dance
The Real Thing (2005)
The Real Thing kicked off the Street Stories partnership, and started the exciting journey of fusing opera with hip-hop.
Taking the story of Puccini’s La Boheme, a group of young people created a short dance film, under the direction of a team of professional artists. The film was shown before the live-screen relay of La Boheme on screens across the country. The cast gathered in Victoria Park to watch the film and received a standing ovation from the audience.
