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Dance Umbrella and Sadler’s Wells present Abby Z and the New Utility Radioactive Practice

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A dancer holding a hip hop pose on stage

Hurtling onto the stage with explosive physicality, six performers challenge their physical and mental limits.


Join us in the round for this bold, genre-bending new work, named one of New York Times’ ‘Best Dance Performances of 2022.’

Drawing influences from street dance, synchronised swimming, post-modern dance, tap, football, martial arts and contemporary African forms; Radioactive Practice from award-winning American choreographer Abby Zbikowski and crew, shatters movement expectations and explores our instincts for survival.

With seating surrounding the stage, audiences will be immersed in the action throughout this powerful piece which incorporates the work of Senegalese dance artist Momar Ndiaye as dramaturge to interrogate the complexities of contemporary living.

Abby Zbikowski and her company Abby Z and the New Utility create contemporary dance works that pay homage to the effort of living. Zbikowski’s rigorous training in African and Afro-diasporic forms, playing sports and performing manual labour informs her craft.

In 2018 Zbikowski was nominated by Stephen Petronio as a ‘Choreographer of the Future’ for Dance Umbrella’s Four by Four commission. Following the global pandemic, Radioactive Practice now makes its European premiere at Sadler’s Wells as part of Dance Umbrella Festival 2024.

Read the freesheet

Nearest tube is
Angel

Riveting, breathtaking

★★★★★ CHATHAM LIFE & STYLE

A bold new energy that speaks to survival and purpose as dancers strive to move beyond physical and mental limitations.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Hypnotic bursts of energy, punctuated by moments of wind turbine-like momentum

OREGON ARTSWATCH

Full commitment and full presence—at full throttle

INDY WEEK

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