Dance

Brian Brady and Anthony Bowne
The Laban Centre

There’s a real sense of magic about the Laban Centre. When dusk falls and red and green lights pick out the curvy white contours of Herzog + de Meuron’s award-winning building, it can’t help but put a spring in your step. Feature continues

It’s two and a half years since the school moved from its crumbling New Cross home, during which time London’s leading contemporary dance school (past students include Matthew Bourne) has also become one of its most exciting venues.

‘It’s a very cool place to be now,’ says theatre director Brian Brady. ‘There’s a real dynamic about the building that turns coming here into an event.’

Earlier this year the Laban hosted must-see shows by fast-rising new stars Stan Won’t Dance (‘Sinner’) and the highly influential Cholmondeleys & Featherstonehaughs’ twentieth birthday show ‘Double Take’; now Brady is looking to push Laban as a centre for both commissioning and producing its own work. Diversity will be the key as he seeks to turn the Laban’s impressive auditorium into the kind of middle-scale dance venue that’s been sadly lacking in the city.

As well as hosting shows, the new Laban centre also has 18 dance studios (allowing it to also offer public dance classes), a state-of-the-art library, bar and restaurant. ‘The building has been a quantum leap as far as our public profile is concerned,’ says director Anthony Bowne. ‘We’ve now got one of the best contemporary dance facilities in the world.’

‘One of the dance studios is totally dedicated to community classes and it’s really encouraging to see people who’ve started there going on to take up professional training.’

The next step will be a creative merger with near neighbours Trinity College of Music to form the Trinity Laban, which will be London’s first conservatoire of dance and music.