Dance City is thrilled to announce that two stunning performances by North East Dance Creators have been nominated for this year’s Journal Culture awards.

Vivien Wood, has been selected in the ‘Performance of the Year’ category for her emotive Dance City commission Exile. The piece premiered at DanceCity last summer and toured to Durham Cathedral, St Mary’s Heritage Centre and Holy Island.

The second nomination in the ‘Arts Council Award’ category is for a spectacular piece of outdoor dance theatre Faust by choreographer and Dance City Associate Choreographic Artist Robby Graham and Southpaw Dance Company.

Inspired by the Lindisfarne Gospels, and forming part of the Lindisfarne Gospels cultural programme Exile is a beautiful physical theatre piece inspired by the journey of the Lindisfarne monks. The work presents a visual and aural journey through life created by a collaboration of internationally renowned vocalists, physical theatre artists, musicians and dancers.

Originally from Gateshead, Vivien received a scholarship at an early age to attend the Royal Ballet School in London. She went on to work with leading dance companies DV8, Michael Clark, Rui Horta and many more, both nationally and internationally. Vivien returned three years ago to live in the North East.

In a re-imagining of Goethe’s original work, Southpaw Dance Company’s Faust portrays a world of drinking, gambling, womanising and general debauchery where the Speakeasy is a perfect place for a man to lose his soul. In this work we see Faust manipulated, to both comic and tragic effect, into a deal with the devil where his very soul hangs in the balance.

Robby has choreographed several notable dance works, including ‘Aftermath’ which was commissioned for the Place Price in 2010, and then recently created ‘Riots’, a Dance City commission. Robby formed Southpaw Dance Company in 2013 as means of continuing to explore his creative vision and develop his unique style of movement.

Anthony Baker, Artistic Director and Joint CEO of Dance City said: “We are extremely proud of Vivien and Robby for their recent achievements and these nominations are absolutely deserved. We recognise the outstanding work they are doing and are very proud to support them. It’s great to see such high quality dance being made here in the region. We wish them every success.”

Vivien Wood said, ‘Exile was a wonderful project to be involved in and I am absolutely thrilled that audience members took the time to vote. It is a huge recognition of the performers’ exceptional talents’.

Robby Graham Artistic Director of Southpaw Dance Company said, “It is wonderful to have Faust recognised through the Culture Awards. We had a great time touring last year and are excited to build on that success throughout our Summer tour in 2014.”