This autumn, Birmingham Hippodrome and dance development organisation Fabric co-presents three exciting new performances in our Patrick Studio as part of THIS IS DANCE, an international season of dance in Birmingham.

Now in its second year, THIS IS DANCE will ensure that audiences across the city experience the very best dance created in the Midlands, across the UK and around the world. This latest programme brings together a local and international line-up of artists and companies from the UK, Italy, USA, Canada, Poland, the Netherlands, Germany and Benin.

The Dirty Work, a new solo performance by Jo Bannon comes to the Patrick Studio on Saturday 7 November. Blending the tricks of the magic trade – a white rabbit, a magic wand, a puff of smoke – with her lived experience of visual impairment, Bannon invites you to glimpse a world where truth and illusion converge.

On Friday 20 November, Silvia Gribaudi’s Graces uses a raw and deeply empathetic comic style to blur the boundaries between dance, theatre and performance.

Fresh from a triumphant debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Anatomy of Survival on Thursday 26 November is an offbeat collaboration between award-winning playwright Vivienne Franzmann and choreographer and psychotherapist Frauke Requardt. Bringing together twenty-two very different eyewitness accounts of one everyday altercation, Anatomy of Survival shows how our nervous systems are stuck in the Stone Age.

The full THIS IS DANCE programme includes a masterclass with Justine A Chambers, performance artist Dana Mitchel and Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man, which leaps onto our main stage from Tuesday 13 October – Saturday 17 October.

THIS IS DANCE furthers Fabric’s mission to create the conditions for dance in the Midlands to flourish through curiosity, disruption and joy. Paul Russ, Fabric’s CEO and Artistic Director said: “THIS IS DANCE demonstrates how organisations with distinct identities can work collectively to grow the city’s cultural offer, positioning Birmingham as a city where adventurous dance and performance can flourish.”

Russ added: “THIS IS DANCE will strengthen Birmingham’s reputation for bold and adventurous performance and create the conditions for dance and choreography to reach wider audiences and have greater impact than would be possible independently.”

Jon Gilchrist, Birmingham Hippodrome’s Artistic Director and CEO, said, “We’re excited to build on the success of THIS IS DANCE with a vibrant new season. Together with Fabric and our partners across the city, we’re creating more opportunities for artists and audiences to experience bold, inspiring dance from Birmingham and around the world.”

Tickets can be booked at www.birminghamhippodrome.com or by calling 0121 689 3000.

To find out more and view the full programme presented across Birmingham visit Fabric’s website.