Birmingham Royal Ballet principal dancer to bring live dance performances to Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital
A dynamic new pop-up dance company led by Birmingham Royal Ballet dancer Iain Mackay, will deliver three performances for the staff and patients of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham this June.
Staged at the main entrance to the hospital each performance will contain a variety of short dances, ranging in style from classical duet to modern contemporary pieces especially choreographed for this unique event.
The performances will also be filmed and live streamed across the Queen Elizabeth and Birmingham Royal Ballet social media platforms to further ensure that all patients, staff, carers, volunteers and members of the public can enjoy a brief break from hospital life to enjoy the shows, regardless of their mobility or location.
Dancer Iain Mackay has toured widely with Birmingham Royal Ballet throughout an impressive career is leading on this new venture and has enlisted the talents of other dancers from the company to help bring his vision of accessible art in unlikely places, to life.
Mackay commented that: "The goal for ODD Events is to take high quality live dance into places you wouldn’t expect to see it.
"I firmly believe access to the arts is more important than ever and it should be experienced by as many people as possible – regardless of their situation.
"This is my community, my family’s community and as a professional dancer, access to this art form is something that I have to offer.
"With ODD events I want to use my unique skill set to help to bring people together and inspire them, and I’m so looking forward to starting this at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital."
Philip Norman, Executive Chief Nurse at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust that runs the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, said: “We are excited to be hosting Open Door Dance and hope that our patients, visitors, and staff - where possible - are able to experience the incredible live dance that will be on show outside the hospital - or from their bed space via social media.
"These world class performances will no doubt serve as a welcome and inspirational distraction for our patients and their loved ones in June."
ODD Events will be performing three times at the Queen Elizabeth hospital on 7 June: 1:30pm, 3:30pm and 5:30pm
