The Contemporary Choreographers’ Collective, better known as COCO, celebrated its fifteenth year as the region’s largest and longest running annual contemporary dance festival in 2023 with one of its biggest seasons at the National Academy for the Performing Arts NAPA).
The festival curates and showcases work by new, emerging and established choreographers from across the globe and is an eagerly awaited feature of the regional dance calendar. It also hosts workshops, lectures and seminars and has sponsored a vibrant outreach programme, COCO in the Community, since its inception.
In 2024, for its sixteenth year, COCO will break from its normal format. The festival usually builds its annual programme through a rigorous process that selects work received in response to the non-profit’s annual call for submissions. This year, to advance its mandate to build a more sustainable and impactful model, the festival will narrow its focus.
In October, COCO will host the world-famous Garth Fagan Dance for two shows and a series of workshops. Garth Fagan, is most celebrated for his choreography for the near-immortal “The Lion King”.
He also has an acclaimed body of contemporary work that spans over five decades. Dubbed a “national treasure” by the Library of Congress, Fagan’s work has been mounted on world-renowned companies such as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Company and the New York City Ballet, and, of course, his own company.
Trinidadian dancer and choreographer, Natalie Rogers, a member of the company for much of its history and an assistant choreographer of “The Lion King”, is now the executive director of the world-famous entity and is one of the architects of the visit in October.
According to COCO co-director, Sonja Dumas, “The Fagan project is a testament to COCO’s ambitious spirit. It will give us the space to dig deeper into understanding the needs of our of our core contributors in the dance community and we will host a series of online outreach sessions in the coming weeks.
“This reflective phase will empower us to thoughtfully recalibrate and innovate our offerings, ultimately shaping the forthcoming evolution of COCO into a more dynamic and inclusive platform that continues to celebrate and elevate the art of dance” added Dumas.
