Dance City announce the recipient of the 2024/2025 of the Gillian Dickinson Trust, Dance City and Northumberland Dance Development Fund Commission

North East based dance company Pelican Theatre is the successful recipient of the 2024/25 Gillian Dickinson Trust, Dance City and Northumberland Dance Development Commission. The company will receive £24,000 to develop Kylie Jenner’s Private Jet, a new choreographic work to be premiered at Dance City on 3rd April 2025. 

 

Pelican Theatre, a dance and physical theatre company, is the combination of dance artists Ellie Trow and Pagan Hunt. The company’s focus is to create new, thought provoking and emotive dance works that speak to audiences. Pelican Theatre also specialise in community participation practice to improve wellbeing and connection. 

 

The company describe Kylie Jenner’s Private Jet as:  

 

Guilt, powerlessness, frustration, dread. A (sort of) comedy about the climate crisis – if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry. 

Combining movement, comedy, and theatre, Kylie Jenner’s Private Jet navigates the well-known wasteland of Gen- Z climate anxiety. Growing up being told the world is ending, and it’s all our fault, how do we begin to even think about saving it? The show delves into those complex feelings and nonsensical decisions, with dry humour keeping us one step away from total nihilism (just about). What power do we have as individuals in the face of climate collapse? What impact do our tiny actions have, compared to those of selfish celebrities and consumption on a global scale? 

 

Through fresh, surrealist dance theatre, Kylie Jenner’s Private Jet boldly asks the question that keeps us all up at night – what is the point? 

 

 

As well as the dance commission, Pelican Theatre will undertake a development residency at Dance City and work with students of the Centre for Advanced Training (CAT) and third year BA (Hons) students. 

 

On being awarded the commission, Pelican Theatre said: 

 

“We are delighted to be the recipients of the Gillian Dickinson Trust, Dance City and Northumberland Dance Development Fund Commission for 24/25 and are so ready to take this next step in the development of Pelican Theatre. Being a North-East based company, we are so excited to premiere at Dance City before taking our work to other venues across the region. As alumni of Dance City’s Training Academy, we are looking forward to deepening connections with the CAT and BA students, as well as across Newcastle, Northumberland and beyond.” 

Tickets for Kylie Jenner’s Private Jet are on sale now.