Transform festival brings top-class global artists to Leeds

This year’s Transform festival, bringing international artists to Leeds, ends on a high note this weekend. Nick Ahad reports.
Frontera Border by Amanda Pina. Picture: Dajana LothertFrontera Border by Amanda Pina. Picture: Dajana Lothert
Frontera Border by Amanda Pina. Picture: Dajana Lothert

The last two years have had an impact on all sectors of the performing arts industry. Nowhere is this more true than with Transform, a Leeds-based international festival that relies on bringing artists from around the world to the city; a global pandemic and an international festival do not good bedfellows make.

Fortunately if you have the gumption to bring together an international festival at all, then you are the kind of person who can cope with a pandemic. Amy Letman is one such person.

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The powerhouse that is Letman began Transform when she worked at Leeds Playhouse as an associate producer, but has run the festival as an independent organisation in recent years. Next year, all being well, she will bring the fourth Transform to Leeds.

Quarantine’s 12 Last Songs at this year’s Transform Festival. Picture: David LindsayQuarantine’s 12 Last Songs at this year’s Transform Festival. Picture: David Lindsay
Quarantine’s 12 Last Songs at this year’s Transform Festival. Picture: David Lindsay

In the past, Transform has run at venues across the city for a couple of weeks but the current edition of the festival, which comes to a close this weekend, has had a six-month-long run, spreading from last year, to this.

“We won’t be doing that again,” says Letman, who clearly sees this edition of Transform, which is a victory in as much as it happened at all, as something of a learning curve.

“Like every organisation, we’ve experienced difficulties over the last couple of years, we had to pivot and change plans and in many ways we had to reimagine our whole model. I see it as a positive challenge we’ve had to face in many ways.”

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That pivot meant this current edition of Transform, the third since it became independent of the Playhouse, had a longer run than ever before. That meant artists were able to spend longer in the city, but clearly has had an impact on the momentum of the festival. The pandemic also meant moving some events online, ensuring events were socially distanced and a host of other – the only honest word for it – compromises.

Amy Letman, creative director of Transform Festival.Amy Letman, creative director of Transform Festival.
Amy Letman, creative director of Transform Festival.

It doesn’t mean that the festival itself is compromised.

Letman, ever the optimist, saw opportunity in the last couple of years.

“It was an opportunity to reimagine and look at what we want to do in the future. We’ve had artists come for extended residencies, which is something we will be looking at for future festivals. It meant there was a deeper connection between the city and the artists that came here, but also between the artists we have in Leeds and those who are visiting from other places around the world,” she says.

Back to this year.

This weekend sees the culmination of the current Transform festival with what sounds like an extraordinary performance on top of a car park tonight and tomorrow.

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Frontera Border – a Living Monument, is a piece from Mexican-Chilean choreographer Amanda Pina, rooted in a dance that emerged from the neighbourhood of El Ejido Veinte of Matamoros, Tamaulipas. When it is presented tonight, on top of the multi-storey car park at Victoria Gate in Leeds, it will mark a UK premiere for this work.

“It’s the perfect demonstration of what Transform does, it’s a large-scale theatrical production bringing to life a space in the city that people would not normally be able to access. It’s going to be a spectacular moment, performed as the sun goes down and audiences will be able to see the panorama of the whole city,” says Letman.

“The piece itself is inspired by indigenous folk dance created in a place between the border of Mexico and the USA. That dance has been taken on by young people and evolved into this kind of ritual, a form of expression that is performed on the border between Mexico City and America. It is so exciting to be able to bring 13 fantastic performance artists and dancers to Leeds to perform this piece here.

“It also speaks to the ideas we have about Transform as being a festival that crosses borders, takes people into places they wouldn’t usually go, it’s going to be a really special piece of work.”

Border Frontera will be performed tonight and tomorrow.

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“I saw these artists on my first international trip, to Rome, since the start of the pandemic. Creating a festival like Transform relies on being able to see artists around the world, but again that all changed in the last couple of years, I knew when I saw this piece that it was the perfect piece to bring here for the festival,” says Letman.

Tonight sees the current edition of Transform come to a sort of close with A Party for Our Times. It is traditional for Transform to have an end of festival celebration, but as ever with the event, it’s more than just a knees-up.

“It’s going to be an amazing event with performances from some amazing artists,” says Letman. Anti-Suzanne, a ‘cruise ship performer’ will be on hand along with performances from Johnny the Biblical Rapper, Taiwanese lesbian drag artist Vee Dagger and Leeds-based dance artists MoMa – also known as Mayowa and Michael. The music will be provided by DJ Lucy Lockettand Leeds-based DJ and producer Shauna.

It sometimes feels like such a vast, sprawling thing, Transform can be quite a thing to pin down. I ask Letman what Transform actually is.

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“Transform is a meeting point for bold, adventurous, alternative performance experience. By bringing Transform to the city, we are making cultures, experiences and artists from around the world available to audiences in Leeds and in turn that makes all of us see the city in a different light.”

Frontera Border, tonight and tomorrow, Victoria Gate Car Park, Leeds.

Transform Presents: A Party For Our Times: The Holbeck, Leeds, tonight (Friday April 8, 7pm). Details: www.transformfestival.org