New Dimensions announces 2025 commission
New Dimensions has today announced that award-winning choreographer and movement director Malik Nashad Sharpe’s THE HEALING INDUSTRY has been selected as the second ever recipient of the 2025 New Dimension's commission. A radical combination of dance and live art inspired by horror in film and TV, it features nine performers and blends contemporary ballet, Butoh, Black social dances and Caribbean riddims.
The New Dimensions commission was formed in 2023 by Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (Brighton), Battersea Arts Centre (London), Take Me Somewhere (Glasgow), Tramway (Glasgow) and Transform (Leeds) and is the only fund of its kind in the UK which is designed to embolden and allow mid-scale artists to take the next step in their careers, to support homegrown work being taken to new audiences and grow the UK’s relationship with international venues.
Artists are paid to develop proposals and international programmers join the partners to offer feedback and guidance during the selection process. The winning work is supported to production by the partners with fundraising guidance, technical and rehearsal space and producing resource, before touring to leading arts venues and festivals in the UK and then internationally.
THE HEALING INDUSTRY will interrogate the concepts of Hope and Progress through a visceral, spectacular and unsettling performance. Inspired by horror, dark fantasy and myth-making, the piece will immerse audiences in an eerie world, treading the line between horror and humour, fear and complacency. It will premiere in Autumn 2027.
The first ever New Dimensions commission, EXXY by Dan Daw Creative Projects is due to have its world premiere this October following a two year making process. It will open at Battersea Arts Centre ahead of its UK tour to the partner venues and festivals.
Malik Nashad Sharpe said: ”I am honoured to have been given this immense opportunity to create my largest-scale work to date—New Dimensions comes at an exciting juncture in my career where I feel thirsty for my choreography to meet a level of ambition that is only afforded by an amazing opportunity like this. Since 2015, I have been creating thought-provoking stage works that look at some of the most pressing social and cultural questions of our time, and I am eager to start on my latest enquiry—interrogating the terms ‘Hope’ and ‘Progress’—by examining the industrialisation of healing and healing culture from an almost Nietzschean perspective with New Dimensions. ‘The Healing Industry’ will open in the Autumn of 2027, and I am thankful to the New Dimensions partners for believing in my work and creative principles.”
The New Dimensions Partners said on the selection: “We have long been admirers of Malik’s work and were delighted to invite them to apply for the New Dimensions 2025 commission. Malik’s practice boldly and unapologetically mixes genre and aesthetic, freely combining dance, theatre and live art forms and we are excited for him to devise The Healing Industry in the signature style. This project will allow Malik to expand their practice with a large-scale team and technical ambition, working in new and exciting ways for both him and us as partners. We are thrilled to accompany them on this journey and support their ambitions and can’t wait for the audience to see what Malik achieves.”
Malik Nashad Sharpe is known for his provocative works that address themes of violence, alienation, horror and melancholia. He frequently choreographs under his alias, Marikiscrycrycry. In 2019, he was named a Rising Star in Dance by Attitude Magazine and in 2022, he was featured on the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his unique and pervasive choreographic achievements. He has shown his work across the U.K., Europe, and Canada, is an Associate Artist at The Place and a studio resident of Somerset House Studios. He has held residencies at Sadlers Wells, Barbican and Tate Modern amongst others.
EXXY by Dan Daw Creative Projects is touring to:
2 - 10 October: Battersea Arts Centre
15 October: Tramway, Take Me Somewhere Festival, Glasgow
22-23 October: Leeds Playhouse, Transform 25 international performance festival, Leeds
6-7 November: Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Brighton
Photo of Malik Nashad Sharpe by Eric Anneborn