This is what inspired me to create DANCE RUSH. This amazing thing called life. Life transpired in dance. In individuality, dance becomes a series of choreographies that become intrinsic, a part of our lives. When we wake up in the morning, we all have our own choreographic way of waking up… Some open their eyes and wait a few minutes staring at the windows or lampshade. Some get out of bed immediately and put on their fluffy slippers waiting anxiously by our bed. Some go straight to the toilet, do what one must do, wash their teeth, gargle with mint mouthwash and spend hours looking vaguely at the coloured wardrobe. Others cuddle for a few minutes and wrestle for half hour lovingly before getting up that is if sleeping next to undying loved ones. Then like a whining child call out for the lie-in-bed coffee. Later shower, put on the prepared-from-the-night -before suit and wash their teeth or mechanically shave in their cars on the way to the office. And this choreography is only a part of our first few minutes out of bed! We are dancing to our rhythm and we do not know we are dancing. What fascinates me is that some film directors put this choreography to music and it certainly works. It has also been choreographed brilliantly through moving pictures in many parts of the same movie “August Rush”. I have simply transformed it to grasp the theatrical space.

Our gait, the way we walk is all so “dancey”… Some of us walk slow, some leisurely slow. Some trip every few minutes as continuously absent-minded. Some fast, hurrying here and there and nothing escapes their attention. For a few minutes sit back at a coffee shop and watch other people watch others simply walk. They are watching theatre. The theatre of life. It is so spectacular watching the hundreds of people walking down main streets, coming in and out of elevators and trains, waiting in queues, playing sport, using their hands to talk ( say that to an Italian ) , making love, arguing… And many a times this dance becomes one. In football matches, in church rituals, in funeral processions, in wedding celebrations, in stock exchanges, in hot auctions, in security searches at airports… everywhere, dance is around us and we do not even know, we are not aware, we do not study.. but we know now. We are all dancers created by mother nature, by a loving supreme being, by God.
Dancers by nature, dancers because we are humans, dancers because we are.

And yet we always associate dance to music. The movie ‘August Rush ‘ is entirely based on the importance of music in the estranged life of three people and I based my new dance creation on this astonishingly positive movie. Music brings these three people together, making them whole again, making them one, one family. Music plays a tremendous part in all our lives. That’s true without any doubt. But my music goes further. It’s the music of bees, the music of cars, the music of machinery…

Music that touches our hearts, music that reminds us of important events in our lives, music that recalls names and people and periods in our lives. I have given a lot of importance to music in my life as music has given me more dance in my existence… As I mentioned beforehand, in all of my life not just in a studio but also in my bedroom, in my church, in my relationships, in my heart and soul, music is intertwined in my haemoglobin. And music is so varied. These simple seven notes, just seven notes, when mixed, perturbed, joined, bounced, alternated produce classical, opera, swing, blues, rock, ethnic, commercial .. Seven styles I have incorporated in DANCE RUSH. I wish I could added more styles but I am sure these two hours of dance, of music, of life will make us all aware of the importance of music in our lives, the dancer that lives or sleeps within us, the beauty of dance and music that bring one family together … Family being the most essential oxygen of love within our lives.

It has been a hard ride creating dance during the long hot Maltese summers when our temperatures were sometimes hotter than those in Dubai. And I know, my dancers know in our knowledge that this process called choreography, the creation of dance will make those experiencing DANCE RUSH stamp their little toes, rest their heads on their partner’s chest and feel their heartbeat, clap to the sound of the best, get up and dance with us or simply .. want to dance, dance the dance of life.

Felix Busuttil
Creator of DANCE RUSH
Founder of The YADA Dance Company
CREATING DANCE… Creating DANCE RUSH

DANCE RUSH tells the story of an orphan child looking for his lost parents and finds them through the media of music and dance. The brand YADA is unique and original. It pushes theatrical boundaries involving the audiences with fever-pitch choreography. The whole theatre becomes the stage. The choice of music very eclectic – like a chocolate box, filled with varied tastes. YADA has matured through its 30-years of existence. But even when it started in 1984 with its first show, the audiences stood up and wanted more. The elements in YADA’s shows are simple – the understanding of human nature, a joie-de-vivre that is infectious and above all the passion for dance that is so vivid and alive that makes one leave the theatre feel elated. DANCE RUSH will deliver just that. It takes this young boy on seven fantastic journeys –the world of Jazz, Opera, Classical, Rock, Swing, Ethnic and Commercial – until it reaches the climax. A young orphan re-finding home fulfilling all his wishes. It tells the story of us all. The need to come home, to find solace and happiness . And many times when we are away from “home” physically, mentally or emotionally, any familiar music will transport us just there. Dance is great. It can be transported all over the world and is understood. YADA is well-known as an European-identity dance company. It sets to light its American dream and make it a reality. The director’s principle goal is one – give joy, makes one lose all negativity and find a sense in this senseless world.

YADA stems from a little rock in the heart of the Mediterranean. America for all the dancers is true excitement. Malta is only an island 14km by 29km. Tiny. With a population of only 450,000. But through this sheer want to be heard and exist, its artistes have developed a strong passion for the Arts. Not through the want of fame or business, but the true essence of Art. The need to share, to communicate, to embellish. Malta is truly an economical success. No resources, no lakes or rivers, no bridges, no trains or metros, no high amounts of exports. Nevertheless, the island has strong values, a high sense of education and powerful will to survive. Its people hospitable, friendly, trusting. Through the ages, Malta has been conquered by Prehistoric inhabitants, the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Arabs, the Normans, the Knights of St. John ( the first true European Union ), the French and finally the British. This weird but effervescent mixture has stewed and fermented into what is today Maltese. European yes but decidedly rare and unique. So, for YADA to perform in the great US of A it is truly magical, demanding, daunting…. And wonderful.

Dance rehearsals are in full swing and the dancers are reminded as they face their wall-to-wall mirror of this amazing journey that starts in San Francisco in January 2013 at The Palace of Fine Arts in the heart of the city. Humbly they shall be bringing their incredible journey from the Mediterranean Sea to the Pacific. A strong troupe of 40 dancers, singers, technical and artistic crew with one mission in mind – to deliver, perform and share in this experience. The DANCE RUSH experience.

DANCE RUSH , The YADA Dance Company – Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco.

Opening 11 January 2013.

YADA is truly a miracle company as this successful company was born through a population of only 400,000 Maltese – Malta lies in the heart of the Mediterranean but has strong values, a deep sense of spirituality and a love for the stage derived from passion and not only from business. Felix Busuttil, Director and Founder of YADA, was born in the smaller sister island, Gozo with a mere 26 square mile size, roughly the size of Manhattan and a population of only 31,000! The islands boast of 6000 years of history possessing the oldest pre-historic temples of the world built 2000 years before the Pyramids of Giza. Coming from such a small country did not however stop Felix in creating this empire. Through sheer determination and a deep-seated belief, the company has become truly international starting its World Tour in San Francisco.

“ When I started to dance, it was quite late” Felix quotes. “ I started professionally at the age of 17. Quite late. But since I was a child, music just mesmerized me – I used to stare and visualize whole shows, complete shows with lights and costumes at the age of 8 and 10. I never closed my eyes to see and feel it – I was blessed by some powerful force to change music into movement and when I felt it, I transformed it into reality. The famous saying “Thoughts become reality”…”

Felix continues” Dance took over, music controlled me – and I have always wished to transfer and share the same elating music to all around me. I wished all felt how powerful music is – it makes one feel good, moves, changes, brings comfort, joy and compassion. It builds spectacles, cities, cultures and humanity. It seems that nature itself is governed by music. The ebb and flow, the crescendo and the andante, the sounds of weather and the creatures that roam planet Earth. The sounds of children laughing, our machinery at work, our walking… it is what inspired me to choreograph DANCE RUSH show.”

The show is inspired by the motion picture “August Rush” – it tells the story orphaned who escapes this imprisoned environment to look for his parents who believe the child is long gone and dead. Music brings them closer and closer until they finally meet in the freest area in New York, Central Park under a starlit night as his composition is being played. “DANCE RUSH” is inspired by such a story – the child is all of us. Our parents are those, anyone who brings us to life. Two people who give total comfort, warmth and love unconditionally. It is what universally we all hold dear. We want to escape from our constricted lives to come home through the beauty and splendor of music. Music is marvelously and solely made up of seven notes – seven notes that have an endless motion and diversity. And it these seven notes, these seven journeys into music that bring us closer to home – classical music, world music, opera, jazz, contemporary and celebrative music, ethnic and rock music… together with the sounds that surround us daily from the moment in our mother’s womb to the last breath and further beyond.

YADA’s DANCE RUSH will be premiered in Malta under the distinguished patronage of H.E. The President of The Republic of Malta, Europe on the 27th October 2012.

For further information visit www.dance-rush.com

And what better medium to utilize as a symbiosis with the same music, the same story, the story of our lives…brought to you through DANCE – the two entities, dance and music, a marriage born in heaven. This thought become a reality in my soul, in my mind and in my heart… And I am so sure that YADA will take you on a journey of a lifetime that will touch your souls and make you feel when leaving the theatres a part of it all, feeling you deserve to be home, feeling the POWER OF MUSIC… Enjoy the show”.

Felix Busuttil
Director, The YADA Dance Company
Creator of DANCE RUSH
March 2012