SCOTTISH Dance Theatre has announced the appointment of Catalan choreographer Joan Clevillé as artistic director.

The choreographer becomes the seventh artistic director of the company.

Clevillé has a history with Scottish Dance Theatre, joining as a dancer in 2009.

He made his first piece for the company Dreamt for Light Years in 2011.

The choreographer made Dundee his home following his departure from the company in 2013 and in 2015 founded Joan Clevillé Dance (JCD) whose work has toured extensively and been programmed in the Made in Scotland Showcase, British Council Showcase, British Dance Edition and Tanzmesse, Germany.

Born in Barcelona, Clevillé has worked for seventeen years as a dancer, teacher and rehearsal director in companies across Europe, including Scottish Dance Theatre (2009-2013), Lost Dog, Dog Kennel Hill Project (London), the Ballet of the Graz Opera (Austria), the Choreographic Centre of Valencia, and Ballet Carmen Roche (Madrid).

He is a member of Collective Endeavours, a Glasgow-based music and dance improvisation collective, and works regularly as a guest teacher for international companies and vocational schools in Sweden, The Netherlands, Austria and the UK.

Mr Cleville said: "It is an immense joy and an honour to have been appointed Artistic Director of Scottish Dance Theatre, the company that brought me to Scotland from Barcelona ten years ago.

"Back then, SDT offered me the opportunity to find my own voice as a dancer and choreographer, and Dundee became both a new home and a springboard from where to launch my own independent company, Joan Clevillé Dance, in 2015.

"As a Catalan choreographer, I have always felt incredibly welcomed and supported in Scotland, and I am now thrilled by the prospect of leading its national dance company."

www.scottishdancetheatre.com

THE FRINGE and the fund-raising website Kickstarter have announced a new partnership.

In the new deal, Kickstarter will offer incentives to creators coming to the 2019 Fringe and using Kickstarter to crowdfund for their show, including an online FringeCast about crowdfunding and coaching.

Kickstarter will give financial support for a programme of events "focused on health and wellbeing" at Fringe Central during August

Since Kickstarter launched in 2009, Edinburgh Festival Fringe creators have raised funds nearly 20,000 backers, allowing hundreds of shows to be staged.

As part of the deal Kickstarter will pledge $7,000 (around £5300) to help Fringe Central " a safe and supportive space where artists can escape from the sometimes overwhelming and pressurised fray of the Fringe."

Shona McCarthy, chief executive of Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said: "Supporting and empowering the risk-takers and change-makers who make the Fringe happen every year is at the very heart of the Fringe Society's work, so we are thrilled to be partnering with Kickstarter in 2019, who will provide an invaluable platform for so many artists to present their work during the Fringe. "

www.kickstarter.com/edfringe

THE auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull are celebrating the ‘auld alliance’ between Scotland and France in an exhibition at their Glasgow offices of works by Scottish artists who travelled and lived in France in the first half of the 20th century.

The exhibition is on until the 29 March and entry is free.

Artists in the exhibition include George Leslie Hunter, John MacLauchlan Milne, J D Fergusson, Samuel John Peploe, Jessie King, James Kay and Donald Bain.

Nick Curnow, head of paintings at Lyon & Turnbull said: "This exhibition explores some of the artistic output from the many Scottish artists who spent time in France in the first half of the 20th century, from detailed draftsmanship in the Parisian gardens to loose Impressionism in the resorts of Paris Plage."

"The represented artists did not develop as a group; in fact, they were working at different times, but all were attracted by similar draws and unified by use of colour."

There will be an auction of Scottish Paintings on 6 June.

www.lyonandturnbull.com