Woking Dance Festival & The Lightbox have teamed up to fund a brand new commission, Maven.

n. ma-ven, a person who has special knowledge or expertise and a desire to pass on knowledge to others.

We are delighted to announce the first time winners of this award as choreographer, Angela Woodhouse and textile artist, Caroline Broadhead. The world premiere of their new collaboration will coincide with the opening of the international dance festival.

The artists will create work in response to American conceptual artist, Jenny Holzer's Blue Purple Tilt, Protect Protect & Shape the Battlefield, currently in exhibition at the Lightbox. The commission is a joint initiative between the dance festival and The Lightbox Gallery and Museum, Woking with support from The Art Fund.

The Lightbox is presenting works by Jenny Holzer, as part of Tate Modern's Artists Rooms touring programme, until 21 February 2010.

Words about the artists: When working together in collaboration they have been concerned with detail, subtlety and an intimate relation with the audience. In this respect they deliberately restrain or hide movement to, as they see it, allow an encounter with what is not seen.

Words from the choreographer: Caroline and I are delighted to be offered the Maven Commission. We are very excited about the strong political context, which offers a departure for us. Holtzer's use of US de-classified documents relating to the war in Iraq exploits the audience's need to look at what is hidden from them, at what they cannot see. Similarly we hope to draw upon these instinctive urges in performance. The physical reality of the mesmeric LED piece Blue Tilt offers a fantastic challenge to find a balance in focus between the illuminated flow of text and the immediacy and intimacy of the live performer. Ultimately our aim is to incorporate the audience, the performer and the works in a singular special experience.