Turn 2023
Programme Notes
Updated 8 February 2024
A night of new dance on 10 March, presented by Word of Warning + Contact
Artists
Christian Asare · Jack Evans · Lizzy Owen · Maisha Kungu Dance · Matrafisc Dance Company · Matter of Fact · Orla Collier · taciturn · Zara Jane
Participating artists subject to change; unfortunately James Hewison and Company unable to perform due to illness.
Programme Notes
Christian Asare · Diasporic Identity — an Exploration
What & where exactly is “the line”? What makes me so “other” to others of my Kin, and yet again “othered” in British Culture, as African Diaspora? Where do I stop being British & start being Ghanaian, and vice versa? Is it in physical manifestation of gait or posture — subtleties in elocution, grammar, or pronunciation across dialects? Is it defined in nuances of gesture or tone?
A uniquely interdisciplinary exposition of the conflicting duality of diasporic identity.
Christian Asare is a practising fine artist with a focus on afro-futurism & installation. He is also a dancer & choreographer working across theatre, Live Art, modern dance. His work is reflective of an eclectic transatlantic education, pulling influence & inspiration from variations in language & cross-cultural heritage.
Jack Evans · Symbolic Communication
I want to showcase how my movement represents the words I want to speak, using BSL to inform the different emotions I will re-enact as part of my movement in response to the conscious body. The aim is to create a barrier to over-thinking, which prevents me from communicating through fear of judgement, backlash, and rejection. By re-enacting these fears I gain courage to retaliate and become free. I want to show & raise awareness of the reality I face as someone with Asperger’s syndrome.
Jack Evans is a dance artist with Asperger’s syndrome whose interest is in choreographing screendance projects as well as solo performances in his own or others’ choreographies. He specialises in combining body popping & with more conceptual movement of contemporary dance.
James Hewison and Company
Unfortunately they are unable to perform due to illness.
Lizzy Owen · The Unheard
Taking Samuel Beckett’s Not, I as a stimulus to create sound & movement, this piece aims to amplify the desperation of needing to be heard while only being seen. The female voice is present but not acknowledged or understood. Looking at the relationships between performer & watcher, performer & auditor, the aim of the work is to bridge the gap between the unseen hierarchy of performer & audience, as well as creating a feeling of the uncomfortable.
Content Warning: please click here.
Lizzy Owen is a Trinity Laban Conservatoire graduate, studying for a Masters in Choreography at the University of Salford.
Musicians: Ashley McAulay & Dave Crawley
Maisha Kungu Dance · HEARTH
A love letter to Manchester. Devised & diverse, together we move through the terrain of the body within the landscape of the city. This is an introduction to my world, via my community whose beginnings may be elsewhere, but now call Manchester home.
Five dancers take you on a journey, celebrating differences and creating new cultures while connecting Manchester to its industrial, global, and colonial past to protest, and re-humanise migration as an innate form of human movement.
Made with & performed by Nigel Beard, Tan Ire, Jesus Blancos-Santos, Yosha Gilkes, Jova Bagioli Reyes
Maisha Kungu is a multidisciplinary dance artist & researcher in ethnography & cultural theory. She has performed in stadiums, stages, walk-abouts, and go-go podiums while diversifying into choreography for music videos & film.
Matrafisc Dance Company · One Plus One Equals One
Are you the clothes you are wearing?
Choreography: Antonello Apicella & Ina Colizza · Dancers: Antonello Apicella, Ina Colizza, Paula De la Puente, David Layne, Andres Martinez · Music: Sol by Alex, To die for by 1954, Married Life by Michael Giacchino, All human beings by Max Richter
Matrafisc Dance was established in 2015 by Manchester-based Italian choreographers Antonello Apicella & Ina Colizza, to research & express their artistic & training differences in a new choreographic language, creating exciting & unique repertoire.
Matter of Fact · Cocktails ·
How safe can women feel walking home anymore? Is it better to stay as a group & grip your keys, or wear baggy clothes, cut your hair short, and not make eye contact? When does violence against women stop being a feminist issue and start being a human rights emergency?
Through the use of nostalgic music & storytelling through movement, Cocktails follows the journey of two young women making their way home after a night out to explore how we make the night less threatening.
Content Warning: please click here.
Supported by Company Chameleon & Culture Warrington.
Choreographed & performed by Erin Pollitt & Daisy Howell — performers, choreographers & facilitators across NW England.
Matter of Fact is directed by Erin Pollitt, whose work focuses on feminism & popular culture.
Orla Collier · Endormore
A solo physical theatre performance piece which takes the audience on a raw & intimate journey through memories, sensations, and emotions from Orla’s time growing up in a small village in the Lake District.
Content Warning: please click here.
Commissioned by Great Place: Lakes & Dales; The Dukes. Supported by Brewery Arts; Theatre by The Lake.
The full length version will premiere at Blast Fest at The Dukes on 20 April.
Choreographed & performed by Orla Collier · Music composed by Molagon
Orla Collier is a freelance dance artist based in Cumbria. A performer, choreographer, and teacher, she is inspired by the capacity that dance & theatre has for emotional expression, and how sharing honest feelings & experiences can have huge impacts.
Rory Lee aka Molagon is an independent music producer & artist based in Manchester. He uses a mixture of guitar, synth, and samples to create unique instrumentation full of interesting texture & ambience.
taciturn · Behind Closed Doors
In a window to our private worlds this duet explores human relationships & connections, translating private actions into public performance. Drawing on human desire to look into others’ lives, the audience become voyeurs into the performers’ private worlds as they grapple with their inner feelings.
Choreographer: Jenny Rees · Performers: Jennie Hale & Jenna Jungluth
taciturn is an all female, Liverpool-based, dance theatre company that has been creating & performing works since 2006.
Zara Jane · ‘Experience’
A scene is made from a hundred still images, each telling a different story.
Our initial beliefs about the world, prior to receiving any outside influence or education, are naïve theories, merely an approximation of the truth based on our particular life experiences. To understand the whole picture, you must unlock a closed door. See the details, see the trace, see it all. The details show you the truth behind the story.
Zara Jane is a dance artist at the beginning of their career; their practice is centred around dance for all and creating dance on themes that challenge the audience.
Thanks to Zac Robertson for music collaboration; Deb Hewitt, Gavin Baker, Nigel Ford, Wendy Ford for voicing the work.
Header image: Zara Jane