Fish Out of Water, (2022)
Set design commissioned for new touring dance work by Michaela Cisarikova Dance Company.
Collaboration with Artist and Fabricator Jonathan Wright
Timber, live-edge plexiglas. Dimensions variable.
Fish Out of Water is a fresh outdoor dance performance using hip hop, interactive sculptures & responsive music to explore themes of belonging, otherness, displacement & migrancy.
The set is a family of dynamic sculptures. Our design responds to the core idea that life challenges can be an opportunity for growth. We used the language of roofs (ideas of home), the game Snakes and Ladders and structures from obstacle courses to create physical playfulness and push-back for the dancers. The pairing of light reactive colourful Plexiglas suggests the human creativity it takes to turn difficulties into possibilities. At the end of the show the sculptures join to become a house into which young people are invited. The set was upcycled from a former sculpture of mine – Dutch/Light (2017)
Please click the link to the short film about the work:
Fish Out of Water is Co-commissioned by Applause and The Marlowe, with support of SELEP Ltd as a part of Catalyst For Culture and supported by Arts Council England.