DanceEast are delighted to host the premiere of Constructions of Thin Air on Friday 26 January, by the internationally acclaimed Ipswich-based Tilted Productions as they return to the stage after six years presenting outdoor site-specific work. Tilted Productions will also present a unique workshop based on the company’s new work for ages 55+ years, taking place on Tuesday 23 January.
Developed from Tilted Production’s acclaimed site-specific work BELONGING(S), which was performed in Ipswich in 2015. Constructions of Thin Air is an exploration into what it means to belong, as global systems rapidly shift and change.
An intergenerational cast of nine performers will merge contemporary dance with physical theatre and perform the piece in two acts, with constant transformations of the set on stage playing with the audience’s sense of stability. The first act raises questions about the notion of our place in political, social and economic systems, expressed by the dancers in a clockwork of continuously moving objects – a system that eventually breaks apart. The second act sees the dancers use cardboard boxes as building blocks to create intimate spaces and shifting landscapes to explore the private realm of the concept ‘belonging’.
Artistic Director Maresa von Stockert explains “Cardboard boxes for me are linked with the word belonging. They remind me of moving home and they are a symbol or rather a cliché for homelessness. For me the physical dialogue between the performers and the objects on stage is a metaphor for the fragile, changeable meaning of home, identity and belonging.”
A refreshing and thought-provoking launch to DanceEast’s Spring season, Constructions of Thin Air invites us to consider the changing nature of home, identity and the systems that surround us all.
Tilted Productions is a member of We Are Ipswich, a group of leading local artistic venues and creative companies who work together collaboratively to continue making of Ipswich a strong cultural hub nationwide.
This performance has been funded by Arts Council England and Ipswich Borough Council. The creation process was supported by 101 – Outdoor Arts Creation Space, Newbury, and DanceEast.