Press Reviews and Comment
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In Between Spaces Review, Wycombe Arts Centre, 29/02/2020
by Tarik Ross-Cameron (Development Coordinator, Punch)
In Between Spaces is an ingenious, timely and widely relatable production about our modern relationships; with each other, with ourselves, with the world around us, with and through technology, and even with time itself.
In this show, as in the best interdisciplinary ensemble performances I have seen, each artform simultaneously complements, enhances and blends into the other. The work is playful, poetic and charming, and speaks directly to human qualities, desires and insecurities that are promoted and exacerbated by technology and our bonds with it.
There is a fine balance between narrative and abstraction in the play that both intrigues and keeps the audience guessing as the main characters move fluidly (and literally) between the film screen, the stage, and amongst the audience, whilst the character of ‘Time’ is fittingly ever-present on stage. The narrative is driven by engaging, rich, lyrical spoken word that translates the more abstract themes of the play into poems that could each stand alone, that also mesh brilliantly with the carefully-conceived music, movement and vocals in the performance.
In Between Spaces is a show that makes use of many different languages; physical, verbal and universal. In my opinion, the true value and beauty of this work is in the fact that you do not need to be fluent in the languages of Sign, Spanish, English, music, film, dance, body, or any other language for this art to speak to you; you just need to be present.
‘★★★★★’
''In Between Spaces'' 2021 Tour Review Caylia Wallace New Jersey
This summer I was commissioned to work and perform with Signdance Collective. My experience with them in High Wycombe, UK was nothing short of amazing. Isolte, David, Rob, Angelina, and Soobie helped me go into a different part of my artistry as a dancer, creator, and an all around artist. The work I saw them doing with “In Between Spaces” moved me as an artist and an audience member. “In Between Spaces” is genius work and the performance of every single individual in the work is exceptional. The way the entire cast has committed to this story of digital consequences is groundbreaking.
During my time with Signdance Collective, I came to learn “In Between Spaces” has been an ongoing work for the past 4 years or so. To watch them bring it to life and share it with different audiences was a pleasure. “In Between Spaces” brings you to a mindset of deeper thinking about the ways of today’s society. With the digital aspect of the show, it allows us to see performance in the way our world functions today, which is through technology. “In Between Spaces' ' almost felt like a time travel of thoughts and the places many of our minds wander to. Oftentimes as humans, we go in between what was and what is. Although this was unintentional when this piece was first created, with the late performer, Lionel Maculey still having a role in this show, the work definitely exemplifies being in between spaces mentally, physically, and spiritually.
“In Between Spaces” is a work that is before its time.
With Warm Regards,
Caylia R. Wallace, M.A.
Founder and Artistic Creator of Throughtheyes
"Carthage" 2017 Review David Crystal OBE at the Ucheldre Centre North Wales was written by Cuban-American playwright Caridad Svich with the aim of drawing attention to the linguistic - let alone the social - plight of those displaced or isolated by slavery, human trafficking, and forced migration. Accessing the language of power, in order to improve quality of life - or even survive - is a real problem for those whose backgrounds have never given them the opportunity to master it. As such, it is a hugely relevant theme for our times, and Arts Council England (Production Grant) and Arts Council Wales (Taking Part Grant)
are to be congratulated on enabling the company to adapt the text for a stage performance and tour it to places where people need a constant reminder of the importance of linguistic issues in their lives.
Back in 2003, I gave a talk to a UNESCO conference on the world's endangered languages, in which I made the case for the arts as a crucial means of drawing the attention of the public to the subject of language, and to the crisis facing the world's languages. A language becomes extinct somewhere in the world every three months or so, and their unique voices need to be recorded and documented so that their place in the history of the human race can be remembered. But it is not just languages that need to have their voices heard, as Signdance Collective's brilliant production illustrates. Within a language, there are areas of society whose voices are never heard - or, when they are, are little respected.
There is no word in the English language to categorize what the company has produced, for it is a mix of dance, theatre, music, spoken language, and signed language. I suppose the company's self-description, 'signdance theatre' comes closest. The hybrid captures the essence of all art, which is to make us 'see' in a way we have not seen before, and the juxtaposition of the different communicative mediums certainly gave this reviewer at least a fresh perspective on the function of language and its role as a means of unification as well as separation. The performance presented us with ten multilingual letter song-poems, exploring different registers of language, and exploited the full range of dramatic effect, from its wistful gentle musical opening to the visceral impact of unison speech and daring movement.
The members of the small company themselves illustrate the inclusiveness their subject-matter demands, with their focus on disability-deaf-led teamwork. We saw four in action: Isolte Avila, David Bower, Lionel M Macauley, and Angelina Schwammerlin, whose biopics cross the boundaries of colour, gender, and disability. Their dynamic and moving performances integrate so well in telling the story that one no longer notices who is black or white, male or female, deaf or hearing. This is inclusive theatre at its best.
The company's accompanying literature contains a few lines that perfectly summarise what Carthageis all about: 'Millions suddenly finding themselves marooned inside an alien and often confused, divisive cultural environment are finding that their voices have become muted. Carthage gives the quiet voice expression, a poetical plea through sign-language, dialogue, dance and theatre for cosmopolitanism, rationality, reason and compassion.'
It is a hugely difficult theme to address: what is it like to feel you have no voice? Harold Pinter addressed it once in Mountain Language. I did myself, in Living On. Carthage reminded me not only of the plight of speakers of endangered and oppressed languages, but of all who have to cope with limited speech or language, such as the ten percent of the population who have some sort of communicative disability - those affected by aphasia, stammering, language delay, and all the other conditions that speech and language therapists deal with every day. Writing about such issues is difficult enough; performing it is a much greater challenge, which Signdance Collective have very successfully met
Carthage Cartagena In a theatre landscape where the socially motivated angry writers of the sixties and seventies appear to be ancient history, it is exciting to see this outstanding offering from Signdance. Carthage combines poetry, music, sign and dance in this masterly presentation of physical theatre. Based on poetry written by Caridad Svich the audience is propelled into a world where the voice and beauty of nature are ignored. But this is no fictional dystopian journey. We soon realise the performers are holding up our world for us to examine in all its brutality and inequality. We’re drawn into the isolation of those experiencing slavery, human trafficking and forced migration.trafficking and forced migration.
The fourth wall dividing the audience from the actors is very quickly dismantled and we soon begin to realise how our silence and inactivity makes us culpable. It is extraordinary how drama dealing with such suffering and barbarism can be so beautiful. This is due to the sparkling language of Caridad Svich’s poetry; the amazing acting of Isolte Avila, David Bower and Lionel M. Macauley and the haunting music of Angelina Schwammerlin.
This is a production that everyone should see. But be prepared to be thinking about it for days to come, and like me, to be filled with the hope of seeing it again and again."Carthage" Review by Peter Read at Undegun Arts Centre North Wales
Bangor University School of Creative Studies and Media. Photo -Carthage On Tour 2018
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am a performance lecturer at Bangor University and was fortunate to make contact with Sign Dance Collective who willingly came to the university to hold two workshops with my performance students recently. This was a valuable experience for my students who benefited greatly from collaborating with the company in an immersive and interactive way. With little contact time within the student’s time table, the time spent with the company enabled the students to push boundaries, work out of their comfort zones, open up to the possibilities of using their bodies and use physical work to enrich their own practise. Isolde and the company were extremely generous with their time, expertise and energy and the students gained much insight from their expertise and experience.
The company tailored the workshop to the student’s needs and were able to pinpoint and direct the student’s strengths towards creating their own devised theatre pieces and site-specific work. Sign Dance Collective’s influence was seen in the end of year performance pieces.
Being able to collaborate with such a company is priceless to their study and a vital part of their learning and skill building and stronger relationships need to be built and nurtured with such companies.
Our hope is that we would be able to invite the company back to the university to build on the relationship and allow the students to collaborate further by sharing work and give feedback on the company’s own production and development work – again a vital and priceless tool and skillset for the students.
I would highly recommend supporting such a unique, fresh and generous company who are trailblazers in immersive and interactive performance.
Yours sincerely Dr Branwen Davies
"Carthage" LSU @ No Passport Conference
Conference 2014- Louisiana State University Review Eric Mayer Garcia
The much-anticipated work-in-progress performance of Carthage/Cartagena, written by Caridad Svich and developed with the Signdance Collective International played to a packed audience. The text of Carthage/Cartagena is a series of multi-lingual letter-song-poems connected by themes of displacement, exile, and human trafficking. This verse play dramatizes moments of “desterrar,” or being ripped away from homeland and finding oneself in a foreign land. The piece stages the violent origins of diaspora, a recurrent topic raised throughout the (No Passport 2014)conference. . The verse of Carthage/Cartagena enacts its diasporic imagination in its rendering of voices of individuals displaced by wars, human trafficking, and acts of violence. As a previous reviewer had pointed out, the play on words within Carta-ajena, could mean letter from afar, as well as a letter written in a foreign language. These “letters from afar” are not only written from spaces of dislocation, but also speak from the borderlands of the real, a space beyond representation and language, encircling the edges of trauma. The text of Carthage/Cartagena draws on multiple languages, English, Spanish, Italian, BSL and ASL as a strategy to approach this “unspeakable” space of trauma through the disconnected space between languages, and the gap between meanings lost in translation.
The SDCI is the perfect company to interpret the piece because they move between so many registers of language: spoken, sung, and embodied in their specific fusion of dance and sign. Images of homeland, like a lemon tree, a cake, or a spinning top, were invoked as the final vestiges of subjectivity from the edges of the traumatic experience. The SDCI’s approach was to interpret the loss of homeland as the structural loss of innocence. Coming of age in the blown-out wasteland of Carthage/Cartagena means grappling with the shock of total loss, a retracing of the missing pieces of self, and transformation in a state of absolute exile. The ritual structure of the choreography, a spiraling transcendental meditation, made room for the co-presence of these lost voices—the casualties of violent acts of displacement—as they were re-imagined in performance. Carthage/Cartagena made for an intense and riveting end to this 8th annual meeting of the NoPassport Theatre Alliance.
"Zsongs" Bohpal India Samarth Festival City Plus review
'You are such strong and empowering artists to work with' Actor BCW
This innovative company fuses sign language with dance, theatre and live music to create electrifying performances all over the world. Their work is unusual and poetic; it breaks rules, transforming physical disability into artistic wonder Tamilla Woodard Director NYC
Broken City Wall Street2016- New York City -
Movement Work Created 2016-Pop-Up Theatrics New York City
by SDC for Pop Up Theatrics
' "Bad Elvis" 2014-2015 DAO review
Bad Elvis, written by Katie Hims was originally conceived as a drama for BBC Radio 4. The rambunctious Signdance Collective International have since adapted it for stage with their own unique style. They recently performed it for Iris Theatre in London, Sophie Partridge was in attendance
Bad Elvis has a superb cast of four, including Cuban (and disabled) dancer Isolte Avila as Mother, Brazilian performer Pedro de Senna, New York actor Irina Kaplan and their Artistic Director, David Bower (yes, that Deaf David from that film)…plus Elvis (more on him later).
The Actors Church, Covent Garden proved to be a suitably surreal and somehow glamorous venue for my first experience of this company’s work. With performers welcoming us into their heightened world, the church’s altar formed a hotel lobby and function room; a sparkly-clad woman smoked an e-cigarette as a hostess desperately tried to air the place of smoke by opening invisible windows!
Pedro, the Wedding Officiate, gathered his congregation through Sign. No props were present, but the cast utilised what was there, so benches became a vantage point for Mother. The church’s atmospheric lighting added to the glitz of the costumes. Protagonist Aiden (played by Bower) gleamed in his bright blue suit and the injury to his head, played out through consistent, fluid body movement which brought him low then swept him up in beats like a pulse, flowing between the performers…watch and learn Strictly dancers!
All of the characters signed although only one was Deaf and it almost seemed an unconscious act, not an obvious ‘interpretation’. This combination of movement, music and surreality, particularly in the driving scene, reminded me of the David Glass Ensemble, with its comical yet slightly sinister edge.
Then suddenly Elvis was in the building and he really wasn’t bad! As a puppet partly worn by Pedro de Senna, he strutted his stuff yet never stole the show; always a point of danger when puppets are brought in alongside weaker performers.
A puppet has its own unique physical language engendered by its puppeteer, and this blended with those of the others. For me, there was also something pleasing about Elvis & Mother being of comparable height, especially when Isolte sang his classic hits tremendously, with interloping numbers by Roy Orbison etc.
I have to admit, I did get slightly lost in the plot at times and I wasn’t entirely convinced by the quasi-assisted suicide story line introduced near the end but all was well – in a disembodied way – for the finale. Bad Elvis is anything but that. It does not create a song and dance about being Inclusive and/or Disability Art/or not, it just does it whilst creating song and dance!
"Bad Elvis Review" Signdance Collective International with the life-size Bad Elvis puppet Review DAO
Salford University and The BBC hosted Signdance Collective's performance of Bad Elvis on 21st March. Peter Street went along to see the companies brand of sign-musical theatre at its very best.
"Absolutely superb, not long enough," said the Mayor Of Salford. How right he was, Bad Elvis was an hour-long tour de force. This was a unique theatre production thanks to director Sue Roberts and writer Katie Hims.
Bad Elvis was no cheesy impersonation of Elvis Presley, but more a kind of surreal tribute to him which really hit the spot. David Bower was breath-taking in his role as Aiden. He signed and spoke while dancing in a light blue zoot suit.
I was thinking it couldn’t get better that was until Isolte Avila ‘mum’ belted out “All Shook Up.” And from then on every time she finished another song the audience showed the wonder of it all by clapping and more clapping. I’ve seen various so-called singers try their vocal chords on this difficult song: she left them all standing. That’s how fabulous as it was, not only, but then the players of Bad Elvis came to the edge of the floor and invited us to take part with four basic signs of All Shook Up with BSL.
David’s dance partner Francesca Osimani who played Snow White lifted the play another notch when she danced and signed alongside him. I was worried about Francesca fitting in with deaf and disabled actors. But then watching her I doubt if anyone could have performed, signed and danced and worked the musical better than she did.
The one great feature of this production you kept thinking with surely it can't get better, but it did.
Hearns Sebuado - the landlord and brother rocked and rolled with his dance partner the life size puppet of Elvis’s the ‘King’ who was dressed in the white suit we have all come to love and adore. That puppet - sorry Elvis wouldn’t have been Elvis without out the suit. Hearns took us through every emotion first by bringing laughter tears when he introduced us to his Elvis.
Then he laughed us more when he danced and jived around with this very own Elvis while fastened to his legs. Superb. We were laughing and singing along with it all. People around me were tapping their feet and then suddenly the King just died in front of us and Hearns caressed him. As if it was some real person there on his knee, dying. It was so convincing it was then just then for a few seconds I remembered where I was on that tragic day of 1977.
You would be hard pushed to see anything as good as Bad Elvis. It was faultless. DAO
Peyrots Stolen Dolls- 2013 Review Mike Jutsum
Puppetmaster and slave a complex powerful relationship
What’s the last time I felt really uncomfortable as a man? What is in my gaze – how may I look at a woman; young full of innocence and knowing? You look, you appreciate aesthetically, you want, you lust, you rape…no of course not but this challenging performance leads you to examine how each of us may be corrupted. Abuse in Ohio comes to sit on your knee. This work has connected with the zeitgeist of the times; and in so doing the interplay between man’s domination of women, their mutual support forced through circumstance, leaves an impression of one young woman and her struggle against the strength of the female collective as well as the cruelty of man.
The stage is set with a dominant evil puppet theatre arch, a hell mouth which consumes and dominates the actions of the lusting puppet master danced and acted chillingly by David Bower; his gestures and movements twisted out of shape from his true nature. The women engage in burlesque, drawing in the audience to seeing supposedly harmless sexual presentation but one where limits may not hold.
Despite their touching solidarity the young Mouche superbly articulated by Laura Goulden with a range of expression from the eyes worthy of silent films and a young Lillian Gish may not be saved by her more knowing women companions from the violent denouement.
We have a trio of women who entice Mouche through their knowing laughter and are drawn together by the experience of an older woman, whose experience and years do not save her but she retains a pride and her own power. This woman, as played by Isolte Avila, provides a hypnotic insight into the art of leadership by a woman , expressed in the manner of burlesque, she draws a character of immense sexual magnetism. The juxtaposition is that she too is naively exploited but remains a fundamental influence on the female group dominated by the puppet master. Francesca Osimini and Lilley complete the dynamics of female interplay and together they are strong, enticing, alluring and scared.
Throughout the performance you feel the simmering cruelty of the puppet master and the large-scale puppet serves as a metaphor for control.
The company Signdance Collective is exactly that; the sensuality of sign movements through dance shaped with an actor’s expression. The live music by Dead Days Beyond Help – the presence of the musicians on stage is essential – is a key element in the choreography of the whole piece. Each member of the collective has their own personal moves which combine giving room to chance and innovative development wholly appropriate to the nature of the piece.
“Those who sharpen the tooth of the dog, meaning
Death…
Those who suffer the ecstasy of the animals, meaning
Death…”
(TS Elliot- “Marina”)
The end seems inevitable but there are moments of hope and play and levity. Redemption through the solidarity of the women seems possible.
The impact of the piece and the skill of presentation was demonstrated by the consultative conclusion to the evening. Joke Menssink, who directed the work, posed questions as the audience reflected on the experience.
“How do you,(the audience ) see this piece ending? It is still in development, this is research, tell us” No uneasy silence broken only by the voice of the egotist who thinks they should have directed the piece. Instead immediate considered analysis came from the wide range of audience participants ranging in age from teens to 60s. A real discussion ensued with, I noted, the men playing a muted role. The puppet master may be threatened with death, redemption, or becoming a puppet himself in future productions. I have rarely encountered such inclusion of an audience – the collective is completed by that real dialectic.
Do not expect an easy time as a distanced consumer. This is not a nuanced intellectual experience. It is visceral and delicate. The Collective offer a challenge to the male gaze and to the female burlesque complicity. Its contemporary relevance is unfortunately assured.
Mike Jutsum York England MA
Dear SDC ,What can I say ? I thought last night was amazing ..It made me laugh, cry, think, ..dance even.I had a wonderful evening. The amazing work you are doing is unique and extremely important. I caught my train and got home at midnight with a warm glowfrom your show }Dances For A Lost Traveller Sue Roberts - Executive Producer BBC Drama North
Artistic director David Bower may be familiar to moviegoers as Hugh Grant’s deaf, and wonderfully honest, brother in Four Weddings and a Funeral, and with this company he is no less honest, in fact almost ruthlessly so. What he sets out to achieve in the most compelling of these four pieces is an expression of the inner journey he had to make in order to reconcile himself to “the Noise” - the tinnitus he has suffered since 1986 following an Indie gig. In this uncompromising performance he seems to become the sounds in his own head at the same time as trying to cast them out. It is as if a devil has taken root behind his eyes and he is determined not to be driven mad. Unforgettable. Providing a dizzying background to this is some excellent live rock music (courtesy of Luke Barlow) and in the first half of the evening singer/songwriter Alex Ward also performs several splendidly abrasive songs of his own, accompanied by his own electric guitar and “sign theatre” from Isolte Avila ......Whats On Stage In London ****2010
"Dances For A Lost Traveler" Reviews several
Signdance Collective’s new show Dances For A Lost Traveller is extraordinarily original and enthralling!
Whats On Stage In London 2010
The work – because it is great has “mass” appeal speaks for itself and that is what is fantastic
Esther Appleyard director ACCENTUATE London 2012
Half A Penny 2012-2015 Ethos Festival review 2014
One of the most interesting performances of the 7th Ethos Festival was undoubtedly "Half a Penny" performed by Signdance Collective.
The work, bearing a resemblance to John Gay's "The Beggar's Opera" and Brecht's epic theatre, employs theatre-music-dance-body and sign language to show that we should never forget that we are human beings, live befitting this, have the power to change the system causing wars, and should fight for our rights and freedom. They also use body and sign language to create a universal language that caters and enfolds all -including those who are hearing impaired.
The first part "Half a Penny" deals with political pressure, citizenship, predetermined roles enforced on people, consumerism, freedom, revolt and being 'human'. The visuals such as Thatcher, Churchill, Luther King, Bush, Reagan, slavery, half a penny repesenting the system are projected on the stage when a well dressed orator comes to delivers a speech composed of political cliches. Meanwhile Vox Populi and sign language interpreter Citizen Vox interferes (distorting, mocking, imitating). While the audience drifts to another world filled with music and dance Citizen Vox's lines are very effective and provocative:"You may take refuge in stereotypes, but you cannot hide there long. There is only one question to be asked: Are you human? And this is the right question: Are you human? [...] You are human. You have not earned cruelty and you do not deserve meanness. You won't benefit from being isolated or treating each other as outcasts. [...] You do not need to make a great noise about it. With the silence and dignity of creators you can end wars and the system of selfishness and exploitation that causes wars. All you need to do to bring about this stupendous revolution is to straighten up and fold your arms
ETHOS FESTIVAL Ankara Turkey
"The Other Side Of The Coin" Early Poems Of Federico Lorca 2012-2014
As conceived of and presented by UK troupe Signdance Collective International is a hypnotic and surprising dance-theatre-sign language and live music experience.No Passport Theatre conference at New York University, Gallatin on March 1, 2013, New York City
Review by Caridad Svich
The movement against the ferocious, adrenaline-charged music is framed around motifs thatsuggest marching
, saluting and other aspects of military drills performed with a sly wink to commedia dell’arte
forms, and shape-body improvisations. A mysterious poetic, male figure in tattered clothing and unkempt, unruly hair (played by co-founder David Bower) becomes the soloist against a chorus of women. Recalling ancient Greek theatre with its solo and choral frames, the Poet embodies the spirit of freedom, Dionysian play, and martyrdom. The performance allows the soloist to represent the un-governable energy of art itself, railing and raging against tyrannical forces outside his control.
The gestural imagery (in BSL) in this later section is anchored in repetitive gestures that seem to become smaller and smaller, sputtering and more sputtering against an inner flame.Beautiful to behold. TheOther Side of the Coin, in thirty minutes, manages to create a genuine, unique theatrical world that lingers long in the mind after the performance is over. The commitment of the company to the work, the distinctiveness of the vision of the piece, the talent of all of the company, and the clear compassion and humanity evident in this abstracted, emotional, Lorca-inspired dream is captivating.
NEW GOLD 2010-2012 In turns funny, strange and exciting - the mix of physical theatre, sign, dance and comedy challenged the audience and was unlike anything I have seen before. The performance is a fusion of different sign languages and speech, as well as music - making for a truly multi-lingual experience. In the end, the race for 'gold' becomes something else - perhaps it looks towards a society where everyone feels accepted - a society that isn't so focused on competition and 'winning' money, gold and fame. Lizzie Ward DAO and Remote Goat *****
"Hunchback Of Notre Dame"2008 BBC Radio4 Guardian Review
“When you first hear him, halting, lisping and disturbingly but powerfully slow, pronouncing “sinners” as “thinnerth”, you wonder about his mental state. Quickly, you realise that it is fine, as is Quasimodo’s; that Quasimodo makes up with poetic insight, faith and honour what he lacks in beauty; that the true deformity in the story is moral, not physical.”
Paul Donovan, The Sunday TImes 30 November 2008
It isn’t, though,just his voice that made the work so compelling, but the sensitivity of his portrayal, which immediately rescued the tale of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame', from its ‘Disneyfication’ to Victor Hugo’s original imagining as a story about social strife and revolution.
“There is a poetry in the writing which moves with a pace, unique to deaf syntax, which typically places the object of the sentence before the action. David Bower, deaf performer and artistic director of Signdance Collective, plays Quasimodo with an emotional depth and honesty that gives a new insight into this archetypal figure”
Colin Hambrook from a review on DisabilityArtsOnline
Education & Engagement
Recommendation Zoe Partington
I have worked with SDC for over 15 years. In that time I have commissioned them to develop over 6 projects. Their creative practise and support has always been fundamental to the success of the project. It has ranged from workshops in schools with disabled children to working on a public art project with over 250 architecture students and Tony Heaton for 'practise and support has always been fundamental to the success of the project. It has ranged from workshops in schools with disabled children to working on a public art project with over 250 architecture students and Tony Heaton for 'squarinthecircle'. The evaluator on this project commented on their instant connection and magic to make the disabled young people with very limited mobility feel and dance like they had never done.
I have valued their artistic excellence and insight in these projects and their strength to get stuck in and achieve high-quality process and outcomes.
Their ability to engage audiences, participants actors, musicians and university students, young people is outstanding. They have continued to create the space to plan and collaborate on initiatives I have presented and to work with a range of artists I have invited to the mix.
Their style, philosophy and experience of International drama, dance, music and theatre is at the heart of their work. I have constantly invited them to work with me as their approach is contemporary and influenced by their wide breadth of experience. The first project we worked on was with Adam Reynolds with Beatwax an Arts & Business based project called Sculpting Space. Their feistiness and hard work is unprecedented in any other similar company I have worked with and SDC were doing flash mob events much earlier than others. They are very experienced and this new project will be a truly exciting venture to see expand.
Home Support!
We were delighted to host SDC in their development of ProjectZ at Wycombe Arts Centre where SDC ae Company In residence . We watched the performance grow considerably over the two weeks before the showing on the 21st December. This piece is an extraordinarily immersive experience mixing film, with signed performance, dance, live music, poetry and song. A commentary on communication and miscommunication across continents and networks it is a poignantly contemporary reflection on relationships in the 21st century. The blend of music and the lyrical poetic voice of the narrator is seamless and the ways in which the film offers an additional dimension to the story gives it a global dimension rather than just a backcloth to the action is inspired. This mix of performance and filmic styles is undoubtedly captivating and mesmeric, As one audience member said: ‘I lost all sense of time, I feel as if I have watched a feature film,I would like to see it all over again!’. We are very excited to be part of this process and wish the company every success in taking this extraordinary work forward to captivate the hearts and minds of future audiences.
Ruth Gunstone
Arts Centre Manager Wycombe arts Centre
Support-
Carthage, New Gold, Dances For A Lost Traveler, Peyrot's Stolen Dolls, and Bad Elvis
The company is grateful for the support from- Arts Council England
The Other Side Of The Coin and Half A Penny
Supported by ETHOS Festival, The Lorca Foundation And Signdance Collective
Zsongs Is Supported By Styria Culture And Graz Culture with support from Kultur In Graz
In Between Spaces/ ProjektZ R&D
Arts Council England and Stria Graz Councils
The Turtle Trials
Arts Council Of Wales