Summons

27.11.2023 21:00

A neo-shamanic, broken ritual

Through voice and dance, we can explore our deepest selves; the selves we reveal when we peel away our more civilised layers; where voice and movement connect with our ancestral and mythological spirits and, what might be called in all its contradictoriness, ‘human nature’. And human nature makes for dark times - the devastation of our planet, wars and bigotry - so dark that perhaps we feel unable to adequately respond even if we feel summoned to. And, as we feel summoned to do something, to change something, we summon in our turn. This performance is an exploration of the confusion we feel when we call for the spirits - an imaginary call - to guide us, though, if they answer at all, their answers may be either unintelligible or misleading. The performance draws on sound-art, desperation, dark humour and something primordial. Some inspirations: Enrique Pardo’s Calling For Pan, a pantheist and mythological notion of shamanism, Jerzy Grotowski’s Poor Theatre, and Butoh dance. Each performance is improvised except for the choice of instruments and objects it engages with. Each performance, to some extent, draws on its predecessors; meaning that, over time, new elements appear while previous elements may be discarded or forgotten.