Blackbird  by Undercurrent

 Showcased at the Dock, Carrick-on-shannon, 24th September 2016

 

 

Blackbird is an innovative new dance work for theatre developed and performed by four individuals from diverse backgrounds. It is an exploration of individual experiences of mobility and an investigation of dream physical abilities such as flight.

The piece was developed this year at the Dock arts centre with the ensemble under the direction of Kate Wilson.

The four members of the ensemble are; professional dancer, Marketa Formanova; special olympics swimmer, Jim Reynolds; acrobat and parkour performer, Olek Wójcik; and an actress who uses a wheel chair, Isolde Carmody.
Award winning film artist Róisín Loughrey has worked alongside the ensemble, creating a projected video element to accompany the live performance.

Whilst Blackbird is an exploration of each of the performers ‘dream ability’, it is also explores how performers from such diverse backgrounds can support and extend their own and each others potential as a movement practitioners through discovering shared vocabularies and new languages that combine their differing skills, abilities and training.

An exploration of how language (in this case non-verbal) enables understanding drives the processes used in creating this work.