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Motionhouse

2013 - 2016

BROKEN

EARTH-SHATTERING PERFORMANCE IN A SHIFTING WORLD

Broken erupts onto the stage in an adrenaline filled multi-media spectacle.

Athletic contact work, spectacular acrobatics and a gripping narrative combine with a revolutionary set design, an amazing musical soundtrack and digital imagery that melds with the performers as they move.

Broken examines our precarious relationship with the earth. Hanging in suspense and scrambling to safety, the dancers negotiate the cracks and craters of this world of illusions where nothing is quite as it seems. Fast-paced, gripping, moving and exhilarating, Brokentakes audiences on a journey into the earth, as they have never seen it before…

captive

DANCING FOR SURVIVAL 

Four performers use an exciting blend of dance, acrobatics and aerial work inside a large cage. Disorientated and shaken, they use their skill and instinct to survive in this emotionally charged and athletic piece.

Inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem The Panther, this powerfully emotional outdoor show explores notions of captivity. Extremely physical, Captive is a thrilling blend of dance and acrobatics with a dynamic narrative exploring human relationships in captivity.

Broken

tigress

A WARRIOR QUEEN AT TAMWORTH CASTLE

Tigress was developed as one of the highlights of the ‘I Am Tamworth’ initiative which aimed to encourage people in Tamworth to engage with or become involved in the arts.

Combining breath-taking dance and acrobatics with a searing original score, this outdoor large-scale performance took place against the dramatic backdrop of Tamworth Castle. Tigress told the story of Saxon Queen, Æthelflæda, who founded the castle and the town in Saxon times and led the Mercians to victory against the Vikings.

Motionhouse dancers worked with more than 200 participants from Tamworth, supported by local drumming groups and choirs. Featuring Tamworth Dance Company, Belgrave Taiko Drumming, the Amington Band, the Male Voice choir, Tamworth Voices and the Ladies Voice Choir, this unique event captured the warrior Queen’s electrifying spirit.

Captive
Tigress

fragile

Fragile was a specially-commissioned large-scale outdoor show created in 2015.

Fragile built on our previous work with dancers and JCB diggers, with the addition of cube-shaped metal structures alongside the JCBs to provide additional spaces to house the acrobatic movement that is synonymous with our work. Our professional performers were joined by a cast of young emergent artists.

scattered

SPELLBINDING PERFORMANCE IN AN EXTRAORDINARY WORLD

Performed on a vertiginous sloping wall, inspired by a quarter pipe, seven performers slide, climb and dive through a magical world where dancers and images interact seamlessly – plunging into an ocean, tumbling down a waterfall and sliding on a frozen landscape of arctic beauty – a remarkable interaction between film and live performance.