About Us
‘The meeting of two strangers’: Bassam Abou Diab (Lebanon) and Kathryn Spence (Scotland)
Exploring human connection and political divides. Funded by the British Council through Dance Base and Yaraqa
Hello?
.
Can you understand me?
.
Maybe we should talk about the weather.
Our Story
This is a choreography about the awkward meeting between two strangers. On the surface it explores only that, looking at the nuances we show when meeting someone knew: the coyness, apprehension and flirtation. However, we delve into deeper consequences of human connection: of race, linguistics and of politics, looking at the unstable political situation of Lebanon and the impacts of Brexit in the UK.
Fuga (2021)
A 7 minute screen dance looping across 3 screens by Kathryn Spence, Liz Musser and JJ Jamieson. The viewer does not know where the work begins or ends. It has original sound score. Please note there is still editing to be done on this film.
Fugue noun
1. A musical composition founded upon one subject, announced at first in one part alone, and subsequently limitated by all the other parts in turn
2. A dreamlike state of altered consciousness that may last for hours or days
Our project originated with a word, “fugue.” The word comes from the feminine Latin noun “fuga” meaning “to take flight.”
The screen dance utilises three video monitors which work together, playing off of each other, a lot like our collaboration. Kathryn is a dancer and choreographer; Liz is a storyteller and film maker and regularly collaborates with JJ who is a musician and film maker. Designer Amy Gair designed and handmade Kathryn’s costume, which at times has a dance of its own, governed by the wind.
“Fuga” has been an amazing opportunity to collaborate and create a work that goes beyond what we have done in the past.
Beneath the Movement
Commissioned for the BBC through LUX Scotland. Currently available on iPlayer
An exploration of a dancer moving at one with the environment, moments of meditation juxtaposed with dynamic explosions symbolising our impact upon the environment and it’s impact upon us.
‘Beneath the movement’ is a collaboration between Bo Morgan, filmmaker and sound director and Kathryn Spence, choreographer and dancer.
A Journey Of Flight
Synopsis: This immersive performance with Moving Image (Alison Piper) and Original composition (Jenny Sturgeon) focusses on arrivals and departures, reasons behind moving on and nostalgia of places, as well as the notion of flight itself. It takes inspiration from seabird’s migration patterns. The dancers move in and around hanging sheets of fabric (which ironically are road underlay from a windfarm).
The piece, which is in the round, begins with two people folding paper airplanes. They progress into using their shirts as a vehicle for flight, falling in and out of the floor. Throughout the work they arrive in new places, new states of being, making new homes in each. At the end, they reach their final destination, arriving where they once began. They pick up the shirts and carefully hang them on the line to dry.
Commissioned by Shetland Arts this piece focusses on bird migration and the declining number of Scottish seabirds.