Escalators

2008

In June 2008, Charlotte Vincent was invited to choreograph a site-specific intervention at Halle/Leipzig Airport in Germany as part of the International Theatre Institute Escalators Project for the Theater Der Welt Festival.

Initially briefed to address questions of how we behave in open, public spaces, Vincent Dance Theatre’s contribution to Escalators was colourful, musical and humorous. Working with VDT performers Aurora Lubos, Patrycja Kujawska and two dancers from the region (Karen Schönemann and An-Tsi Chao), Charlotte created a work responding to travelators as structures that only give one mechanical direction to the body. A series of improvised and choreographed sections were performed on and around the travelators, to the delight of and sometimes great irritation to passers by and airport staff.

Supported by the British Council and Goethe-Institut.

Photos

Director's Notes

I am coming to Leipzig from the UK with an open mind. I would like to make something that looks at the passing of time. Something that tries to find a moment of stillness in an environment that is always pushing us forwards. How to hold your ground as it is shifts under you? How to engage with strangers? How to find functionality in movement? How to greet the public as they rush by?  How to stop them in their tracks?

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