Claire Cunningham
This trailer is from a 20 minute preview excerpt of “The Way You Look (at me) Tonight” presented as part of Intercontinental Collaborations 6 — Jess Curtis/Gravity’s 15th Anniversary season in December 2105 in San Francisco
“The Way You Look (at me) Tonight” is a dance, a song, a story, a sculpture, a play, a fight, a journey to be sung, spoken, seen, felt, heard, read, viewed, approved (or disproved!) by leading UK disabled artist Claire Cunningham and US/Berlin choreographer/performer Jess Curtis, in collaboration with renowned philosopher of perception Dr. Alva Noë.
How do we look at each other? How do we allow ourselves to be seen? How do our physicality’s shape how we perceive the world around us? How much can we affect the way we see others? Can we learn to see across lines of difference in new ways?
In 2005 Curtis was the choreographer who first introduced Cunningham to movement, leading to her career as a choreographer in her own right. Now a decade later they return to work together again. To find a new equality – a duet, excavating their own habits and ways of seeing each other as a man and woman of different ages, bodies and backgrounds.
Credits:
Conceived Created and Performed by: Claire Cunningham & Jess Curtis
Philosophical Consultant: Dr. Alva Noë
Dramaturge: Luke Pell
Original Music: Matthias Herrmann
Video: Yoann Trellu
Production: Julia Danila, Nadja Dias, Alec White
Video Documentation: Laura Lukitsch, Global Performance Media
Camera Operators: Laura Lukitsch
Video Editing: Laura Lukitsch
Press Extracts
“The evening was a thought-provoking, thought-challenging experience that left me more aware of my preconceptions about myself and about others, and prodded me to choose my thoughts more carefully.”
Leigh Donlan, Ballet to the People
“We are not just here to be entertained, there is an exchange… The self-referential commenting, the sly nod and wink, the exhibitionism, the carefully negotiated games of power…”
Catharine Caraker, A Beast in the Jungle
“Here is where we start to get a glimpse of how philosophy and choreography really do work together… [helping] us make sense of the world and ‘reorganize’ our understanding of the world to imagine other possible ways of being and understanding.”
Andy Horwitz, Culturebot
With thanks to:
The Way You Look (at me) Tonight is made possible with the support from the following funders and organisations:
• Unlimited; celebrating the work of disabled artists, using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, Arts Council of Wales, Creative Scotland and Spirit of 2012, co-commissioned by Tramway Glasgow and supported by The Place London, Norfolk & Norwich Festival and British Council
• the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from The Kenneth Rainin Foundation, The San Francisco Arts Commission, The Zellerbach Family Foundation, San Francisco Grants for the Arts
• Fonds Darstellende Künste, Kofinanzierungsfonds des regierenden Bürgermeister von Berlin – Senatskanzlei – Kulturelle Angelegenheiten
For more information on Claire please visit:
clairecunningham.co.uk
For more information on Jess please visit:
jesscurtisgravity.org
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