By Anna Furse
A live performance and multi-media work – (click image above for more images)
Vietnam the pill the miniskirt the Beatles injury blood sweat tears physiotherapy the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia the Giselle mad scene Paris 1968 self starvation greasepaint gig swans kisses arabesques periods nicotine strikes pirouettes blisters dope Tchaikovsky hippies false eyelashes chocolate chicks………
We have wanted to understand what is actually going on at that moment when the body moves and memories are ignited.
We have wanted to understand how action enables us to know who we are.
We have wanted to understand the time when we were birds……….
When We were Birds is an inspirational performance work exploring the body of memory in general and the dancer’s body of memory in particular.
From a starting point in the analysis of the artist’s act of remembering (literally: putting the parts together), When We We Birds draws upon shared and distinct memories to consider how a sense of self is deeply tied into embodied experience of the world. Revealing issues of identity, personhood, physical/psychological endurance and physical joy, it considers through movement, film and oral history how memory functions – the relationship between the body in action and mental activity, the interweaving of real and imagined memory, the way memories slip and slide, how different perspectives on the same event alter, how false and true the memories one holds and recalls might ever be.
Through the medium of the dancers’ ageing bodies and against a backdrop of discussion and debate between the project’s collaborators, advisers and audience, we aim to creatively consider what is actually going on at that moment when in the act of recovering a dance the body moves and the individual re-members herself…
Company Info
Athletes of the Heart was founded by Artistic Director Anna Furse in 2003. Devoted to crossing artistic, cultural and geographical boundaries, and with special focus on the Body through Furse’s background as dancer/physical theatre specialist, the company collaborates and co-produces internationally. Over the past 10 years, Athletes of the Heart has created works for presentation in diverse locations , from hospitals, science centres and theatres to the virtual world, where it has won particular acclaim for it’s innovative approach to creative encounters and international collaboration. Past productions: Yerma’s Eggs (2003), Glassbody: Reflecting On Becoming Transparent (2006/7), My Glass Body (BBC Radio 2007), Glassbody Fragments (2009), Don Juan.Who?/Don Juan.Kdo? (2008), Sick Of Love (2010), Being Touched (2011), Sea/Woman (2011).
Credits
Directed and Performed by Anna Furse
Produced by Paula Van Hagen
Creative Collaborators: Esther Linley (research & development), Lucy Cash (videography), Graeme Miller (soundscape)
Image credit: Ivor Houlker
Place: Cube, Project Arts Centre
Dates: 24 April
Times: 20:15
Tickets: €15/€12
(this performance is part of a DOUBLE BILL with “This Is My Body“, both performances are included in the ticket price)
Book your festival pass before 16th April and receive our real deal offer – See all 3 nights double bill for just €30 – Contact Project Arts Centre Box Office +353 1 8819613 to avail of this great offer