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It begins in darkness is a dance full of ghosts.

 

In this stark, stripped back performance, five dancers move through a series of mysterious and experimental rites of passage, channelling past, present and future tensions through their bodies and voices. As if to exorcise the haunted house of history, the dancers whisper, jump, wrestle, shiver, wail and laugh, filling the space with horrors, both real and imagined. 

 

It begins in darkness is an environment for processing the fear, anger and confusion which arise from the histories of slavery and colonialism that haunt the present.


 

Credits

Conceived and directed by: Seke Chimutengwende

Choreography and text: Seke Chimutengwende with the dancers

Dancers (2023 tour): Isaac Ouro-Gnao, Adrienne Ming, Mayowa Ogunnaike, Kassichana Okene-Jameson and Natifah White

Original cast: Rhys Dennis and Rose Sall Sao

Created with input from Alethia Antonia

Dramaturgy: Charlie Ashwell

Lighting design: Marty Langthorne

Costume design: Annie Pender

Composer: Aisha Orazbayeva

Double-bass on soundscore: Hugo Abraham 

Sound technician: Michael Picknett

Vocal coaching: Randolph Matthews

Research consultant for R&D phase: Sita Balani 

Production: Lucia Fortune-Ely, Metal and Water

Producer 2022 and 2023 Tour Planning: Eve Veglio-Hüner

Company teachers: Seke Chimutengwende, Shannelle Fergus 

 

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Upcoming Performances 2023

Sunday 8th October 2023, Chapter, Cardiff - link 

Friday 13th & Saturday 14th October 2023, The Place, London - link

Friday 20th October 2023, Lancaster Arts - link

Thursday 26th October 2023, Bath Spa University - link 

Classes and Workshops 2023

Open company classes with Seke Chimutengwende

Monday 25th September - Friday 29th September, 10:15 - 11:30 am

House of Mass, London

link

It begins in darkness workshop

Saturday 7th October, 10 am - 1 pm

Groundwork, Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff

link

Performances 2022

 

Tuesday 27th September - Friday 30th September, The Mount Without, Bristol - link

Tuesday 4th October, The Place, London - link

Tuesday 11th & Wednesday 12th October, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Brighton - link

Thursday 20th October - Nottdance festival, iC4C, Nottingham - link

Thursday 27th October, Bluecoat, Liverpool - link

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Supported by:

Arts Council England Project Grants, The Place, Dance4, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Impermanence, Bluecoat, University of Roehampton, Sadler’s Wells and Chats Palace

 

Initial support from Wainsgate Dances, Battersea Arts Centre and Newstead Abbey/ Dancing Museums

 

 

Talks

 

Online panel discussion - "Haunting Newstead Abbey": click here

 

Video interview with Charlie Morrissey, Wainsgate Dances: click here

 

Online conversation with Marie-Anne McQuay, Bluecoat, Liverpool: click here

 

Black Newstead exhibition at Newstead Abbey, 2021

Exhibition of photos by Ben Harriott & Amanda Russell, from Seke and the dancers' residency at Newstead Abbey.

2nd October - 21st November 2021

More info

Choreographic Score

Below is a reading of a choreographic score, written as part of Seke's research, which was included in the online symposium 'Proximity: new directions in art and social repair', organised by Migrant Artists Mutual Aid.

The score was written during the 2020 pandemic, as a kind of hallucination of what the piece would become. It was later used as a guide when creating the piece in the studio.

 

Read the full score here.

In performance (2022)

Photos by Jemima Yong

In rehearsal (2021)

Photos by Liam Keown

Dancers (clockwise from top): Rose Sall Sao, Natifah White, Adrienne Ming, Adrienne Ming & Rhys Dennis, the whole group, Alethia Antonia

It begins in darkness

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