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
It begins in darkness workshop
Saturday 7th October, 10 am - 1 pm
Groundwork, Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
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
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.
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