the institute for crazy dancing

Skeleton Ship

by Jason 636 days ago

A Participatory Installation with associated rituals, performance material and action...

 

From a distance the audience will see an astonishing and beautiful sight. The Ship o'Fools is a spectacular skeleton structure: a 21m long keel with 21 rib sections supporting 21 hammocks - a structure as big as a bendy bus. It is destined to play in large civic squares, festival settings and open spaces.

People will be welcomed into the circle, invited to take part in the associated activities, listen to the musicality of the work, lie in the hammocks and spend as little or as long time as they wish. We expect each individual's interaction to be approximately 20 minutes, with up to 300 people in the circle at any one time - with many more amassing to witness the spectacle.

This slowly rotating fairground antithesis becomes an intimate and contemplative experience. It is about being differently oriented in the world, being rocked gently and turned around. It is about how we value ourselves and each other on a voyage to a fairer future…

It is about slowness and conversation, thought and consideration. It is both a sight to behold and joyous to be held by. It is about participating in the world - differently.

 

The keel is on a rotating and tilting disk, surrounded by sand. It aims to create a thoughtful, active and compelling space: arresting people's attention and enticing them to engage in a transformative experience.

It is constructed from oak, world timbers, iron, rope and canvas. It is a rotating participatory balance: an object to look at and look from. Lines are drawn in the sand, ready for the imprints of people's feet as they cross to lie in the hammocks.

ASSOCIATED MATERIAL  /  ACTIVITY:

The site is managed by the ICD crew who generate a feeling of welcome and openness, sparking conversation and interaction. The following activities, actions and figures provide talking points and provoke curiosity:

Origami: Folding in order to unfold the journey - takes place at the trestle tables to one side of the structure. The papers to be folded have information with regard to migration, world trade and ethics: the audience members are shown how to fold the papers into origami boats.

The Never-Ending Plank: durational performance - one performer walks along a plank whilst holding an identical plank aloft. At the end of the first plank, the second plank is laid down, a step is taken onto it, and the first plank is lifted aloft. And so on…

Musicality: live music that both complements and contrasts with the atmosphere generated by the Skeleton Ship (also real-time amplification of the continuous creaking movement of the keel).

A solitary figure sits by a fire atop an island mound of sand, outside the heavy rope perimeter.

A lighthouse in the distance flashes a beacon of Hope as people leave the circle.

Crazy dancing, when required…

 

The ICD:

the Institute for Crazy Dancing is a performance company and collective of thinkers, do-ers, dancers, musicians and clowns. We collaborate with people, councils, museums, galleries and venues in order to create unexpected experiences in familiar and unfamiliar places.

We have created numerous site-responsive participatory performances - notably: TREASURE HUNT - Leeds: a participatory journey & extravaganza through the city at night; and DEEP WATER (in collaboration with Exponential Aerial Theatre) - Goole: an immersive, spectacular and intimate event over three sites (Nature Trail, Waterways Museum and Coal Hoist) along the Aire & Calder Canal.

We aim to create work that provokes curiosity, engages people in conversation and changes the way we look at the world.

Call to Action:

We are currently seeking commissioning partners and people to champion the piece - with a view to arranging National and International presentations of the completed work from summer 2012 onwards...

Collaborators to date:

Tom Cleaver, Pete Cuffe, Rachel Dean, Tiago Gambogi, Stevie Goodwin, Jason Hird, Dave Lazonby, Jo Leishman, and Andy Wood.

This project has been supported so far, by:

Arts Council England, Theatre in the Mill, Wakefield Theatre Royal & Opera House, West Yorkshire Grants, and Yorkshire Dance.

With many thanks to:

Alison Andrews, Graham Bailey, Iain Bloomfield, Sue Broadway, Clare Clarkson, Anthony Dunn, Rhiannon Ellis, Wieke Eringa, Simon Fanshawe, Nelson Fernandez, Mickey Finn, Henry Fisher, Vannesa Grasse, Claire Greenwood, Leonie Hart, Jannine Heseltine, Rachel Kaye, Mark Makin, Bruce Mowson, Sam Murphy, Molly Nicholson, Dan Rollings, Gabrielle Russell, Corinne Saunders, Simon Shepherd, Amanda Smith, Lynn Thomson, Mairead Turner, Maggie Virtue, Caroline Wallace, Jude Wright and all the people who participated in the work and development process…

For further detail / conversation please contact: jason@icdancing.com / +44 (0)7887 681 598

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