Dancing on the Edge

Artists Sue Smith, Kuldip Singh-Barmi (Cornwall UK) and Rita Marcalo (Cloughjordan, ROI) have been in residence with their project loosely titled – Dancing on the Edge. Instigated by ideas of precarity, precipice, futures and survival in communities (hyper-local and global), we are exploring new movements in environment-conscious dance practices. At this early stage the research explores embodied responses to the themes and what might be needed to create a structure for those who are aligned by a common urgency to affect change in sustainability through dance and movement. The long vision is for a new network of researchers, independent movement/body artists, thinkers and allied organisations: engaging in participation, performance and praxis with the aim of nurturing better connected, energised and active communities. Strong alliance with the geographic identity of the western edge of Europe and the metaphorical existential edge of climate disaster will bond collaborators and invite others who are curious to shift towards a more sustainable or pro-active dance research practice. 

This research starts to imagine how enabling radical hope and amplifying the voices of diverse participants, might create new platforms for alternative visions, analysis and modelling of a future alive with new intimacies between landscape, non-human life forms, economics and a greater understanding of the politics of inequalities intrinsically linked to climate change. This initial residency sows the seeds for longer term thinking/action towards enabling a more effective, supported and diverse framework for environment-informed research and encourage stronger links between north and south European partners, organisations and individuals.