T H I S B R I G HT F I E L D
Premieres May 2017
Available for touring from October 2017
T H I S B R I G HT F I E L D
Choreographer and stage designer, Theo Clinkard follows his recent high profile commissions for Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch and Danza
Contemporanea de Cuba, by building upon his body of critically acclaimed, affecting and visually arresting company work with the highly anticipated, full-length
production, This Bright Field.
Audiences are invited to share the stage with thirteen exceptional performers for an immediate and memorable event that examines notions of perspective and
attention. Conceived in two distinct halves, This Bright Field begins with a looped installation which is tailored for a small, mobile audience. Using Clinkard's plywood set
design, the dancers deftly collapse and expand the spaces they inhabit to create a curious flow of bodies, corridors and rooms. By engineering panning shots,
close ups and an accentuated depth of field, they direct and edit the audiences experience of themselves.
The second half provides a new perspective where the audience are zoomed out from the action. As the auditorium seats are filled, the stage is stripped back and
the live action continues as if in wide screen. A sculptural group body inhabits the stark space until the sheer mass of the thirteen strong company charges the
stage with an energy which can be felt as much a seen.
Clinkard's creation process will further his interest in the bridging potential between roles of the observer and observed, asking how we, as witnesses to the
performed act, could experience dance though our own bodies. In turn, he will be working with the company to establish how their sensorial perception of their
bodies, the space, the audience and each other informs and empowers their dancing. His aim with this work is to uniquely activate both performer and audience
through use of scale and perspective and celebrate the subjective experience of the shared act.
Clinkard will be working closely with each venue to tailor an opportunity for their audience to inhabit a familiar space with a new viewpoint, right from the way in
which they enter the building. While striking design, breathtaking performances and live music, shared on both an intimate and expansive scale ensure this event
shifts expectations of dance as an art form.
This Bright Field is a Dance4 co-production. Co-commissioned by The Lowry, Tramway and Dance4, with additional support from Greenwich Dance, The Point
and the Tanja Liedtke Foundation. Theo Clinkard is currently looking for further UK and International co-commissioning partners to support the making to
premiere of This Bright Field in Spring 2017.
CREDI TS
Concept, Direction and Design
Artistic Collaboration
Lighting Design
Sound Design
Costume making
Set construction
Developed and Performed by
THEO CLINKARD
Theo Clinkard
Leah Marojević
Guy Hoare
James Keane
Rike Zöllner
Colin Beard
Leah Marojević
Stephanie McMann
Camilla Brogård-Andersen
Meri Pajunpää
Natalie Divall
Crystal Zillwood
Luke Divall
Mathieu Geffre
Nick Coutsier
Colas Lucot
Pau Aran Gimeno
(one more dancer T.B.C.)
James Keane
THIS BRIGHT FIELD will be developed and performed by
13 exceptional performers hailing from Spain, Finland,
France, Belgium, Denmark, Wales and England. Music will
be played live by composer and musician James Keane who
performed in Clinkard’s recent duet work ‘Chalk’, while
renowned lighting designer Guy Hoare will provide lighting
design.
In just 5 years, choreographer, performer and
stage designer, Theo Clinkard has built an
international reputation for creating compelling
and visually arresting works that explore the
communicative potential of the body and the
empathetic nature of dance in performance.
He launched his own 7-strong company in 2012
and subsequently created numerous works
which have toured across the UK and
internationally and received critical and audience
acclaim. Company works include HELL BENT,
ORDINARY COURAGE (BDE Edinburgh 2014),
OF LAND & TONGUE (BDE Cymru 2016 +
Tanzmesse 2016) and CHALK.
Outside of his company work, Clinkard is
currently undertaking a range of high profile
international commissions. In September 2015 he
created ‘Somewhat still when seen from above’
for the dancers and technicians of TANZTHEATER WUPPERTAL PINA BAUSCH as
part of their historic first evening of new work since the choreographers. In May 2016,
Clinkard premiered ‘The Listening Room’ for 20 dancers at DANZA
CONTEMPORANEA DE CUBA which will tour across the Uk in 2017 with Dance
Consortium.
Clinkard has premiered 22 original dance works, many of them created for training
institutions and youth companies in England, Austria, Chile, Ireland, Wales and New
Zealand.
Clinkard is a Resident Artist at Greenwich Dance and an Associate Artist at Dance4.
ST A G E D E S I G N + T E C H N I C A L
This Bright Field is suitable for middle and large scale venues with a minimum
performance area of 10m x 10m with a sprung floor.
A full tech spec will be available following the May 2017 premiere.
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13 people on stage
15 people on the road (12 dancers, musician, Artistic Director, Technician)
Live and pre recorded music
Running time 2 hours (not including post show talk)
The company require black back drop or dark wall, black harlequin floor (1st half)
The company tour 10 plywood flats, pale back drop, pale harlequin floor (2nd half)
The stage space transforms as part of the work, essentially going from a black box to
a stripped out pale space.
The pale company floor will be laid underneath the black venue floor. At the break,
the technicians and dancers will roll up the black floor in audience view.
They will also wheel the plywood flats to the offstage space and open the black
curtains to reveal the pale backdrop or alternatively hang the pale backdrop
depending on bar space and bars / fly floor.
front of stage
This diagram approximates the installation 1st half from
above. Featuring the audience on 3 sides of the space
(4 side can be discussed) and the performers with plywood
flats.
AUDIENCE EXPERIENCE
The following system is designed to guide the audience through the evening. Clinkard sees this as the plan for the premiere performances, to be
refined as needed, based upon feedback. He anticipates that it would run it differently in different venues following conversations with
programmers regarding the nature of their audience, their venue capacity, their preferred start time and the logistics of each building etc. He is
interested to tailor a solution to suit each presentation.
The first half
The second half
is an on stage installation conceived for a reduced audience, repeated 3 times.
is viewed ‘end on’ from the auditorium seats. Ideally able to be full capacity.
Where possible, the audience will enter through the back stage of the theatre, they will be guided on to the stage to a clearly defined ‘watching area’ that
frames 3 sides of a 9m x 9m performing space. (no audience at the front edge of stage, although might be needed in venues with larger audiences).
The performed cycle will be 15 minutes long and it will be shown 3 times within an hour with a 5 minute break between each cycle. The break will be clearly
marked by a distinct change in light and sound that is intended to assist the flow of people entering and exiting the installation.
7pm - 7.15
7.20 - 7.35
7.40 - 8pm
(5 min break)
(5 min break)
(15 minute break before 2nd half- explained below)
At the ticket sales point, the audience would be given these timings, but would not have to self select an allotted time. The idea is to give the audience
flexibility to arrive when they chose, to watch the loop more than once, or to drop in and out. It would be mentioned that perhaps coming early will give a
more intimate experience as most audience are likely come later on.
It is expected that the audience will be moving fluidly between the on stage installation and the venue foyer/bar area where they can get a drink. This flow
could be encouraged by venue staff, but it could also be directed by the dancers themselves.
Where possible, Clinkard would also be keen to discuss the idea of a pop up bar in the theatre scene dock, proximate to the action to help the evening fell
like a unique event, even in a building the audience are familiar with.
If a 2nd space is available, a 20 minute pre show artist talk with Theo can also take place between at some point between 7pm and 8pm. It would require
the audience to sign up and the number of people able to attend would be based upon the rooms capacity. It will not necessary to attend the talk to ‘get’ the
work.
8pm
8.15 - 9pm
9pm - 9.30
15 minute break for audience to find their seats in the auditorium while the dancers visibly strip the stage space (rolling up a
floor, revealing a cyclorama, removing the set from 1st half). This break should also leave time for those who have only just
experienced the installation to got to the loo etc.
Second Half
Post Show Talk. A 20 minute talk/in conversation would also be offered to venues following the performance.
The copy and box office notes would be clear to insure audiences are guided well and box office/F.O.H. venue staff are fully supported to explain this system
more concisely when tickets are sold and the audiences arrive.
P R E S S Q U OT E S
“Clinkard’s choreography has an unforced, unhurried quality that is very much of the moment. He
muses, tinkers around with his material like a bloke in a shed, and then, quietly and deftly, pulls the
loose ends together. The result is intimate, human-scale and charged with joy.” The Observer on OF LAND & TONGUE
“Clinkard’s movement language is deceptive, its apparent simplicity that of well-written dialogue.
There’s nothing that doesn’t need to be there…"
The Observer on ORDINARY COURAGE
“Clinkard's choreography is intuitive, elemental and forever on the brink of collapse, a study in frailty
and elegant vulnerability.
Acrossthearts.co.uk on CHALK
“Everything in the evening led me towards a perfect state of watching (I don’t like to write in
absolutes, but, hell, it felt perfect).”
Bellyflopmag.com on OF LAND & TONGUE
“…it all somehow falls into place, such is the joy of Clinkard's choreography. He makes it all look so easy and in the
moment. A joy to watch, with everyone getting a chance to shine.”
Acrossthearts.co.uk on OF LAND & TONGUE
“The dancers perform with a radiant precision, but it is in the transcendent thread of the Vaughan Williams solo that
Clinkard encapsulates the double dynamic of his choreography, drawing us into the intimacy of the dancers’
interactions, but also imposing a distance, as if observing from a bird’s-eye view. Sitting in the packed theatre, I
doubt I was the only one to imagine the spirit of Bausch was observing them, too.”
The Guardian on SOMEWHAT STILL WHEN SEEN FROM ABOVE for Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch
WORKSHOPS
Alongside the touring of This Bright Field, Clinkard offers a range of workshops that draw upon the creation process. Workshops can be tailored to
suit all levels of experience, providing participants with an experience that is challenging, illuminating and enjoyable.
Please get in touch to discuss options in more detail.
Clinkard is sought after internationally as a leader of residencies, workshops, masterclasses and lectures for dance artists and emerging dance makers.
Recent trips include work in Australia, Ireland, Chile, Cuba, Switzerland and Norway.
He regularly leads professional level open classes for independent studios and provides class for many of the celebrated companies across Europe
(Pina Bausch, D.V.8., Carte Blanche, Culberg Ballet, Skänes Dansteater, Danish Dance Theatre, Michael Clark Co, Sydney Dance Co.
Scottish Dance Theatre, New Adventures, Candoco, National Dance Co. Wales, Ballet Boyz, Danza Contemporanea de Cuba and Rambert).
C O NT A CT
FEES
Annabel Dunbar
Dance4 Associate Producer [email protected]
+44(0) 7802 624949
+44(0) 115 941 0773
Performance fees depend on the number of shows programmed, the shape of
the associated bespoke programme of educational activity and the location.
Please contact Annabel Dunbar to discuss options.
Theo Clinkard
Artistic Director
[email protected]
+44(0) 7968 759625
Facebook Page /theoclinkarddance
Twitter @theoclinkard
Website www.theoclinkard.com
W W W .T H E O C L I N K A R D . C O M