Water way to go

Motionhouse, one of the UK's leading dance and theater companies, will be staging their latest multimedia dance production, Scattered, on October 27 and 28 as part of the Shanghai International Arts Festival.

Performed on a giant curved floor that resembles a snowboard, Scattered is a show about water, and which combines film and movement into a single performance.

Motionhouse was established in 1988 by Kevin Finnan and Louise Richards who met while working for another company, New Midlands Dance. Since then Motionhouse has produced widely acclaimed productions and toured all around the world.

Sense of place

"Scattered is a 'living film' and the image is multi-dimensional. There is a sense of place which is conjured up through the movement of the body and the film and the work of the lights, all coming together," said Finnan, who is also the company's artistic director.

Scattered uses water projections created by the award-winning Spanish filmmaker Logela Multimedia, to accompany the dance show.

The performance explores our relationship with water and how we interact with it in different forms throughout our lives.

Finnan said that Scattered was inspired by his travels in far northern territories, such as British Columbia and Alaska in North America.

"The glaciers, the high ice fields and the great rivers inspired me for this performance," he told the Global Times. "At the same time, when I wanted to make Scattered, I stood in my house and turned on the tap, just to watch water from it. My children raised their eyebrows and laughed at me for being a 'fool,' but I pointed at the water and said: 'do you know what a miracle this is? 'I have seen people struggle for water; I have seen people love water and play in it. All of the images from when I have been walking or diving or traveling, create a kaleidoscope in my head and it slowly comes together when I create my work."

Physical strength

Scattered is performed to an original music score created by the young British composer Sophie Smith and is performed by seven British and Italian dancers. "Our dancers have to be beautiful, but also have to be extremely physical and develop a great deal more upper-body strength than you would ordinarily get with a ballet or contemporary dancer," said Finnan.

Apart from using projection technology, the show also uses harnesses and bungees with which the dancers move seamlessly between and around the images of water.　

During the performance, the dancers sprint up an upstage curved wall, immerse themselves in images of cascading waterfalls, rainstorms and swimming pools, hang over a frozen arctic landscape, dive onto the stage through ice floes and frozen waters, and swim in tidal waves.

"Scattered has an extraordinary set. The show is danced to a very demanding level of physicality, and integrates in a unique way with the film," said Finnan. "It has huge energy, great skills and beautiful imagery, which are combined in a most unusual way."

Date: October 27 and 28, 7:15 pm

Venue: Shanghai Oriental Art Center

上海東方藝術中心

Address: 425 Dingxiang Road

丁香路425號

Tickets: 80 to 800 yuan

Call 6854-1234 for details