“Let’s not mess about: everything about POP-UP Duets is inspired. This is, at every level, a richly inventive, wonderfully perceptive work, danced with a persuasive humanity to a score you want to own”
★★★★★ The Herald
“Janis Claxton is a dance-maker at the top of her technical game, with a rare emotional intelligence” ★★★★ THE OBSERVER
POP-UP Duets (fragments of love) is a series of 5-minute, contemporary dance duets
designed for a public spaces such as museums, galleries, cafes, libraries. This May Janis
Claxton Dance will bring the performances to Liverpool’s Bluecoat as part of LightNight
2018, a festival which for one night only, takes over the city with free arts and heritage
events showcasing the cities vibrant cultural offer.
Bringing together the talents of award winners Janis Claxton (choreographer) and Pippa Murphy (composer) with four world-class dancers, POP-UP Duets is designed to emerge from public situations to be enjoyed by invited as well as accidental audiences who find themselves passing by.
This LightNight, Bluecoat will be embracing the 2018 theme of Transformation, by
turning into a truly immersive, engaging and interactive realm. Between 6pm-
7:30pm POP-UP Duets (fragments of love) will perform a series of contemporary
dance duets that will transform Bluecoat’s building and exterior spaces. Each duet is
accompanied by an original soundtrack specifically composed for Bluecoat.
The four dancers lined-up for POP-UP Duets (fragments of love) at Bluecoat are Joanne
Pirrie, Albert Garcia, Amy Hollinshead and Valerio Di Giovanni.
POP-UP Duets is funded by Creative Scotland to tour extensively across Scotland. The
company is excited to announce that the tour will be extended to the UK, Asia, Europe and the USA.
Janis Claxton said: “POP-UP Duets (fragments of love) has been an exciting success with both audiences and critics. We are delighted to be touring it in 2018 and especially thrilled to be invited to Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. It’s a huge honour.”
Laura Cameron-Lewis, Head of Dance, Creative Scotland, said: “Creative Scotland is
pleased to support the creation, development and tour of ‘POP-UP Duets’ by Janis Claxton Dance. This highly artistic and creative piece of dance presents beautifully crafted duets in public places, where audiences can stumble upon them. Janis Claxton has achieved great success with this work, with 5 star reviews during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, securing a comprehensive tour throughout Scotland in 2018 and the prestigious invitation to bring this work to ‘Jacob’s Pillow Dance’ in America.”
POP-UP Duets premiered in August 2016 in the Grand Gallery of National Museum of
Scotland as part of the Made in Scotland Showcase for Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In
March 2017 POP-UP Duets had an International premier at the Kaohsiung Spring Arts
Festival where the work was re-created with two UK and two Taiwanese dancers for a
variety of public spaces.
The work is made up of 8 stand-alone duets drawing on the theme of love through elegant and dynamic contemporary dance that evolves from simple everyday interactions. Each duet is accompanied by a track of original music specifically composed for the choreography by Pippa Murphy with vocals by Scottish Album of the Year Award winner, Kathryn Joseph.
As well as the contemporary dance performances, Bluecoat will open its doors for
an evening of music, fun and the chance to get involved in hands on family
activities. Spend the evening in the garden with choirs, DJs, live musicians and
then refuel with at the outdoor bar and barbecue. Plus the gallery will be open til
late, with visitors invited to Spring exhibition, Euphonia by Emma Smith which
transforms Bluecoat’s gallery into a sonic chamber, turning the viewer into a
participant who is invited to contribute to the sound installation by adding their own
voice.
POP-UP Duets (fragments of love) Tour 2018
Singapore International Festival of Arts – Thursday 26 to Sunday 29 April
Horsecross Theatre, Perth – Sunday 6 May
Dunfermline Carnegie Library & Galleries – Tuesday 15 May
LightNight at Bluecoat, Liverpool – Friday 18 May
Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival, Scotland – Saturday 26 May
Hidden Door Festival, Edinburgh – Friday 25 May & Sunday 3 June
Jacobs Pillow Dance, USA – Saturday 16 to Friday June 22 June
Malmo Summerfest, Sweden – Wednesday 25 & Thursday 26 July
Lund’s Sommarlund, Sweden – Friday 27 July
Merchant City Festival, Glasgow – Thursday 9 & Friday 10 August
National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh – Wednesday 15 – Sunday 19 & Wednesday 22 – Sunday 26 August
Further international dates to be announced.
Image: Susan Hay
Categories: News
