Site Specific Work

“And, as with the best site-specific works, we begin to see an everyday environment with fresh eyes...” Sanjoy Roy on Publife in Contemporary Magazine

Protein’s interest in responding to the use and the logistic limitations of a location and their passion to turn reality into a “bigger than life” experience creates a powerful and enjoyable theatrical event.  

 

on display  
“Choreographer Luca Silvestrini is a keen advocate of the idea that the best way to bring new audiences to dance is to take dance to them” Metro

A series of specially commissioned dance pieces set in high street stores, On Display literally brought Birmingham shop windows to life as the launching event of the first International Dance Festival Birmingham. The performance moves from shop windows to the street, with five dancers shifting roles between mannequin and dressers-in-action, and the drama spills over into fashion-victim taxis and a bubbly sequence at the nearby Bath Store.  Over the course of a week there were 20 performances, attracting around 2,300 onlookers.
Commissioned by DanceXchange as part of IDFB
Choreographed and directed by: Luca Silvestrini
Devised and performed by: Elizabetta D’Aloia, Suzanne Firth, David Lloyd, Marso Riviere, Gail Parmel
Premiere: 28 April 2008

 

six white chairs  
For their second commission at The Wapping Project, Protein decided to work with the old machinery of the once Hydraulic Power Station. The location suggested the set of a magic act, with the magician and his assistant creating the illusions of body parts appearing and disappearing inside and around the machines. At each repetition, both the magic acts and the relationship between the two performers surprise the audience with unfortunate, embarrassing mistakes and misunderstandings.
A Jerwood Commission 2003
Choreographed by: Luca Silvestrini and Bettina Strickler
Performed by: Rena Papadoniou and Luca Silvestrini
Music: Charles Dumont
Lighting: Charles Balfour
Premiere: 28 July 2003

the factory  
"The spectacular new Laban Centre's gala opening was sweetly subverted by dance students using the building as an adventure playground...It's their building and they are confident enough to send it up." The Observer

Created on site with over 40 third year Laban students, The Factory animated the new building during a 3 day opening event attended by 900 guests. Inside studios, along corridors and through glass walls, the visitors caught moments of the students' training in a larger than life representation of their daily activities. Every night, 10 groups of 30 guests took a guided tour to observe the students' looping routines on the "production line" and finally gathered in the central ramp of the building to salute the now "made" dancers marching in a cabaret-like chorus line.
Commissioned by Laban
Devised by: Natalie Ayton, Eddie Nixon, Luca Silvestrini, Bettina Strickler together with Laban 3rd year Diploma students
Created and performed by: 3rd year BA (Hons) Dance Theatre, 3rd year Undegraduate Diploma in Dance Theatre and Professional Diploma Dance Studies students at Laban
Music: Julius Fucik, Rodgers/Hammerstein, Glenn Miller
Costume design: Suzie Holmes, Rose Truchet
Lighting: Sarah Gilmartin
Sound engineering:Zavier Briche
Premiere: 4 February 2003

jerwood 10x8 stairworks
"This highly technical piece was humorous and very challenging...it was interesting to have limited sightlines and see only glimpses of the dancers. It gave the illusion that there were hundreds of them back there." www.danceinsider.com

Protein’s first site specific piece, for the former Hydraulic Power Station in Wapping, mixes news coverage of Britain’s mad cow disease crisis with Vivaldi’s music and images of young men wearing small bath towels. The action takes places on the outdoor staircase and the audience can only see it through two large windows and two doors from the inside of the building.
Commissioned by Women’s Playhouse Trust as part of Jerwood 10x8 Stairworks 2001.
Choreographed by: Luca Silvestrini and Bettina Strickler
Directed by: Bettina Strickler
Performed by: Ben Abbott, Jean Abreu, Robin Dingemans, Kristoffer Hahn, Eddie Nixon, Ilkka Kokkonen, Luca Silvestrini, Johan Stjernholm and Daniel Watson
Music: A. Vivaldi
Lighting: Claire Mallesson
Sound engineering: Simon Redfern
Premiere: 30 June 2001