Over and along, across and around, the sands are shifting and the light is dimming…
Longways & Crosswise is an immersive, site-specific dance performance taking place on the coastline of Morecambe Bay. Inspired by David Cox’s provocative paintings of the crossings, join a cast of professional dancers and local participants as we imagine the stories and tales of those that once crossed the sands in the last of the light. Commencing an hour before sunset, together the audience and performers will witness the phenomenal transformation of the bay at day’s end.
Through the intrinsic choreography of this 1-hour performance, the many movement patterns of the bay are described in the bodies of the dancers as they trace the folds of the sand and the flow of the tide, dancing the ridges and ripples of the bay’s unique, ever-changing landscape. Between water and land, between day and night, between those that once walked the sands and those that still do, Longways & Crosswise creates a tangible, lived encounter with the shifting, sifting world of Morecambe Bay.
Watch the Longways & Crosswise dance performance taking place on the coastline of Morecambe Bay.
It’s the creation of Lancaster-based choreographer Jenny Reeves, from the city’s About Time dance company, and choreology student Ellen Jeffrey. They have marshalled seven professional dancers, and 14 local participants, for just three performances of a dance piece that is part of Morecambe Bay Partnership’s current series of arts events.
Read the full review here: Longways / Crosswise | Theatre Review by David Upton
This is a brand new commission by About Time Dance Company, for Morecambe Bay Partnership Trust and funded by the Heritage lottery. The work is co-choreographed by Jenny Reeves and Ellen Jeffrey.
Performers: Lucy Starkey, Aimee Williamson, Helen Gould, Louise Gibbons, Grace Turner, Celeste Chadwick, Anna James & Jane Lawrence (fiddle) & a cast of 16 local community dancers
Costume Design: Katie Duxbury
Composition: Lee Affen
Writing: Eileen Punn
Stage management: Will Manley