Friday 6th May 7-10pm
Bloc Projects presents Ecstatic, an evening’s exploration of all things human through the medium of the body, identity and play. The event will feature live artists David Birchall, Robin Close, Alice Malseed, David McNab, Rebekka Platt and Nicola Singh.
Robin Close lives and works in Sheffield, he will perform a new work that combines his interest in the extremities of the human condition, with his love of disco music.
Rebekka Platt and improvisational musician David Birchall, based in Manchester, will show One, a new collaboration which is a meditative and intense experience, drawing its audience close to explore and reflect facets of the Self, from awakening, through sacrifice to final ecstasy.
Alice Malseed comes from Belfast and lives in London, and is interested in applied drama. Once she invited an audience build her a house out of sugar cubes. In her piece for Ecstatic, Framed Narrative, she implores the audience to let them tell her about herself: “I want you to know about me. The people who I’ve met have made me this way. How will you define me? Come along and listen to me unravelling the layers”.
Nicola Singh’s Breath Experiment 2: Absent Breath will explore notions of the absent breath, enquiring into the aural, visual and theoretical dynamic explored between two bodies and the transference or manifestation of this within solo performance. Singh’s interdisciplinary practice explores the voice as instrument, expanding perceptions of contemporary music, composition and live performance.
David McNab lives and works in Sheffield, he is interested in focusing on the non-verbal elements of performance, and returns frequently to issues of immanence and transcendence in his work. The artist is currently making models and drawings around notions of the 1000 petalled lotus and Botticelli’s souls floating in a circle in Dante’s Paradise. He will develop these themes through performance, and hopes to wordlessly bring them to life.
Ecstatic is part of From West to North to East to South and Back, a cross-regional events programme coordinated and led by East Street Arts (Leeds) and curated in collaboration with OUI Performance (York), RED Gallery (Hull) and Bloc Projects (Sheffield)
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