Settlement

Settlement was inspired by relocation, after several years in London, to rural Ross-shire in the Scottish Highlands where this work was created.

The work’s starting point was to consider our relationship with the built and natural environments that surround us, particularly theories around dynamic feedback mechanisms between humans and our designed or natural architecture and environment.

Aesthetically simple and with a functional and practical performance intention, broader themes are revealed through the evolving body-architecture and performers’ interactions.

In many ways Settlement considers balance between opposing ideas. It is at the same time strong and fragile, rigid and soft, delicate and bold, restless and restful, careful and reckless. Through smaller acts of cooperation and resistance, negotiation and resolution there is a larger common desire to hold things together in some way and a search for something more harmonious.

In parts, Settlement varies from performance to performance. The performers seek to hold things together or find a pathway through as the sometimes-unpredictable architectural elements and structures respond to their conditions.

Settlement was originally commissioned by The Place, London for The Place Prize for Contemporary Dance 2012 sponsored by Bloomberg.

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