Life going down the tube

Underground is a Motionhouse festival piece created for performance in the public arena.

Performed by four dancers within a rocking tubular structure, Underground uses stunningly physical dance, poignant imagery and surprising aerial encounters to explore the new reality of train travel: the compressed intimacy of a crowded carriage; the crush of personal space; the studied ignoring of our fellow humans and the tight fear of a dangerous stranger in the current climate of suspicion.

Travellers are thrown together in an unlikely alliance as graffiti artists paint their love in motion. Suspended at odd angles and riding the rhythm of the train, four characters are constantly drawn together then torn apart.

Energetic and thought provoking, Underground is attention grabbing, edge of your seat, in–your-face dancing.

Audience comments:

“Elegance and anarchy rolled into one powerful, strong bodied, fully alive, uplifting performance.”

“Fantastic! Great concept and choreography, superb performance by the dancers. Outstanding.”

In summer 2008 Underground was performed at Brighton Festival, University of Warwick, Fierce Festival in Birmingham, Festival Città delle Cento Scale (Prima edizione), Potenza, Italy, Playbox Theatre Warwick, Mancester Xtrax, Fuse Medway Festival, Midsummer Madness Canterbury, Dancing City at Greenwich+Docklands International Festival, Winchester Hat Fair, Mouth of the Tyne Festival, Bracknell Street Life, Stockton International Riverside Festival, an event for Community Dance Wales in Pontypridd, Devizes Street Festival, Pittville School, Arts Fresco in Market Harborough and Bristol Do.

“Motionhouse again demonstrates that contemporary dance can find a large new audience without compromising artistic integrity but with a huge dose of choreographic flair, acrobatic flourish, humour, empathy and real life relevance.”

Click here for Underground tour dates

Click here to read more about Underground and for technical info.