State of Emergency presents a unique international dance theatre project that commissions a brand new work by acclaimed South African choreographer Gregory Maqoma.
Desert Crossings, 2012
After a highly successful tour of this production in 2011, we are delighted to announce another tour of this exciting and original production. Venues and dates will be announced in early 2012 and the tour kicks off with a showcase event at the 2012 International Association of Blacks in Dance Conference in Canada at the end of January.
Desert Crossings takes us on a journey of discovery, building bridges between two continents, tracing shared memories and the earth’s history, revealing timeless stories, universal hopes and dreams of a better world. This cross-cultural performance is a collaboration between UK based producers, State of Emergency and South African choreographer Gregory Maqoma of Vuyani Dance Theatre, performed by a company of five dancers from different cultural backgrounds, with an original score by Steve Marshall.
Desert Crossings is supported by Arts Council England and the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Team. In 2011 Desert Crossings travelled to Johannesburg in a collaboration with dance organisation Artslink and was premiered at the New Dance Festival in August 2010. The project has the backing of UNESCO which was obtained through the close work and support of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Team.
‘The choreography resonates with ancient traditions, belief systems and mythologies emanating from mosques, churches and ancient caves from the origins of mankind to Timbuktu, and beyond the Jurassic Coast… The memory of time is broken by individual outbursts and muscular vocabulary which turns human flesh into tumbleweeds or fossils of primordial memory, creating a journey across vast deserts, seas and mountains. Desert Crossings is a landscape where the physical and the metaphysical, the corporeal and the spiritual, the celestial and terrestrial all merge.’ Gregory Maqoma
Inspired by the similarities between the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site on England’s south coast and the Skeleton Coast of Namibia, this new work is an exploration and reflection on two very different places, united through a shared history of the rocks on which they stand. Once a single continent with a desert environment called Pangaea, our world was gradually torn apart through 250 million years of history.
