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We Are The World

“The cyborg would not recognise the garden of Eden, it is not made of mud and cannot dream of returning to dust." Donna Haraway

With the cyborg as a metaphor for fragmented identities, We Are The World looks at the space between fiction and fact, and what it means to be  a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fantasy. From Artistic Director Imogen Reeve, We Are The World shares a utopian vision, investigating the partiality, irony, intimacy and perversity of human nature. 

ARTISTIC TEAM:

IDEA AND DIRECTION: Imogen Reeve

CHOREOGRAPHY: Imogen Reeve in collaboration with the performers

PERFORMERS:  Allegra Vistalli, Jorden Brookes. Hannah Durkan

SCENERY:  Imogen Reeve

SOUND: Devon Bonelli

COSTUME DESIGN, COSTUME REALIZATION: Imogen Reeve

LIGHTING DESIGN: Charlotte Woods

PRODUCTION MANAGER: Charlotte Woods

PRODUCER: Callum Holt

WITH THE HELP OF: Arts Council England, Yorkshire Dance, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, The Middle Floor

Reviews

We Are the World sees three women in pale pink negligee, their dance a slow sensual prowl, deliberately voluptuous, but interrupted by droid-like glitches. A comely smile starts to spread on one woman’s face then suddenly jolts to neutral as if someone pressed the reset button. Choreographer Imogen Reeve has absolutely committed to a vibe, a weird, eerie/dreamy one at that, this trio of sirens like the Virgin Suicides meets Ex Machina.

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Lyndsey Winship, The Guardian

The stand out piece of the night comes from Excessive Human Collective. Taking feminist theorist Donna Haraway’s musings on cyborgs as a point of departure, We Are The World sees dancers Allegra Vistalli, Jorden Brooks, and Hannah Durkan punctuate torso undulations, lioness-like crawls, and effortless leg extensions with glitch-like jolts and shudders. While their vacant eyes and suggestively open-mouthed expressions are reminiscent of idealised female avatars seen online, their toga-like dresses and relaxed, asymmetrical poses evoke Classical painting and sculpture. By alluding to both the historical and contemporary, choreographer Imogen Reeve cleverly suggests that male fantasies continue to place unrealistic, reductive expectations on women. When will the glitches become so overwhelming that we finally break free from them? 

Emily May, The Place

Excessive Human Collective’s sci-fi romp through the pink void is an enigmatic exploration of femininity for the ChatGPT generation. We Are The World is bold and dynamic, oscillating between the natural and the uncanny. Choreographer Imogen Reeve shows some curious innovations with the AI aesthetic in the piece, limbs ripple and twitch while faces flicker with unnatural, flirty expressions. Once the dirty bassline kicks in the dancers’ articulations become fuller, punctuating the beat with hair-whips and beauty queen waves. Hannah Durkan is especially magnetic as an eerie robo-Marilyn Monroe. The work is relevant, political but not preachy, even a little cheeky. A Philip K. Dick story in a post-brat world.

Eoin Fenton, The Place

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