Summary: a vertical dance duet commissioned by Venue Cymru for Llawn 03 festival. Two Victorian lady travelers find themselves marooned on the roof of Venue Cymru and need to get to the sea. They abseil, strip and dip…
Detail: Over a week in September 2015, we occupied the roof and walls of Venue Cymru overlooking the sea. The challenge posed was how to abseil down a building with edges and balconies, and big windows behind which diners were eating. Kate created a rigging design which enabled the dancers to descend a single rope to the ground. An audience of 300 were gathered on the promenade, in front of the building and inside the building. The work took inspiration from two real Victorian lady travelers, Isabella Bird and Freya Stark and drew on the first travel guide for women, Hints to Lady Travellers (1889) by Lillias Campbell Davidson.
‘A unique spectacle as the duo .. "danced" their way down the glass frontage of the building, then crossed the busy road hand in hand, to finally pull off their hobnail boots and dip their feet in the chilly sea at the water's edge. The journey was impressive…and must have confused many a passing motorist who could only see a crowd of people staring intently up at the sky with smiles on their faces.’ Steve Stratford review