(In)visible Dancing - FREE EVENT in Southend High Street

Part of Big Dance East - 28, 29, 30 June, 3, 4, 5 July & Finale 7 July at 3pm

After winning Best Independent Company in the National Dance Awards 2011 and following the national and international touring success of ‘LOL (lots of love)’ during 2011 and 2012, Luca Silvestrini’s PROTEIN takes to the streets during summer 2012 with their entertaining and inspiring dance experience (In)visible Dancing.

(In)visible Dancing premiered on the streets of Birmingham at IDFB 2010 to great acclaim and popularity; this summer Luca Silvestrini’s intrepid company  will work with local performers at three UK arts festivals to create unique events at shopping centres in Doncaster, Kingston upon Thames and Southend. 

Each (In)visible Dancing event runs over a period of 8-10 days.  It starts off as a small event and increases in size every day; the first time it appears, it is barely recognizable as dance as it develops from what initially looks like incidental, even strange behaviour on the streets.  About 30 minutes in length and performed twice a day (around 1-2pm and 5pm), each time it is presented it becomes more ‘visible’, and, with Luca Silvestrini’s unique ability to create dance from the everyday, it gradually becomes a fully-fledged dance performance that engages with the architecture of each location and the behaviour of the passers-by.  Finally (In)visible Dancing culminates in a thrilling Finale that brings together around a hundred performers, including local dance groups and passers-by that have learned the routine.

(In)visible Dancing is a unique location-based performance intervention, originally conceived for International Dance Festival Birmingham (IDFB).  A concept by David Massingham, Artistic Director of DanceXchange and Co-artistic Director of IDFB, David invited Luca Silvestrini to develop (In)visible Dancing with him for IDFB 2010. Each Invisible Dancing event follows the same approach but is unique in its location, its artistic content and its timetable being tailored by Luca Silvestrini.

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council’s Executive Councillor for Culture and Tourism Councillor Derek Jarvis said: “Southend is increasingly becoming the cultural hub of the East of England, so we very much welcome this exciting and unusual event coming to our very own High Street. We look forward to a unique work of art being devised here in Southend.. We hope as many people as possible will watch – or even take part.”

David Massingham: “It’s great that we have found a way to tour a performance project like this nationally and internationally. (In)visible Dancing also forms part of a long-running association between DanceXchange and Luca Silvestrini”.

Luca Silvestrini sees Big Dance and the events of 2012 as a perfect opportunity for (In)visible Dancing: “I am extremely proud to resume this gratifying example of street theatre, where people of all ages and walks of life can discover, meet and experience dance in the heart of their city centre. I particularly enjoy the fact that both dancing and theatre situations emerge over several days in front of their eyes, altering and transforming the course of the everyday. (In)visible Dancing develops my on-going interest in finding new ways of engaging and connecting with audiences, especially those who are less exposed or familiar to dance. They can even take part in our Finale by learning an ending, celebratory routine.”

PROTEIN Under the artistic direction of Luca Silvestrini, Protein is critically acclaimed for its socially relevant and highly entertaining dance theatre work inspired by real life experience.  Productions have reflected different aspects of contemporary life, from confessional television (‘Portrait with Group and Duck’, 1998), psychoanalysis (‘On the Couch’, 2000) and booze culture (‘Publife’, 2002), to social evolution (‘The Banquet’, 2003), consumer culture (‘Big Sale’ 2005) and obsessions with body image (‘Dear Body’ 2008/09).  ‘LOL (lots of love)’, inspired by social networking and online dating, toured to the Middle East, Zagreb and Moscow as well as extensively in the UK during 2011 and 2012.  ‘LOL...’ was nominated for Best Modern Choreography and Outstanding Female Performance (Modern) at the National Dance Awards 2011, when Protein was awarded Best Independent Company.  

Driven by Luca Silvestrini’s concern for the human condition and his drive to communicate contemporary dance to a wider public, the company’s engagement with community dancers has produced large-scale cross-generational events in Leeds, Greenwich, Valenciennes, Athens and Barcelona and mega-scale dance events such as the world record-breaking ’Big Dance Class’, and ’Eat London’ (which won a Visit London Gold Award) and ’Big Dance 2010’, in Trafalgar Square. Protein has also led the UK dance scene in providing a joint platform for professional and non-professional performers together with ‘Publife’, ‘Dear Body’, ‘Crossroads’, ‘Cruilles’ and now ‘(In)visible Dancing’.  

Protein is Company in Residence at Greenwich Dance and a Yorkshire Dance Partner.  In 2012, Protein became a National Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England

LUCA SILVESTRINI – Artistic Director 

Luca studied performing arts at Bologna University before moving to the UK in 1995 to complete his dance training at Laban, where he started making work for the company that would eventually become Protein Dance. Luca has also created work for Transitions, Intoto, Bare Bones, Candoco, From Here To Maturity, Funny Bones, Company of Elders at Sadler’s Wells and Sankapalm.  Theatre and opera credits include ENO, Theatre Rites, Royal Court Theatre, Duckie and Youth Music Theatre UK.  His awards include the Rayne Choreography Award (2006); the Jerwood Choreography Award (2006); a Bonnie Bird New Choreography Award and the Place Prize 2006 Audience Award. Luca is currently a Work Place Artist and an Associate Artist of DanceXchange.