This Spring, dance artist and choreographer Lizzie Klotz presents Abundance – a new body of work that explores care, connection and collective rest.
Intergenerational offerings weave together in a world of work that spans live performance, installation, community feasts and clay workshops, offering audiences across the North East of England opportunities to slow down and feel the fullness of being together.
The work premiers at Dance City on Thursday on 2 April at 7.30pm. The dance performance of Abundance is made up of six dancers, colourful duvets and live music by Me Lost Me (Jayne Dent).
Created and choreographed by Lizzie Klotz and collaborators, Abundance brings together intergenerational dancers – three professional performers and three volunteer performers from local communities – placing them in a landscape that invites audiences to rest, resist and release.
The work begins with a pause – a spacious moment of stillness. People move, howl, rest, leap, reverberate and hold one another. Duvets are folded, flung and gathered; worn, sculpted, hidden beneath and danced within. These objects of comfort, warmth and weight create shifting landscapes that emerge and dissolve with a sense of play and imagination, exploring how we may move differently in the world.
The live performance is presented alongside a new installation that will be presented at The NewBridge Project in Newcastle from 6 June – 15 August. Created by Klotz in collaboration with the creative team including designer Bethany Wells and a host of collaborators from NewBridge’s neighbourhood programme, the work will culminate in a sculptural installation that will turn the gallery into an immersive, soft environment built from duvets – objects of rest, intimacy and transformation.
This new commission brings the work into a spatial, participatory experience, shifting the work from performance to presence – from something witnessed in time to an environment that holds people in space.
Extending beyond the artworks, Abundance is accompanied by a programme of clay workshops and community feasts. Led by ceramicist Megan Randall, the clay workshops explore embodiment, weight and transformation through gentle, hands-on making. The community feasts, led by chef Kaltouma Hassaballah, bring people together to share nourishing food inspired by Sudanese heritage, alongside conversation and collective joy.
Talking about Abundance, choreographer Lizzie Klotz said:
” I have been working with a team of collaborators to explore our associations to the word, ‘abundance.’ It has opened up conversations about local and global resources, alongside the daily aim and challenges of resisting urgency and perfectionism.
As a group, we have spoken and explored ideas around pushing back on pressures and pulls, with an aim to observe and feel present in how we show up.
My practice is rooted in care, play and embodied connection, and I’m passionate about creating meaningful experiences for people. With that, I’m excited for the work to meet audiences as the process of creating it has been deeply enjoyable.”
Abundance is commissioned by Dance City and Northumberland Dance Development, with R&D support from Moving Art Management through their Seed to Stage Micro-Commissions, and is supported using public funding by Arts Council England.
