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Longways / Crosswise

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The Lots, Silverdale

About Time Dance Company with Jenny Reeves and Ellen Jeffrey

September 2018

Longways / Crosswise was an immersive, site-specific dance performance taking place on the coastline of Morecambe Bay. Inspired by David Cox’s provocative paintings of the crossings, a cast of professional dancers and local participants were invited to imagine the stories and tales of those that once crossed the sands in the last of the light. Commencing an hour before sunset, together the audience and performers witnessed the phenomenal transformation of the Bay at day’s end.

Through the intrinsic choreography of this 1hour performance, the many movement patterns of the bay are described in the bodies of the dancers as they trace the folds of the sand and the flow of the tide, dancing the ridges and ripples of the bay’s unique, ever-changing landscape. Between water and land, between day and night, between those that once walked the sands and those that still do, Longways & Crosswise creates a tangible, lived encounter with the shifting, sifting world of Morecambe Bay.

“In its time, Morecambe Bay has seen drama, tragedy, artistry and not a few spectacular sunsets.

Bundle all these aspects together into a one-hour dance performance and you have the essence of this breathtakingly beautiful production played out on the grassland between Silverdale village and its shoreline”

British Theatre Guide

Longways / Crosswise was performed by a cast of professional dancers and non professional participants who took part in a series of creative development workshops. As part of the process, Deco Publique and Morecambe Bay Partnership carried out multiple site visits to identify a suitable Bay location, working with the National Trust, the Arnside and Silverdale AONB and local landowners to position and produce the piece. This commission was part of the Headlands to Headspace Landscape Art Commissioning Programme, produced by Deco Publique for Morecambe Bay Partnership.

The work, by About Time Dance Company, was co-choreographed by Jenny Reeves, who trained at the London Contemporary Dance School and Trinity Laban conservatoires and who explores heritage and forgotten stories from the North of England. Co-choreographer, Ellen Jeffrey is a dance artist, researcher & trained choreologist, she is currently studying for an AHRC-funded PhD in site-specific dance practice at Lancaster University. Longways / Crosswise featured writing by Eileen Punn and costume by Katie Duxbury.

Longways / Crosswise Gallery

Photography - Robin Zahler

CLICK TO VIEW PROGRAMME COMMISSIONS

Emily Hennessey, Made by the Moon

Rob Mullholland, Settlement

Chris Drury, Horizon Line Chamber

Anna Gillespie, SHIP

The Headlands to Headspace Landscape Art Commissioning Programme was a series of five artworks commissioned by Morecambe Bay Partnership, co-produced and co-curated by Deco Publique and funded by the Heritage Fund. The temporary and permanent artworks were located around Morecambe Bay’s stunning 90 mile coastline to engage residents and visitors with the natural and cultural heritage of the Bay and the spectacular landscape, coast and wildlife. 

Morecambe Bay Partnership is a charity that celebrates and conserves; connects and collaborates. From birds to beach cleans, from cycle ways to the history that shaped the Bay, they work in collaboration with the community and other partners to deliver projects with real impact.

Deco Publique has collaborated with Morecambe Bay Partnership for a number of years with a shared vision of expanding the profile and legacy of the Bay’s heritage, landscape and culture. During the Headlands to Headspace programme, we worked together closely to navigate the complex challenges of citing artistic work in the land. Our particular thanks to Susannah Bleakley and Jan Shorrock for the collaborative and positive approach to working together to realise such ambitious, dynamic outcomes.

Our two organisations are now collaborating on a new piece of research made possible with Arts Council funding secured by Deco Publique to look at future arts and landscape commissioning around Morecambe Bay.