Sadler’s Wells has partnered with Dance Umbrella to bring the 19-day festival to London for its 41styear. Exploring shifting perceptions, human connections and cultural expectations, the festival brings choreographers from around the world to debut their art. Gisèle Vienne is Franco-Austrian artist, choreographer and director. Her piece, Crowd, made its world premiere on 8th November 2017 in Strasbourg and opens the festival at Sadler’s Wells this year.
Vienne’s work captures stillness within motion and creates moving pictures onstage. She describes Crowdas a ‘collective euphoria of a committed party crowd’, set to a techno-trance soundtrack. It is 90 minutes long with no interval and takes you on an isolated journey following the intense interactions between dancers. We experience fighting, intimacy and a loss of control through slow-motion liquid movement that is scarily realistic at times.
