Dual Till the Death & A Body of Rumours

Liam Francis is a leading voice of an emerging generation that is reshaping the British dance landscape. He first met the performers in his company at Rambert, one of the UK’s longest-established contemporary dance companies. In A BODY OF RUMOURS, he asks what happens when dancers from families with Caribbean and African roots come together in an ensemble and are assigned certain roles because of the colour of their skin, prejudice and assumptions – or “rumours”.

Audiences may attach the label “hip hop” to the dancers, even though their training ranges from ballet and dance theatre to a wide variety of contemporary dance forms. In A BODY OF RUMOURS they develop an infectious, dynamic and universal movement language that draws on all these styles and challenges habitual perceptions of their bodies and personalities. Together they experience highs and lows, solidarity and companionship, while Chloé Mason captures the sounds of the dancing bodies and condenses them into a multifaceted soundscape.

The second piece, DUAL TILL THE DEATH, explores our inner duality and contradictions. Throughout our lives, we are serious and playful at the same time, aggressive and tender, mature yet still youthful. Who better to explore these tensionsand turn them into psychologically gripping dance theatre than Liam Francis – a member of the younger generation who already brings considerable experience to his work, along with an outlook on life that is as perceptive as it is compassionate?