perch is a solo dance about temporary states and locations and the movement in-between these things. It is about the process of homing while feeling haunted by the past. First and foremost however perch is a practice, performed regularly by one person, for a place. The movement score shifts between states of groundedness and flight and hovers over the transitions which transform these states. With each practice the work bears witness to its immediate conditions and, in so doing, with each practice the work subtly adapts and evolves. In this way, the ‘form’ of the work offers a means of simultaneously practising holding on to and letting go of what is known about the work and the world that it moves through.
perch was developed in a room in a former cotton spinning mill in Manchester. The dance grew slowly, over many years, and evolved in the context of a doctoral research project investigating the processes of forming, returning to and deepening the relationship with movement material over an extended period of time.
perch was eventually performed at dusk to small audiences across the months of September 2018 and April 2019 (video documentation below).
