SITE SPECIFIC DANCE PERFORMANCE OF WRESTLING AN ANGEL BY ATHINA VAHLA LONDON, NOVEMBER & DECEMBER 2004

October 13, 2004, Press Dispensary. Choreographer Athina Vahla’s new site-specific promenade performance, Wrestling an Angel will appear in London on a series of forthcoming dates: at The Old Operating Theatre, London Bridge on November 5-7and 12-15 and The Abbatoir, Clerkenwell on December 3, with a preview on 6-11 December.

Wrestling an Angel takes the audience on a physical and emotional voyage through the complex landscape of the human body and mind in the setting of surgery and slaughter. A cast of over 30 performers, arresting images and fascinating characters haunt the spaces as the audience explores these buildings.

The performance has been specially created for the Old Operating Theatre and a former abattoir in Clerkenwell. It promises to be an atmospheric and intimate experience in two of London’s most interesting spaces.

The first part of the performance will begin in the Herb Garret of the Old Operating Theatre Museum, surrounded by medical specimens preserved in formaldehyde, before moving into the Old Operating Theatre - a chilling historical monument. In groups of 20, the audience will experience the brutality of science on the body reflected in the movement of the dancers and enhanced by an eerie industrial soundscape.

The second part of the performance, taking place on a different evening, continues at The Abbatoir - a vast underground space. The audience moves through a collection of beautifully lit rooms guided by haunting music and sound and encountering a priest taking confession, a floating carpet of dust and an angel amongst a host of performers. Video projections flare up and recede, resembling flickering images of fragmented memories and thoughts and creating a twilight world of the imagination.

Vahla’s most recent work, which focuses on site-specific performances, includes The Windows Were Walled in 2003; a promenade performance for London Open House performed at Greenwich Borough Hall; and The House in 2002, performed at the Master Shipwright’s House in Deptford. The performance was webcast live to 5,000 people worldwide. For Wrestling an Angel, Vahla has collaborated with renowned theatre designer, Dick Bird (NT, Frantic Assembly). Lighting is by Michael Mannion, who has designed for Rambert Dance Company, The Royal Ballet, and Javier De Frutos. Music has been commissioned from composer Bruce Gilbert and film is by Gail Sneddon.

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Notes for editors
About the performance1212Wrestling an Angel is a performance in two parts:1212Part I - The Dying Fall Old Operating Theatre12November 5-7 & 12-15129a St Thomas St., London Bridge, SE1 9RY12Performance starts every 40 minutes from 7pm - 9.40pm1212Part II - The Haunting of a Life The Abattoir12(Preview) 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 December12187-211 St John Street, Clerkenwell, EC112Performance starts every 40 minutes from 7pm – 9.40pm1212Price: £9.00 for each Part (if booked separately)12£16.00 when you book Parts I & II together1212Booking:12Advance booking is necessary. Tickets can be obtained from:1212The Place: Robin Howard Dance Theatre, 17 Duke’s Road, London, WC1H 9PY12Tel: 020 7387 003112www.theplace.org.uk1212About Athina Vahla1212Originally from Greece, Athina arrived in London in 1992 having won the Greek National Choreographic Award. She was given two scholarships to study Dance Studies at LABAN before studying a degree and Masters at Middlesex University. Since graduating, she has worked extensively as a choreographer, animateur and teacher and has produced a steady stream of critically acclaimed work across London and Europe. Over the last three years, she has concentrated on large scale site-specific work. The House, a site-specific event on the bank of the Thames, attracted 750 people to the live performance and over 4,000 connected online. Commissions include work for the National Greek Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company (ION – Barbican), Shinkansen (10th anniversary CD-ROM), Tate Modern (Louise Bourgeois – Unilever Series), Eddie Ladd (Scarface – ICA) and Onassis Foundation (NOT I – Athens)1212

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