Towards Stillness

Towards Stillness incorporates sound, live surround video projection and structured improvisation to create an immersive installation. The audience experiences the performance in the same space as the performance action, and are invited to witness, and become influential in, the changing states of the performer.
Performance and Choreography: Saffy setohy
Sound and Video: Reynir Hutber
 

The work is connected to a long-standing interest in creating a new format for performance composition linking ideas around the organisation of living systems, and Chaos Theory. 

A study on transformation, individualism and collectivity, I am interested in how each element in the installation can influence the behaviour of one another. The work provides an opportunity for audience and performer roles to become more fluid, a meditation on what it means to be a part of something bigger than ourselves as we flux between chaos and stillness. 

Towards Stillness was created during a series of European residencies (Dance Beyond Borders) and premièred at DanceKiosk Hamburg 2009 with a subsequent performance at Outlet Festival, Braunschweig, Germany.


My work during Dance Beyond Borders was supported by the Lisa Ullmann Travelling Fund.

Metropolis

I was commissioned to choreograph a show for Vidal Sassoon, showcasing the companies new collection and designs. The show was based on Fritz Lang's early silent film Metropolis, and used sound and video.

This was the first time I had worked with models. The work was a success, winning the award for Best Show in the London section of the company. 

Spectre

An ongoing multi-discipline research project started in 2008 with Reynir Hutber and Ben Sassen under the name Unearthed Performance. Spectre deals with notions of absence and presence, and draws thematic inspiration from sources such as Haruki Murakami's surreal novel After Dark Spectre is concerned with exploring traditional illusionist tricks along with more contemporary media devices useful in the manufacture of deception. There is also an interest within this project in creating a work that is transferable in its format and presentation. Performers: Saffy Setohy, Lizzie Sells, Janine Harrington. Residencies and sharings 2009 May- Dancebase, Edinburgh, culminating in a sharing of the research which drew on Edinburgh's popular ghost tours and walks. An assembled audience was guided into a series of encounters with performers. The performers appeared to them through various architectural devices of separation and mediation. Dancers were framed behind transparent ceiling tiles, reflected in mirrored windows and separated by glass panels. April- Laban, London. Focusing on development of movement language that communicate a sense of absence. Looking at character and narrative in relation to the theme. What Now Festival, Siobhan Davies Studio, London. Presentation of video, sound and photographic work related to the project. 2008 November- London Metropolitan University, London. A sharing of the video, sound and photographic work related to the project. A short discussion of the work by Saffy Setohy. August- The Bauhaus, and various locations, Weimar, Germany. Video and photographic research related to the project culminating in a short film to document the residency. Laban, London. The projects first residency, explorating the themes in relation to use of light and shadow, projection and sound.