Member Article

Surface Area Dance Theatre presents Auricular, 2017

Auricular is a multi-disciplinary performance art piece inspired by British Sign Language (BSL), sensory processing and communication. The piece was conceived by Director and founder of Surface Area Dance Theatre, Nicole Vivien Watson. Surface Area Dance has a formidable reputation for exploring new territory in dance and performance arts.

Dance City and BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead firstly commissioned Auricular in 2014 and in 2015. Now with support from Arts Council England and partnering organisations Auricular will be presented in April 2017 at CCA Glasgow, Gymnasium Gallery, Berwick upon Tweed and at Turner Contemporary, Margate.

Directed by Nicole Vivien Watson (who also performs in the piece), she was inspired by BSL and the ability of facial expressions to communicate emotions to people everywhere. Auricular portrays the dancers’ feelings and experiences through movement and a live soundtrack courtesy of :zoviet*france who were especially commissioned to create a sound score that specifically encouraged a reaction to sound.

Nicole has spent the last five years training in BSL herself and comments: “British Sign Language is a language of movement, space and expression. As a movement researcher and choreographer, I am fascinated by the depth and clarity of a language that does not rely on the spoken word”.

Collaborating artists in the work are long standing principle dance artist Molly Procter, Rachel Jean Birch, and Paul Miller who is a native BSL user.

Gymnasium Gallery, Berwick 22nd of April 2017 Time: 12:30pm and 6pm Tickets available from The Maltings, Berwick upon Tweed - Box office: 01289 330 999.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Nicky Mckeen .