Figures in Extinction
We are living in an age of extinction. Can we ever hope to give a name to what we are losing? What does it mean to bear witness to a violence in which we are both perpetrator and victim? NDT and Complicité present a new full-length work by Crystal Pite and Simon McBurney.
Run time 150 minutes, incl. two intermissions
Genre Dance
Language Language no problem
Figures in Extinction
Across continents, associate choreographer Crystal Pite and Complicité Artistic Director Simon McBurney have exchanged ideas reflecting on their fears and cautious hopes for our age. Their process has drawn on a rich and surprising array of source materials: from the sound of ice caps melting to the clarion calls of climate change deniers, from scholastic lectures on the neuroscience of the brain to the cacophonous clatter of Instagram influencers.
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Over a span of four years, the two world-renowned artists have created three works together for NDT 1, each developed in response to the last. Figures in Extinction [1.0] the list confronts us with everything that is dying on our planet, while [2.0] but then you come to the humans is a searing examination of our need for connection in a separated world. The third and final work, requiem, will continue this cross-disciplinary exchange, making its world premiere in the UK during Manchester International Festival in February 2025. The work will offer a spark in the darkness as to where we – collectively, spiritually, and imaginatively – might go next.
REVIEWS
Financial Times
“A puzzling, poignant, movement-packed exploration of life, the universe and everything.”
The Guardian
“Crystal Pite and Simon McBurney’s three-act dance work on the state of the world turns the stage into a living thing and morphs between sorrow, humour, fear and relief.”
CREDITS
this is a co-production with Complicité
co-commissioned by Factory International
co-produced by Parkstad Limburg Theaters Heerlen, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg en Montpellier Danse
photos Rahi Rezvani
