Witch Dance, a performance by Donna Huddleston

24 September 2013    7:30 – 8:30pm

Drawing Room presents artist Donna Huddleston's new performance work.

Inhabiting the gallery space, Huddleston will reinterpret Mary Wigman’s 1914 Witch Dance. Drawing upon the original performance; Huddleston takes inspiration from and employs Wigman’s emphasis on the contorted delicacy of witch and ghost-like movement, enhanced by draped silk. Wigman described the performance as “a rhythmic intoxication,” manifested in her whirling movements, spinning until she fell to the ground.  Concentrating on this dramatic energy and the violence and eroticism of Wigman’s choreography, Huddleston’s own troupe of female dancers at Drawing Room will explore Wigman’s 'Witch' in a contemporary context. Exploiting gesture and movement, the performance will depict acts of transformation, transcendence and psychic power whilst questioning modes of female behaviour, self-display and the representation of the contemporary woman.

Images and captions below

This project is a continuation of a body of work which explores Wigman’s German Expressionist choreography. Huddleston has already responded to this seminal piece of dance with a large wall painting, which drew upon the formal conventions of Art Nouveau and the Viennese Succession and was displayed in Sadler’s Wells last year. With another painted mural as a poignant backdrop, the performative potential of Huddleston’s previous project will be realised surrounded by her painting, notes and sketches.
In addition Huddleston’s costume designs, and drawings will be installed in the space in dialogue with the performance. Her use of stagecraft techniques and captivating choreography, surrounded by a handpainted mural of flora and fauna will ultimately heighten, reshape and ultimately transform the gallery space.

Biography
Donna Huddleston (b. 1970 Belfast, Ireland) was raised in Australia and now lives and works in London. She studied at the National School of Art and graduated in Stage Design at The National Institute for Dramatic Arts in Sydney. In 2010, Huddleston was nominated for the Jerwood Drawing Prize and is included in Phaidon's new Vitamin D2 – New Perspectives in Drawing. Huddleston has also recently collaborated with designer Stine Goya’s women’s wear collection. Solo exhibitions include Witch Dance at Sadler’s Wells, London (2012-13), Golden Hands, Concrete Café, Hayward Gallery (2008) and solo shows at Juliètte Jongma in Amsterdam (2006 and 2011).
 

Listings info: Donna Huddleston Witch Dance, 24 September 2013 : 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Drawing Room, Tannery Arts, 12 Rich Estate, Crimscott Street, London SE1 5TE, [email protected], http://drawingroom.org.uk/, Tel: 0207 394 5657

Tickets: £7.50 Concessions: £5.00
Buy Tickets

More Information

Tube: Bermondsey, London Bridge, Borough, from London Bridge it is a twelve minute walk and Borough station is a ten minute walk. Two minutes walk from buses stopping on Tower Bridge Road/Grange Road

For further information and high resolution images please contact [email protected] / [email protected] or telephone 020 7394 5657

Drawing Room explores ideas around contemporary drawing and makes them visible in the public domain.  As the only public and non-profit gallery in the UK and Europe dedicated to contemporary drawing, it provides a unique resource for the promotion of drawing, its practice, theory and methodology. Drawing Room is now located in Bermondsey, south east London, in premises shared with its umbrella organisation, Tannery Arts, since 2003.  A studio organisation established in 1993, Tannery Arts is dedicated to supporting the professional development of emerging and established artists.