COAL
Marking the 25th Anniversary of the 1984 Miners Strike, award-winning choreographer Gary Clarke proudly presents COAL; a compelling and riveting piece of dance theatre, which takes a nostalgic look at the hard-hitting realities of life in the pits. COAL explores the darker underbelly of the mining industry through a day’s journey above and below ground, unearthing the true nature and body wrecking demands of an industry now almost forgotten. Hacking their way through a sound-scape of traditional brass band classics and thunderous machinery, 4 miners (both men and women) are pushed to their physical extremes in a relentless and moving demonstration of unity and survival. Clarke ‘...a much admired young choreographer’ (The Stage) has collaborated on COAL with London Fashion Week star 2008 Nasir Mazhar and dance maverick Wendy Houstoun to create this ‘stunning piece of new work’ (Sheffield Star). Since 2007, COAL has been performed at The Lamproom Theatre, Yorkshire Dance Centre, The Bonnie Bird Theatre at LABAN, Touchwood 07, Spring Loaded 08, Eastwood View Working Mens Club, National Coal Mining Museum for England, Hull Dance Festival 09, Arts Forum Festival and at The Kingstone School for Arts. |
‘COAL draws on many devises to show the shear physicality of the miner’s life’ ‘COAL succeeds in all of its creators intentions…to translate into dance the harsh physical realities of mining within an easily understandable narrative structure’ Choreographed by: Gary Clarke Lenght: 45 minutes Availability upon request to re stage and present Coal was co-produced by Danceworks UK, Yorkshire Dance Centre, Laban and Barnsley Theatre Trust Ltd with additional support from Arts Council England, Yorkshire through a Grants for the Arts Award. |