SUBTERRANÉA – KIRSTIE SIMSON PERFORMANCE
20 SEPTEMBER 7.30PM £12
This solo is the next step on Kirstie’s journey through dance and life.
Evolving from 45 years of dedicated dance practice, and wide renown as a leading light in the art of improvisation, Kirstie shares her story of dealing with a life-threatening health crisis: cancer, and its recurrence. Through her art, traversing movement and text, she conveys the underlying philosophies that have emerged through the embodied practices which have supported her to face, and engage with, life’s challenges.
‘When life is good there is a thrilling sense of freedom that calls to be fully engaged with, and joyfully expressed. When difficulties emerge, as they inevitably will, and the path forward seems perilous, the work begins in earnest and our understanding and grounding in holistic practice is put to the test. Emotionally this is not pleasing for us; yet it is where the profound satisfaction of humble learning, deepening understanding and strengthening occurs. Life inevitably will present
us with challenges.
Where did we get the idea that it should be easy? The good news is that as an integral part of the whole, we have everything at hand to be able to adapt, transform, uncover, and explore life-generating solutions, that are so much needed at this time.’
Subterranéa explores our resilience in the face of adversity, how we make sense of life through telling our stories, and Kirstie’s experience of the intersection between her health crisis and; the planetary crisis we are collectively facing.
Kirstie Simson bio
Kirstie Simson (UK) has been a continuous explosion in the contemporary dance scene, bringing audiences into contact with the vitality of pure creation in moment after moment of virtuoso improvisation. Called “a force of nature”; by the New York Times, she is an award-winning dancer and teacher who has “immeasurably enriched and expanded the boundaries of New Dance” according to Time Out Magazine, London. Kirstie is renowned internationally as an excellent teacher, a captivating performer and a leading light in the field of Dance Improvisation. For thirteen years she was a tenured professor in the
Department of Dance at the University of Illinois, USA. In August 2020 Kirstie returned to her home base in Wales UK from where she continues to explore and share her work as an Independent Artist. Kirstie is currently developing work around the topic of Movement, Health, ‘Being’ Well, as a result of going through a health crisis that has challenged all her previous notions about what it means to be sick or healthy. She also sees her own illness as intrinsically connected to the ill health of the planet.