HUMANHOOD – VORTEX
Continuing my collaboration with Humanhood dance company, I have composed the music for this 55 minute contemporary dance work.
Step into a world where rhythm unravels, gravity dissolves and energy converges. ‘Vortex’ is the new dance production from Julia Robert & Rudi Cole, where the stage becomes the ‘eye of the tornado.’ Magnetic, vital, and captivating, this powerful work reveals how we humans can activate deep reservoirs of unexplored resilience within ourselves to adapt, transform and evolve in any apparent chaos.
The music features electronic material from Kamil Boguslawski (EIF) and Alex Forster and vocal recordings by Humanhood’s articstic directors Julia Robert and Rudi Cole. Sharing a similar language to our previous work together, the music for Vortex combines minimal electronic pulses and drones with tribal drums, vocal sampling and organic textural layers.
A Humanhood production, co-produced with the Festival Grec de Barcelona, commissioned by Mercat de les Flors and MAC Birmingham. Company with the support of the Institut of the Arts de Barcelona, FABRIC Birmingham and Roca Umbert.
Vortex previewed at MAC Birmingham on 28th and 29th March 2025. The premiere was at Festival Dansa Valencia on 9th April 2025 followed by international touring.
HUMANHOOD – VORTEX
Continuing my collaboration with Humanhood dance company, I have composed the music for this 55 minute contemporary dance work.
Step into a world where rhythm unravels, gravity dissolves and energy converges. ‘Vortex’ is the new dance production from Julia Robert & Rudi Cole, where the stage becomes the ‘eye of the tornado.’ Magnetic, vital, and captivating, this powerful work reveals how we humans can activate deep reservoirs of unexplored resilience within ourselves to adapt, transform and evolve in any apparent chaos.
The music features electronic material from Kamil Boguslawski (EIF) and Alex Forster and vocal recordings by Humanhood’s articstic directors Julia Robert and Rudi Cole. Sharing a similar language to our previous work together, the music for Vortex combines minimal electronic pulses and drones with tribal drums, vocal sampling and organic textural layers.
A Humanhood production, co-produced with the Festival Grec de Barcelona, commissioned by Mercat de les Flors and MAC Birmingham. Company with the support of the Institut of the Arts de Barcelona, FABRIC Birmingham and Roca Umbert.
Vortex previewed at MAC Birmingham on 28th and 29th March 2025. The premiere was at Festival Dansa Valencia on 9th April 2025 followed by international touring.
Concept, direction and choreography: Julia Robert and Rudi Cole
Performers: Alex Thirkle, Ainhoa Yuantao, Julia Robert, Mauricio Zúñiga, Pol Guimerá, Rudi Cole, Siyu Lu and Tzu-Yi Tseng
Musical composition: Iain Armstrong
Lighting design: Aiden Bromley (Woodroffe Bassett Design)
Musical interpretation: Kamil Boguslawski, Alex Forster, Iain Armstrong, Rudi Cole and Julia Robert
Costume and set design: Julia Robert and Rudi Cole
Photography: TVIL Thomas Vilhelm, Humanhood – Von Fox Promotions
Seven black and enigmatic figures remain virtually anonymous throughout the evening, moving amidst the perpetual semi-darkness, in an atmosphere of constant restlessness and undeniable beauty, in which sophisticated visual effects of smoke and light burst forth, images of great visual power, over which a demanding, synchronized, perfectionist, and agitated dance is performed, always in turmoil, to the rhythm of the electronic percussions of Iain Armstrong’s insistent music, a fundamental factor that dictates the rhythms and moods of this ambitious and highly accomplished creation.
This interplay between darkness and light, accompanied by visual effects and smoke, is complemented by Iain Armstrong’s repetitive and varied music, which highlights the psychological states of the work.
Another particularly important element in Vortex is the soundscapes, created by Iain Armstrong. With a strongly marked rhythm, the music gives the dancers no respite.
Concept, direction and choreography: Julia Robert and Rudi Cole
Performers: Alex Thirkle, Ainhoa Yuantao, Julia Robert, Mauricio Zúñiga, Pol Guimerá, Rudi Cole, Siyu Lu and Tzu-Yi Tseng
Musical composition: Iain Armstrong
Lighting design: Aiden Bromley (Woodroffe Bassett Design)
Musical interpretation: Kamil Boguslawski, Alex Forster, Iain Armstrong, Rudi Cole and Julia Robert
Costume and set design: Julia Robert and Rudi Cole
Photography: TVIL Thomas Vilhelm, Humanhood – Von Fox Promotions
Seven black and enigmatic figures remain virtually anonymous throughout the evening, moving amidst the perpetual semi-darkness, in an atmosphere of constant restlessness and undeniable beauty, in which sophisticated visual effects of smoke and light burst forth, images of great visual power, over which a demanding, synchronized, perfectionist, and agitated dance is performed, always in turmoil, to the rhythm of the electronic percussions of Iain Armstrong’s insistent music, a fundamental factor that dictates the rhythms and moods of this ambitious and highly accomplished creation.
This interplay between darkness and light, accompanied by visual effects and smoke, is complemented by Iain Armstrong’s repetitive and varied music, which highlights the psychological states of the work.
Another particularly important element in Vortex is the soundscapes, created by Iain Armstrong. With a strongly marked rhythm, the music gives the dancers no respite.
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