Saving Face
From British Chinese choreographer and theatre maker Si Rawlinson comes Saving Face, a comedy, word, and dance show about four office colleagues hiding in plain sight, discovering what happens when buried things come up for air. Invisible illness and private struggle might make you relatable, but maybe just do your job, ok?
Featuring award-winning dancers, the show uses interdisciplinary theatre to push the boundaries of storytelling, mixing hip hop and contemporary dance, dialogue and physical theatre, finding humour and comfort in the things that make us human.
Produced by Kakilang, commissioned by Curve Theatre, and The Place.
Age guidance 12+ This performance contains moderate adult themes of illness and relationships. Running time 60mins (no interval)
Cast & Creatives
Director: Si Rawlinson
Performers: Si Rawlinson, Yukiko Masui, Jamaal O’Driscoll, Lisa Chearles
Designer: Christine Ting - Huan 挺歡 Urquhart
Lighting Designer: Ryan Day
Production Manager: Jack Boissieux
Assistant Producer: Katrina Man
Stage Manager: Vivi Wei
Photography: Dan Lowenstein
Commissioned by The Place and Curve Theatre, Co-Produced by Kakilang and Curve Theatre
“Urgent, slightly scary — and very sexy.”
Financial Times - Louise Levene
“We don't give shows star ratings except at the Edinburgh Festivals, but if we did, this would be five all the way. Simply, one of the best shows I've seen this year to date.”
SeeingDance - David Mead
“Profoundly thought provoking… really funny… an absolute joy to watch. 5 stars.”
Fairy Powered Productions - Amarjeet Singh
Saving Face Rehearsal Teaser
HAND ME DOWN
A story of dance and spoken word from Wayward Thread.
Hand Me Down is a show about connecting across generations, when parents and children find themselves worlds apart.
Blending dance, physical theatre, audio and spoken word, the show weaves intergenerational stories together. Four friends follow the path back, across history and culture, finding a way forward in the things that were handed down.
First commissioned by Nottingham Playhouse for their autumn 2020 Unlocked festival, this project has been supported by Curve Theatre, The Place’s Choreodrome Platform, and Attenborough Arts Centre, and funded by National Lottery Grants - Arts Council England.
★★★★ Review by Amy Evans, A Younger Threatre
“An unpredictable spectacle of movement that we cannot help but be mesmerised by.”
Nottingham Playhouse Digital streaming - (Available until 11 June 2021)
22 OCT 2021 @ The Place
6 NOV 2021 @ Nottingham Playhouse - Amplify Festival
Choreographer/Dancer - Si Rawlinson
Dancers - Ffion Campbell-Davies
Helder Delgado
Paris Crossley
Additional Dance / Artistic Collaboration - Saskia Horton
Design - Christine Urquhart
Sound Design - An-Ting Chang
Dramaturg - Beth Shouler
Mentor - Chris Evans
Producer - Maren Ellermann
LOST IN TRANSLATION
Created for the Open Your Mind London’s choreo competition, and then performed at Curve Theatre’s New Work Festival 2019. The show is about the things we can share across cultures, and the things we can never do, depending on the path of your life. It's a show ultimately about brotherhood. It was developed with In Good Company Scratch Night and Breakin’ Convention’s Open Art Surgery in March 2020.
Dancers: Aidan Yau, Shaq Shadare, Helder Delgado, Si Rawlinson
7 MAY 2020 @ Sadler’s Wells - Lilian Baylis Theatre
23 May 2020 @ Lakeside Arts, Nottingham (cancelled due to pandemic)
20 MAY 2021 @ Curve Theatre, Leicester - Opening Previews
22 MAY 2021 @ Curve Theatre, Leicester - Opening Shows
9 JULY 2021 @ MIGRATION MATTERS FESTIVAL, SHEFFIELD, Theatre Deli
RED INK
An artful, pulse-quickening, and at times darkly funny mix of hip hop, contemporary dance, and physical theatre.
In Red INK, three citizens try to find their voice in a world where politics and power shape reality, where speaking the truth can make you an enemy.
From acrobatic break, to giant calligraphy, bodies fly and ink runs in this show about our desire for change, at odds with our desire to live.
"Boundary-breaking dance art chiming for change"
Kate Hagan, The Wonderful World of Dance
“Gorgeous muscular movement”
Jonzi D, Breakin’ Convention
“Spectacular to watch… provides the audience with an explosive experience that they will never forget.”
★★★★ Review by Jamie Williams, A Younger Threatre
7 OCT 2018 @ SOUTHBANK CENTRE, PURCELL ROOM - LONDON - CHINA CHANGING FESTIVAL
24, 25, 26 JAN 2019 @ RICH MIX, LONDON - CAN FESTIVAL
26 APR 2019 @ ATTENBOROUGH ARTS, LEICESTER
4 MAY 2019 @ ARTDANCE FESTIVAL, GIBRALTAR
19 JUNE 2019 @ BEDFORD PLACE THEATRE
22 JUNE 2019 @ MIGRATION MATTERS FESTIVAL, SHEFFIELD
Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) 3pm APRIL 26th 2020 - cancelled
Edinburgh Fringe Festival - AUGUST 2020 - cancelled
Run time: 42 mins
Dancers: Si Rawlinson, Marius Mates, Helder Delgado
Music: Kidkanevil, Simon McCorry, Hauschka, Jan Brzezinski, Si Rawlinson
Costume: Isabella Van Braeckel
Company Manager: Stephanie Bergé
Produced by Step Out Arts.
Red INK is the third show in the ‘Ink Series’. The first in the series, Finding Words was developed at Breakin' Convention's 'Open Art Surgery' 2016, and was performed at Sadler’s Wells 2016. The second in the series, called ‘Ink’, was supported by Curve Theatre and Southbank Centre 2017. This was showcased for Southbank Centre's China Changing Festival 2017 and Curve Theatre's Inside Out Festival 2017.
The show's development has been supported by Chinese Arts Now, Nearly There Yet theatre's Dare to Devise platform, and Bedford Creative Arts.
Project supported by National Lottery Grants - Arts Council England.
INHERENT
"A beautiful and unnerving piece of theatre." Jane Fallowfield, Talawa Theatre
Inherent is about the limits memory and the borders of shared experience in the fight for change. Three dancers appropriate black memories from Jim Crow to present day, exploring the awkwardness and incapacity that stops us from speaking for others, and the need for those who are not black to engage with movements like Black Lives Matter.
The show draws on hip hop, contemporary dance, and spoken word to question our complicity with inequality and prejudice.
Developed at Breakin' Convention's 'Back to the Lab' platform this January 2017, the show went on to be performed at Breakin' Convention at Sadler's Wells, Curve Theatre, and Birmingham Repertory Theatre, as well as for Serendipity's Signatures Festival, Talawa Firsts Festival, and Hop Festival at Mercat de les Flors, Barcelona Dec 2017.
Dancers: Si Rawlinson, Ryan Naiken, Vladimir Gruev
Project supported by National Lottery Grants - Arts Council England.
PROXY
An exciting new work of experimental digital dance theatre, developed at Barbican’s Open Lab. The show uses lowlight/infrared camera, darkness, and live projection to explore the way we connect with each other, how we identify between the physical and digital self, and how we live in a strange digital world.
Performing at The Place - Jan 15th for Resolution Festival 2019 7.30pm
Choreographer: Si Rawlinson
Dancers: Laura Vanhulle and Dan Phung
Audio Visual Artist: Dan Lowenstein
Mentor: John Berkavitch
Project supported by National Lottery Grants - Arts Council England.
SPIRIT LEVEL
Original music collaboration with composer Blasio Kavuma, in partnership with Sound and Music. Spirit Level draws musical influence from gospel, African, to neo-impressionism, and mixes hip hop and contemporary dance among other influences. The show uses live music and dance to explore different meanings of spirituality, how music and dance can be spiritual, and how it connects us.
Performed at Hackney Showroom Sept 6th 2018.
Live Musicians: David Austin Grey and Jerome Johnson
Dancers: Si Rawlinson, Kayleigh Price and Helder Delgado
Collaboration produced by Carol Berry