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Motionhouse

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Motionhouse is a British dance-circus company based in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England.

History

[edit]

Motionhouse was founded in 1988. The company has produced 18 full-length, mid-scale touring productions and a series of dance performances throughout the United Kingdom.[citation needed] It also provides community education programs, as well as outreach and community work to promote more accessible dance education.[1]

Motionhouse has three festival works in its repertoire: Cascade,[2] Underground, and Chaser,[3] which are widely performed across the United Kingdom and Europe. These works generally require fewer dancers than the company's theatre productions, are smaller and therefore easier to tour, and are shorter, lasting between fifteen and twenty-five minutes. As a result, the company can perform at multiple festivals simultaneously.

Motionhouse won the Audience Award in the National Dance Awards 2005.[4] The company's 2005 production Perfect won critical acclaim and was included on the GCSE syllabus for dance in England and Wales.[5][6] Its 2008 production, Underground, won the Audience Prize at the 2009 MiramirO Festival in Ghent, Belgium.[7]

2009: Scattered

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Scattered, Motionhouse's 18th theatre production, premiered in October 2009 at the Warwick Arts Centre.[8] During its first year of touring, the production opened the Sibiu International Theatre Festival in Romania, where it was described by the festival director as the "revelation of the festival". Scattered completed its first international tour in 2011 and was later performed in Macau, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Belgium, and Portugal, and on two tours of the United States and five tours of the United Kingdom.[9] During this time, Motionhouse was represented by IMG Artists in the U.S., Asia–Pacific, and Europe.[10]

2011: Waiting Game and Traction

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Waiting Game

In 2011, Motionhouse collaborated with several JCB excavator operators to create two new pieces for their Machine Dance collection: Waiting Game and Traction.[11] Waiting Game,[12] featuring two dancers and a JCB excavator, premiered on 3 March 2011.[citation needed]

Traction premiered in November 2011.[13] It was commissioned by the Bull Ring shopping centre in Birmingham to celebrate a new development in the complex.[citation needed] The performance featured six dancers and three JCB excavators.[14]

2012: The Voyage

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In 2012, Motionhouse was commissioned to produce an outdoor event as part of the London 2012 Festival in the West Midlands to commemorate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The company created The Voyage in partnership with Legs on the Wall, an Australian physical theatre company, and the Birmingham Hippodrome.[15] The Voyage was performed on a 50-foot (15 m) replica of a cruise liner in Victoria Square, Birmingham, from 21 June to 24 June 2012.[16] The event featured professional dancers and aerialists, as well as an amateur choir, live musicians, and more than 140 community performers.

In the lead-up to The Voyage, Motionhouse ran a participatory project called Quest,[17] which gave young people from the West Midlands the opportunity to take part in the London 2012 celebrations. Beginning in March 2012, Motionhouse worked with eight community groups, whose members later performed in the production.[citation needed]

Funding

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Motionhouse is a National Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England and receives support from Warwick District Council. Following the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review by the coalition government, the company's funding was reduced from approximately £270,000 to £250,000.[18]

On 30 March 2011, Arts Council England announced a further reduction in funding of around 11% for Motionhouse, while four other West Midlands-based dance organisations received significant increases.[19]

Productions

[edit]
Year Title Notes Ref
2025 Hidden [20]
2022 Henge Created for Bluestone National Park Resort. [21]
2021 Nobody [22][23]
2019 Wild Won the Emilio Zapatero Award for the Judge’s Best Circus Show and the Audience Award at TAC, Valladolid in May 2025; won the Audience Award at the Internationales Straßentheater Festival in Holzminden, Germany in June 2025. [24]
2016 Block Created with NoFit State Circus. [25]
2015 Charge [26][27]
2013 Broken [28][29]
2012 The Voyage Created in partnership with Australian physical theatre company Legs On The Wall. [16]
2011 Traction [30][14]
2011 Waiting Game [31]
2010 Cascade Premiered 1 July 2010 at Greenwich+Docklands International Festival. [32]
2009 Scattered Music by Sophy Smith and film by Logela Multimedia; set by Simon Dormon and lighting by Natasha Chivers.
2008 Underground Commissioned by Birmingham Hippodrome, Fierce! Festival and Without Walls.
2008 Run! Music by Errolyn Wallen.
2007 Driven
2005 Chaser Created with the support of Lichfield Garrick, Mac, Solihull Arts Complex and Birmingham Hippodrome.
2005 Dreams and Ruin Developed in partnership with DanceFest, Worcester Arts Workshop, ACE Dance and Music and Angela Woodhouse.
2005 Perfect
2005 Renaissance
2004 Road To The Beach: The Edge Performed on the beach at Watergate Bay, Cornwall, featuring 1000 children and adults from the local community.
2004 Dancing Inside Featuring nine inmates of HM Prison Dovegate in Staffordshire, England.
2002 Volatile Music by Sophie Smith and Tim Dickinson.
2001 Fearless
1999 Atomic Motionhouse's first festival piece for multi scale touring.
1999 Twisted
1998 Faking It Motionhouse's tenth anniversary piece.
1996 Delicate Script by A. L. Kennedy and music by Howard Skempton, performed by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.
1995 Geisha Commissioned by the Warwick Arts Centre for its 20th anniversary; choreographed by Louise Richards and Kevin Finnan.
1994 Flying Set created by Simon Dormon and steel artist Davey Boyle. Music by Alain Bauman.
1994 Punch Music by Jesus Jones, Kronos Quartet, Curve and Sundial.
1993 Arcadio/Déjà Vu Featured a set by Spanish installation artist Rosa Sanchez.
1992 The Curtsy Play Choreographed by Louise Richards. Created with a Bonnie Bird British Choreography Award.
1992 Speed and Light First of Motionhouse's combinations of theatre and film. Film by Christopher Gowans and music by Ray Lee and Harry Dawes.
1991 House of Bones Music by Paul Newham.
1990 The Ticking Man Set created by Simon Dormon, music by Harry Dawes and Ray Lee.
1989 A Curious Day Motionhouse's first major project, and the Southern Arts Board's first dance and education project. Music by Harry Dawes and Simon Prince.

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ "Motionhouse Dance Theatre Education and Outreach Programme". Motionhouse. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  2. ↑ "Motionhouse Dance Theatre's Cascade". Motionhouse. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
  3. ↑ "Motionhouse Dance Theatre's Chaser". Motionhouse. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
  4. ↑ "National Dance Awards Critics' Circle". National Dance Awards. 19 January 2006. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
  5. ↑ "Motionhouse Dance Theatre's Perfect". Motionhouse. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
  6. ↑ PerfectED Education Pack, Motionhouse, 2009
  7. ↑ "Motionhouse Dance Theatre's award winning festival show Underground". Motionhouse. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  8. ↑ "Motionhouse Dance Theatre's Scattered". Motionhouse. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
  9. ↑ "Scattered". Motionhouse. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  10. ↑ "Motionhouse's Scattered Review in Dancing Times" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 August 2011. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  11. ↑ "Motionhouse Dance Theatre's Machine Dance". Motionhouse. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
  12. ↑ "Motionhouse Dance Theatre's Machine Dance, Waiting Game". Motionhouse. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  13. ↑ "Motionhouse Dance Theatre's Machine Dance, Traction". Motionhouse. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  14. 1 2 "Plenty to dig at festival..." Blackpool Gazette. 5 July 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  15. ↑ "The Voyage". Motionhouse. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  16. 1 2 "Voyage sets sail in Birmingham for London 2012". BBC News. 23 June 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  17. ↑ "Motionhouse Dance Theatre's Participatory Project, Quest". Motionhouse. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
  18. ↑ "Motionhouse". Arts Council England. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
  19. ↑ "Motionhouse". Arts Council England. Archived from the original on 26 September 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  20. ↑ "Motionhouse announces next major multimedia touring production". One Dance UK. 6 December 2024. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  21. ↑ "Henge". Motionhouse. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  22. ↑ Wyver, Kate (23 September 2021). "Motionhouse: Nobody review – keep your eyes glued to this incredible ensemble". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  23. ↑ Mead, David (24 September 2021). "Dark days and inner voices: Nobody by Motionhouse". SeeingDance. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  24. ↑ "Wild". Motionhouse. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  25. ↑ "Block | NoFit State Circus Archive". NoFit State Circus. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  26. ↑ "Charge". Motionhouse. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  27. ↑ Mead, David (19 March 2018). "Motionhouse in Charge: electrifying dance circus". SeeingDance. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  28. ↑ "Broken". Motionhouse. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  29. ↑ Roy, Sanjoy (4 June 2015). "Motionhouse: Broken review – dancing the Big Bang". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  30. ↑ "Traction". Motionhouse. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  31. ↑ "Waiting Game". Motionhouse. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  32. ↑ "Cascade". Motionhouse. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
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