performance
Prodigal Theatre – Urban Playground Team, Brighton, UK
Choreographed by Miranda Henderson with the company
Performers: Miranda Henderson, Janine Fletcher, JP Omari, Alister O’Loughlin
The show lasts 15 minutes.
The Urban Playground is the world’s first and only specifically constructed Parkour stage. This unique series of modular platforms is designed to subvert any architecture it encounters making every performance an original, wordless drama of dance at speed and height.
Prodigal, in collaboration with Parkour originators Charles Perrier and Malik Diouf and their organisation Gravity Style, create dynamic choreographies exploring the relationship between the human body and the [built] environment redefining the audience’s vision of home.
With Dance direction by Miranda Henderson and Parkour choreography by Gravity
Style each Urban Playground performance involves the animation of a public space through a site-sensitive combination of Parkour with contemporary dance and b-boying.
Miranda combines Prodigal's 10 year performance history with Charles and Malik’s 18 years of L'art du deplacement to investigate the relationship between the human body and the [built] environment.
The UPG itself is used to subvert existing architecture and open up more performance possibilities in any given space. In addition the UPG Team can perform on existing architecture and all performances react to the location and event at which they are staged.
Prodigal Theatre
Prodigal investigate the audience-performer relationship through defiantly theatrical stagings which are epic within a small frame.
A philosophy of physical experiment and research has led the award-winning company from tightly framed in-the-round storytelling through promenade Jacobean tragedy and out onto the streets for a wordless drama of dance at speed and height.
Prodigal Theatre was established in 1999 and is based in Brighton.
The Company is comprised of: Miranda Henderson, Alister O’Loughlin, Ignacio Jarguin, Chris Chatfield, Peter Farley, and Chris Umney.
The company enjoys ongoing collaborations with Dah Teatar, Belgrade; Teatro Della Contraddizione, Milan; and Gravity Style, Paris.
In 2002 Prodigal reopened the Nightingale Theatre with Steven Berkoff as the venue’s patron. Prodigal are the resident company and actor-managers of the space.
Prodigal performances are supported by the Arts Council of England, Southeast; Brighton and Hove City Council and the Brighton and Hove Arts Commission.
Prodigal have taught extensively wherever they have performed both at home and internationally. The company draws on a philosophy of physical research underpinned by daily training. Prodigal have always viewed teaching as an inherent part of the work of a theatre company.
2009 is Prodigal’s 10th anniversary year.
“Beautiful energy and fine sensibility” La Repubblica
“Crowd-pleasing b-boy breakdancing solos… lyrical and dramatic duets and trios… Shifts in pace and mood make the piece far more than a demonstration of physical skills (excellent though these are)” Total Theatre
Parkour (sometimes also abbreviated to PK) or l'art du déplacement (English: the art of movement) is an activity with the aim of moving from one point to another as smoothly, efficiently and quickly as possible, using principally the abilities of the human body. It is meant to help one overcome obstacles, which can be anything in the surrounding environment—from branches and rocks to rails and concrete walls—and can be practiced in both rural and urban areas. Parkour practitioners are referred to as traceurs, or traceuses for females.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkour, 16th May 2009