Pop! (allen)

BELGIAN PREMIERE

Originally an Imaginate commission for the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival, Pop! is a high energy dance duet inspired by the surprising and unknown changes that occur in adolescence. Exploring how two males navigate this new territory individually and together, journeying through the awkward to culminating in a celebratory togetherness.  
 
Pop! was born from Vince’s vivid memories of adolescence; from his voice surprisingly breaking mid word, the shock and embarrassment of not knowing when his body would strike against him, to painful growth spurts and the relentless growth of hair in new places. Being thrust forward to step onto this unsteady teenage terrain in a thunderstorm of hormones all while trying to figure out who he was in the world. Pop! explores this journey from the performers figuring out the space between them before the body bursts of hormones, nervous knees, euphoria and hair explosions, catching each other by surprise before accepting the changes they are going through together and finding solidarity in this individual yet shared journey we all face.

About the company

Vince Virr is an internationally renowned performer and collaborator having devised and performed work across the global network of festivals and theatres for young audiences through his own work with Barrowland Ballet (Scotland), as well as being an Artist in Residence with A.S.K. (China) and leading choreography workshops at Famfest (Chile). He is also an experienced outdoor performer and vertical dancer working with aerial companies in Scotland, Ireland, Austria, Canada and Croatia. Vince is excited to share the eye-catching world of Pop! with you and your audiences, hoping to build positive connectivity between each other. 
 
KJ Clarke-Davis has performed nationally and internationally with Barrowland Ballet, Project X Dance, Paraorchestra and Friends, Curious Seed Dance and Oceanallover. He is a trained contemporary dancer and also loves hip hop, street and commercial dance styles. He has Aphantasia, which can best be described as image free thinking and wants to develop more ways for dance to be more inclusive for people who process information in non-typical ways. He is currently researching his own work around the development and play for babies and young people.