Totentanz
What if, when we die, we don't need to balance our accounts? What if, instead, we need to make a dance? A dance of death.
Totentanz is a new piece of theatre from Shotput that approaches death with dark humour and an open heart.
In a dance hall, two performers try to create the perfect dance of death - and fail each time. Over the course of the evening, they try out different shapes, different styles, different (sometimes glittering) costumes - trying and failing, laughing, kicking, and screaming, all in an effort to make the perfect totentanz. A cry against the unknown. A final dance at the afterparty. Witness their outrageous struggle, and peer into the mystery of death, and life.
This is an intimate performance, with the audience immersed in the dance hall designed by Shotput associate artists Anna Yates and Emma Jones, with Cat Myers original music vibrating through the floor.
Shotput is conducting a photographic project around Scotland in tandem with the tour of the show. Photographs have a long relationship with the dead - after all, we 'shoot' someone when we photograph them. 'A photograph is not only an image,' said Susan Sontag, 'it is also a trace, like a footprint or a death mask.' Members of the community are working with Shotput's team to create their own images of death, surprising commemorations of those who have gone. These images are displayed in our immersive dance-hall space for audiences to regard before and after the live show.
Totentanz is funny and unsettling, an intimate spectacle of big dancing, haunted spaces, bold visuals, and arresting music - from one of Scotland's most original voices in theatre and dance, Shotput.
Come and join the dance.
Past Performances
Friday 15 and Saturday 16 September 2023 | Tramway, Glasgow
Thursday 21, Friday 22 and Saturday 23 September 2023 | Mareel, Shetland
Thursday 28, Friday 29 and Saturday 30 September 2023 | Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh
Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 October 2023 | Dundee Rep, Dundee
Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 October 2023 | Dunoon Burgh Hall, Argyll
CREDITS
Co-creators and performers | Lucy Ireland and Jim Manganello
Creative Producer | Helen McIntosh
Scenic and Costume Designer | Anna Yates
Lighting Designer | Emma Jones
Composer | Cat Myers
Sound Designer | Garry Boyle
Costume Maker | Petros Kourtellaris
Voice Artist | Claire Willoughby
Pre-show lounge music improvised and played by Mike Kearney
Production Manager | Fi Fraser
Company Stage Manager | Lucy May Wilson
Technical Manager | Lynn Wiseman
Engagement Coordinator | Eoin McKenzie
Photographic Collaborator | Brian Hartley
Marketing & Communication | Eragona Communications
PR | SM Publicity
A work-in-progress was performed as part of Dance International Glasgow at Tramway in October 2021. The performance was accompanied by a photographic exhibition by Brian Hartley, made in collaboration with members of the Dundee Rep Theatre and Scottish Dance Theatre community. This work was commissioned by Dance Base Scotland, Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre and Tramway as part of #LoveDanceScotland. Supported by the Scottish Government’s Performing Arts Venue Relief Fund through Creative Scotland.
You can read more about our process, particularly around creating the music for the work, in our blog post ‘Original Score: Collaboration. Iteration. Risk.’
Available for touring, please email info@shotput.org.
Photography by Brian Hartley.
Supported by:
