Eng-er-land
Mixed Media Dance Theatre. Video Artists. 2005 & 2008
Eng-er-land was a collaboration between renowned choreographer and dancer, Darshan Singh Bhuller (then Creative Director of Phoenix Dance Theatre), and KMA, and is a contemporary, Hogarthian progress through a typical, alcohol-fuelled, night out in modern England.
Eng-er-land was KMA’s first theatrical collaboration, but built on techniques that the duo had experimented with in their pop & TV awards shows.
The entire piece was built around the interactions between the performers and their projected environment. KMA and Bhuller worked together, with the dancers, and devised the entire work during the rehearsal period. The settings in which the action takes place – clubs, cafes, pub toilets, curry houses and the street itself – were created entirely by projections and video effects, as important a part of the work as the movements and characterisations of the dancers themselves.
Eng-er-land continues to receive critical and popular acclaim. Its innovative interaction of live dance and film has created a quite unique brand of dance theatre.
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Performance History
2008 Miami, USA. A revised version.
2006 USA tour, including New York, Washington and Los Angeles.
2005 London premiere at Sadler’s Wells. Extensive UK tour.
2005 Premiere, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, UK. Performed by Phoenix Dance Theatre.
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Press & Media
“Digital media experts KMA work wonders”
The Times
“KMA’s brilliant visual tricks. Staggeringly inventive virtual “scenery” effects which the dancers impeccably coordinate their movements with.”
The Telegraph
“Ingenious… Saturday night’s crowd couldn’t get enough of it.”
The Guardian
“Engerland …scores on ingenious visuals.”
The Sunday Times
“****”
The Independent
“The settings in which the action takes place – clubs, cafes, pub toilets, curry houses and the street itself – are created entirely by projections and video effects, as important a part of the work as the movements and characterisations of the dancers themselves. This is instantly recognisable, remarkably clever stuff with which a predominantly young audience can readily identify.”
The Stage
“Dazzling. [Eng-er-land] isn’t bound by the laws of gravity or physics. It’s showy. And unusual. And wonderfully eye-catching.”
Cincinnati Enquirer
“A standout on the program”
The Washington Times
“[Eng-er-land] is the epitomy of multimedia dance.”
worldwidedanceuk.com
Eng-er-land is a huge step forward in technical terms… this is one of Bhuller’s most satisfying, complete and thoroughly entertaining pieces to date.”
The Stage
“Bhuller’s innovative ‘Eng-er-land’, an interactive piece, made with visual designers, KMA, that takes the combination of live dance and simultaneous film projection onto another level. It does for the mix of live dance and film on stage what ‘Roger Rabbit’ did for the interaction of cartoon and live action in film. Brilliant! … an uncomfortable but beautifully observed snippet of social history told superbly through the innovative interaction of live dance and film to create a quite unique brand of dance theatre.”
Ballet Magazine
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