Underground

Motionhouse

Circus, Dance, Aerial

Underground is a Motionhouse festival piece created for performance in the public arena.

Performed by four dancers within a rotating, rocking tubular structure, Underground uses stunningly physical dance, poignant imagery and surprising aerial encounters to explore the new reality of train travel: the compressed intimacy of a crowded carriage; the stranger asleep on your shoulder; the crush of personal space; the studied ignoring of our fellow humans and the tight fear of a dangerous stranger in the current climate of suspicion.

A sleeping reader is assailed by the dark foes from fiction as a graffiti artist paints his love in motion. Suspended at odd angles and riding the rhythm of the train, four characters are constantly thrown together then torn apart.

Moving from funny and engaging to genuinely moving and thought-provoking, Underground is attention-grabbing, edge-of-your-seat, in-your-face dancing.

About Motionhouse

Founded in 1988 by Louise Richards and Kevin Finnan MBE, Motionhouse creates world-class dance-circus productions that tour extensively to rave reviews across the globe. From full-length productions for theatre touring to flexible work for the outdoors and large-scale performance events, our sell-out productions integrate athletic physicality, powerful narrative, incredible digital imagery and emotive sound scores.

Its work takes its inspiration from common human concerns and our connection to the world in which we live, with recent works exploring flooding, the pressure of time, fear and captivity, and our relationship with water, the Earth and energy. Motionhouse’s dancers perform on stunning sets, alongside JCB diggers, with aerialists and singers, in incredible settings and to breath-taking effect.

Funding, commissioning and partner credits:

Commissioned by Fierce Festival, Birmingham Hippodrome & Without Walls.