Forest Floor
Shot in Abernethy Forest, Cairngorms, close friends Julie and Robbie sit quietly together on the ground, a simple idea requiring a novel approach.
In collaboration with Julie Cleves (London) our work together playfully investigates cooperative, embodied solutions to access problems, often Involving simple DIY-made objects.
“...a short film of astonishing beauty that redefines “adventure”... first they solve the technical challenge that besets all good adventures — how to get there — and then, they dance."
- Keme Nzerem, Financial Times, May 2020.
Awards include:
Overall Film Award, Light Moves Festival, Ireland (2021); the Changemaker Award, Kendal Mountain Festival, UK (2019); Special Mention, Leeds International Film Festival, Leeds, UK (2020); Best of Fest, Dance Camera West, USA (2021); Best of International Shorts, Flickerfest, Australia (2021).
To Earth
In collaboration with Julie Cleves (London), To Earth is touring galleries in UK in 2021 and beyond through the CONTINUOUS Network. https://www.continuousdance.com/works/to-earth-robbie-synge-julie-cleves
To Earth creates an open and warm atmosphere for performance and discussion with a small audience. It combines performance, projected video, discussion and a complementary participatory workshop. Julie and Robbie chart the evolution of their practice over the past ten years, initiated in a floor-based studio practice to their ongoing pursuit of challenging physical access through simple solutions, particularly in natural environments and landscapes.
Supported by Creative Scotland, Dance North, METAL and Siobhan Davies Dance.
Douglas
A 50 minute solo stage performance involving a selection of objects that would be found in any theatre space. Douglas was initiated as a choreographic research with the ambition of handing over as much physical agency as possible to objects of varying mass and material nature in order that the human body could be pulled, pushed or otherwise affected by objects’ mass. Delicate and brutal moments of suspension and falling were enacted through a series of still and dynamic arrangements.
Part of the British Council Edinburgh Showcase 2015, Aerowaves European Network 2015 and touring internationally and performed over 50 times.
“Douglas is a heightened, exaggerated exploration of the body in contact with the material world, and it’s deeply moving.”
- Ruth Little, dramaturg, writing for Dance Umbrella
https://www.danceumbrella.co.uk/2017/06/12/fall-again-fall-better/
Ensemble
Ensemble is a dance performance for stage set on a sparse white landscape, highlighting five performers aged between 35 – 75. The performance is a series of interactions between combinations of performers that aims to challenges expectations of age in physical performance and inspire us to consider the potentials in working together.
Toured nationally/internationally in 2018/19 as part of the Aerowaves 2019 selection.
Edinburgh Made In Scotland Showcase and Total Theatre Award shortlisted, 2019.
Supported by Creative Scotland, Yorkshire Dance, Leeds, and Eden Court, Inverness.
Skitchin’
Skitchin’ was an intervention in an area of Hasselt, Belgium. Recruited through direct approach to people using the area frequently, an elderly woman and a young skateboarder spent time moving together in an area of the city in their own playful way.
Supported by PUSH, an EU partnership project involving arts organisations promoting experimentation in performance-making for and with young people.