The Skeleton is White / Six Degrees from Home

One Foot in the Dark is an exploration of our known and unknown experiences of identity, culture and change through text and movement. It comprises a double bill of a solo ‘The Skeleton is White’ and duet ‘Six Degrees from Home’, both honest explorations of two artists from the global majority understanding what it means to navigate through life, questions and unknowns.

The Skeleton is White
How do we erase the inscribed whiteness of the skeleton?
The project choreographically explores the physical metamorphosis of the body in reaction to the ethnicity and nature of the environment. Even if there is no immediate harm, merely the anticipation of racism, and not necessarily the act, is enough to trigger a stress response. The work aspires to investigate the effects of the stress response system on the somatic and fascial level of bodily movement, and how this could manifest into the entire physicality of the person.
Combining elements of contemporary dance, Indian Classical dance and physical theatre, ‘The Skeleton is White’ explores listening to our bodies, and what it has to say after probably generations of being silenced and suppressed. The work hopes not only to understand how stress and trauma manifests in our body, so that we can find ways to release them, but also to provide strength, support and inspiration to communities so that they don’t stand alone in their struggles.

Choreographer & performer: Divija Melally
Music: Christopher Serazzi
Dramaturg: Vicki Hearne

Six Degrees from Home
Different genders, cultures, and artistic practices exploring connection in a home away from home.
In a world where we are many things at the same time, how do we say the things we want to say but cannot? What valuable information is lost in translation when language and our bodies are telling different stories?
Combining elements of movement and spoken word, the duet explores the the idea of making and breaking borders with our bodies, and how this translates into contact and movement. It plays with the qualities of welcoming softness or rigid harshness, and explores the reactions and responses to these. The work also makes and breaks borders with the two different art forms, and switches between creating a clear distinction between the two forms to merging them so that the difference between the two is lost and it seems to be one unique vocabulary. The work hopes to contribute towards erasing invisible lines and creating a kind and welcoming world.

Creation and performance: Divija Melally & Saili Katebe
Music composition and sound design: George Bloomfield
Dramaturg: Vicki Hearne, Theo Clinkard and Malaika Kegode
Mentoring: Richard Chappell Dance