The US performance-maker’s Weathering, which evokes people clinging to a life raft, has left a trail of overwhelmed audiences. As it arrives in the UK, she reflects on creating a sensory environment to involve us all
Faye Driscoll is in Stockholm, developing a new work for Cullberg’s entire 15-dancer ensemble titled flesh chariot, chariot of flesh. In the process she is negotiating the shift from independent projects in New York and Los Angeles to the framework of a large European dance institution. “There are so many people in the rehearsal room, sometimes it feels like I’m running a small corporation,” she jokes on our video call. Thankfully there’s nothing corporate about Driscoll’s work, which comes from a deep, intuitive set of questions about dance, human connection, perception, ecology and community.
Since premiering in New York in 2023, her extraordinary and best-known performance, Weathering, has left a trail of overwhelmed audiences on its journey from the choreographer’s base in NY/LA to festivals across Europe and farther afield. The work’s UK premiere is a substantial coup for Birmingham’s groundbreaking Fierce festival.
