Artists announced for world première of Last and First Men with live score

After its preview at London's Science Museum as part of their Science Fiction exhibition in 2023, Neon Dance’s Last & First Men has gone on to sold-out performances on the international festival circuit including Berlin's CTM Festival and Swindon's Festival of Tomorrow. Now due to visit The Hague, Netherlands, as part of the popular annual Rewire Festival of contemporary music and arts, this will be the first time the work will be performed with a live musical score. Tickets will be limited for its 4 April performance at the Koninklijke Schouwburg.

A futuristic story of a race of humans that finds itself on the verge of extinction, Last & First Men aims to transport audiences to a world quite unlike our own. The work sees a unique contemporary dance performance set to a live musical score, the rich visuals of the late Jóhann Jóhannsson’s science fiction film Last and First Men, and added narration from the world-famous actor Tilda Swinton.

The Hague’s performance will see a new line-up of sought-after contemporary artists from around the globe, with dancers Fukiko Takase, Kelvin Kilonzo and Aoi Nakamura taking centre stage.

Elsewhere, Fukiko has been seen performing  in Akram Khanʼs ʻJungle Book Reimagined', Kelvin's multidisciplinary career includes award-winning acting roles, whilst Aoi's own dance company AΦE is known for incorporating cutting-edge technology into their performances.

They will be joined by musicians Yair Elazar Glotman, Viktor Orri Arnason and Else Torp. Plus the fascinating Echo Collective, a diverse group of classically trained musicians, known for performing in immersive environments and diverse acoustic spaces.

The performance will take place at 7.30pm CEST on Thursday 4 April at The Hague's Koninklijke Schouwburg. Tickets can be purchased from the Rewire Festival website.

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Creativity rebooted for all ages in Swindon

Mechanical Bloom Lab at the Swindon Designer Outlet as part of Festival of Tomorrow (2024). Photo by Tiger Watts.

We had an amazing time in Swindon this half-term, giving visitors of all ages the chance to fill their week with arts, science and technology in a special one off Mechanical Bloom Lab at Swindon’s Designer Outlet.

Over 13-hundred people attended the installation, part of the town’s popular Festival of Tomorrow, that showcased our live performance robots, developed in partnership with experts at Bristol Robotics Lab.

A force for creativity and connection

The bio-inspired robots were initially created to explore how robotics could influence social connectivity and collaboration. The lab saw young robotics enthusiasts get the chance to meet and interact with the robots, learn about how they work, and share their own ideas on what the role that robots should and could have in our society.

Our founder, Neon’s Artistic Director, Adrienne Hart, said: “Why, given our hyper connectivity, loneliness is so prevalent today? We increasingly embed technology into our daily lives, without much thought on how we can use it to connect with our own creativity, and with each other.”

Creativity for everyone

Adrienne continued: “I am particularly excited about what both robotics and virtual reality have the power to achieve in the world of dance. Imagine experiencing up close a performer interacting with your robot avatar and choosing where you’d like to be in the space and what you’d like to see. You move your arms and the robot mimics your movement. It’s these kind of ideas we’re interested in exploring to open up live performance to more people and make it accessible to everybody.”

What’s next for performance robots?

The Lab follows on from a previous project, Prehension Blooms, a contemporary dance performance with robotics that premiered and toured in the UK in 2022, and Beyond Body and Things an interactive installation with sand, robots and dance that took place at Setouchi Art Triennale in Japan the same year.

“At every step of the way we’ve had a range of different people with different lived realities feeding into the design of our robots including visually impaired communities in Bristol and young people aged 9-18 in Swindon”, says Adrienne. “The next step is to get our robot creatures moving untethered (no easy task) and complete the design of the body.”

Neon Dance is currently researching a wearable robot that can enhance embodied communication; a collaboration with Air Giants and Bristol Robotics Lab. So, watch this space for more dance and technology in Swindon very soon!

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Come work with Neon Dance

Last and First Men by Neon Dance (2023) Photo by Miles Hart Photography.

We’re searching for an emerging practitioner from any artform/discipline (EG: Performing Arts, Literature, Media, Music, Costume, Film, History etc) to come work with Neon Dance as a Cultural Connector. You need to be based in Swindon to apply and the role will include engaging your local community and network with our installation “Beyond Body and Things”, which is being presented as part of Swindon’s Festival of Tomorrow as well as planning and delivering a creative response. We’re also looking for a part time Communications Coordinator to work 1 day a week (remotely) between January and February. This remote working position is ideal for a recent graduate or social media savvy artist looking for some additional income.

Find out more about both opportunities by clicking on the below links…

Wearable robots research grant

We have partnered with Bristol Robotics Lab, University of Bristol, AirGiants (large, inflatable pneumatically controlled soft robots) and speech and language therapists to research wearable robots for enhanced embodied communication! As a team we’ll be exploring if wearable robotic technology can help enhance communication, especially for those with complex communication difficulties.

The big issue 

Non-verbal, or embodied forms of communication, such as gesture, posture, or body language allow people to form connections with each other. Clothing and other tools are commonly used to enhance our ability to communicate in this way. Wearable Robots for Embodied Communication (WREC) could augment the human body, allowing enhancement of embodied communication far beyond what is currently possible. This could help the >300k people with complex communication difficulties in the UK participate more fully in everyday life, make dance and performance accessible to a wider range of audiences, and ultimately provide us with new ways and methods of connecting with each other.  

However, technology alone is not sufficient to develop WREC. Communication aids can perpetuate structural inequalities or contribute to stigmas associated with unconventional means of communication, necessitating a sociotechnical approach. This sociotechnical approach requires sharing knowledge and practices across disciplines – communication-based professionals may be unaware of recent developments in soft robotics; roboticists do not know what users of communication aids want or need; and a best-practise methodology for investigating these issues needs to be developed.  

Our response 

Together, we will use participatory methods to investigate how human/machine symbiosis might enhance embodied communication and how WREC can be simultaneously co-created and understood.

The project aims to: 

·       Understand the overlap between the needs of professionals who rely on embodied communication (i.e., professional dancers and speech and language therapists) and the novel capabilities of wearable soft robots; 

·       consider qualitative methodologies for further understanding the importance of embodied communication in supporting social participation and the role that robotics could play in this; 

·       co-design a first WREC prototype for potential use in a contemporary dance performance 

·       record high-quality media of this prototype in use to demonstrate WREC to potential collaborators, industry partners and funders. 

The outcomes of this project will be used as a springboard to apply for larger funding needed to take the collaboration to the next level. We’ll keep you updated on progress!  

Last and First Men previews

After residencies at Swindon Dance, Sadler’s Wells and Pavilion Dance South West we had the privilege to preview our new production “Last and First Men” at the Science Museum on Thursday 4th May as part of their current exhibition Science Fiction. Based on the ground-breaking 1930 sci-fi novel by Olaf Stapledon and set to the backdrop of Johann Jóhannsson’s 16mm black and white film, with narration from Tilda Swinton and original score composed by Jóhannsson and Yair Elazar Glotman, Last and First Men is a 60-minute live performance work featuring dance artists Fukiko Takase, Aoi Nakamura and Kelvin Kilonzo, choreography by Adrienne Hart and artifacts by the award winning Ana Rajcevic. Thank you to everyone who came to see the Science Museum show and special thanks to our Crowdfunder patrons, project partners and Arts Council England for supporting the creation process.

Last and First Men

We’re thrilled to announce our new Neon Dance production! Based on the ground breaking 1930 sci-fi novel by Olaf Stapledon Last and First Men concluded the beautiful career of Icelandic composer Johann Johannsson. Our contemporary dance adaptation will be set to the backdrop of Johannsson’s 16mm black and white film, with narration from Tilda Swinton and original music composed by Johannsson and Yair Elazar Glotman. Supported by Arts Council England, Sadler’s Wells, Pavilion Dance South West and Swindon Dance. If you’re in Swindon you can join our Reading Group with thoughts and ideas shared during the session feeding into the creation process. There’s also a sharing and exhibition of costumes and photography planned at Swindon Library and a preview performance at the Science Museum in London as part of their Science Fiction exhibition!