Ultimate Guide to Chester and Cheshire

“We used to have a
reputation for working with
video but now the screen we
use is three-dimensional.
We perform on it, in it and
through it.” Kevin Finnan is
attempting to explain what it
is, exactly, that Motionhouse
does. And, to be fair, what it
does is pretty unusual –
a mix of dance, circus-like
moves, multimedia and
set design that leave its
audiences, according to
critics, gobsmacked. In fact,
Motionhouse is a dance
company that’s been going
since 1988, its six-strong
dance troupe playing to
packed houses across
the UK and Europe, its
performances redefining the
boundaries of contemporary
dance. “We call our work
dance-circus,” says Kevin.
“Alongside the traditional
dance vocabulary our
dancers have a wider range
of skills - circus moves such
as hand-to-hand balancing
or aerial techniques –
and we bring those skills
together with music and
digital imagery to create a
level of skill and spectacle
that’s unlike anything you’ll
find in traditional dance.”
He’s not wrong.
Motionhouse has, in the
past, choreographed
dancers with JCB diggers,
the former showing off
super athletic routines
alongside monster machines
not normally known for
their balletic grooves. The
company also worked on
the London 2012 Paralympic
Opening Ceremony and,
this spring, brings its latest
show to Storyhouse, Charge.
“We have performed on a
vast scale, with skydives
and ships and cranes, we’ve
danced on 100 foot-high
buildings, and now we want
to bring the power of the
spectacle indoors,” says
Kevin of the show.
Charge is one of
Motionhouse’s most
ambitious performances to
date. The company’s dancers
tell the story of electricity
within the human body.
As they writhe and twist on
poles and ropes, on each
other and through computer
game-like graphics, they
articulate how electricity
defines us – from the
electrical Charge that sparks
human life to electrical
activity in the brain. Making
such a story stack up was a
huge challenge for Kevin and
his team. “When you think
about energy, you think of
things like the city at night
or putting petrol in a car,
but you don’t really visualize
anything, do you? I thought,
how am I going to make a
show about something you
can’t see?”
“ We have performed on a
vast scale, with skydives
and ships and cranes,
we’ve danced on 100 foothigh
buildings, and now we
want to bring the power of
the spectacle indoors ”
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