For Since a Woman

Join Plinth for their newest project - the premiere of For Since a Woman, an evening of contemporary dance from Rambert's Simone Damberg Würtz and Daniel Davidson with photographer Dolly Brown. For Since a Woman proposes a novel way of experiencing dance, without the traditional divide between performer and audience. There will be no stage; no assigned seating. Each visitor will experience a different encounter with the piece, influenced by an almost infinite number of factors: will they stand or sit? on the balcony or in the pulpit? follow Daniel, or Simone, in their converging paths? For Since a Woman will disrupt the conventional function of the church as a religious building – wherein altar and sanctuary serve as the focus of the congregation, relegated to rows of pews. In the same spirit of abolishing the divide between viewed and viewer, the piece’s soundtrack, and the movements inspired by it, will challenge perhaps the most ingrained conventions of all: those of gender. Instead, Simone and Daniel will enact their undoing. As the dancers ‘perform’, in the literal sense of the word, they will ‘unperform’ the constructs we uphold, unthinking, everyday. Simone refers to Daniel as her muse; throughout the performance, she holds and supports him, both emphasising and confounding the strength and fragility of each dancer. The Christian Church, and organised religion more widely, has historically entrenched the roles of men and women as distinct from one another; St. John on Bethnal Green is committed to offering a varied and challenging artistic programme, and will function as the perfect venue in which to stage a proposal for rethinking the ancient, and the arbitrary. Dolly Brown, who has previously collaborated with Tate, The Royal Ballet and the Barbican, has photographed the dancers in preparation, and compiled a body of images in response to the evening’s theme. They are an integral part of the piece and will be exhibited in the church's Belfry and the Gallery.