INIT: The Warmup Project
The pre-performance is the performance. Heightened. Pulled into the light. They aim to hide nothing.
An ambitious show triggered by the concept of preparation, INIT: The Warm Up Project premiered at Dublin Fringe Festival 2019. Lucia Kickham’s intricate choreography performed by three dancers combines with DJ Robbie Kitt’s live, responsive sound design to create a heightened version of the warm-up process that is usually unavailable to us as an audience.
photo: Luca Truffarelli
photo: Luca Truffarelli
photo: Kenneth Keegan
photo: Kenneth Keegan
photo: Kenneth Keegan
photo: Kenneth Keegan
"An eloquent recognition of symbiosis and community"
Michael Server | The Irish Times
"Throughout, Kickham cleverly crafts the journey towards performance into a performance itself. Slowly, gradually, the fractured, disparate elements evolve into something with synergy and cohesion."
Chris O'Rourke | The Arts Review
Lucia’s desire to explore the warm-up process as an individual ritual began with an observation while participating in a workshop with dance artist David Zambrano in December 2016. Each morning before they began the day’s training, 32 dancers warmed up in one studio, preparing for the same activity but in a multitude of ways – from somatic to explosive.
“I was enthralled – it looked like a big improvised performance. As a dancer I need to warm up my body but also must prepare my mind to find a balance between internal and external, what I need for myself and what is needed of me from my environment. In this piece I aim to examine the challenge of reaching the point of readiness while still remaining open to the unexpected.”
Kickham used her Dance Ireland HATCH residency in 2018 to delve into the topic of varying methods of preparation, regardless of the profession studied, in more depth.
photo: Josh Roxby
"Will no doubt draw more attention to Kickham’s work... It’s certainly something that should have a longer run than this brief stint!"
No More WorkHorse
