Highlights from Digitopia tour
June 2, 2016
Our tour of Digitopia came to an end in April. We took this piece for children aged between 5 and 12 (and their families) to 16 venues – audiences loved it and we received some fantastic press coverage too.
In The Times Donald Hutera gave Digitopia four stars and commented,
“Tom Dale has for some time been working steadily to harness dance to the latest advances in audiovisual technology. The British choreographer’s newest touring production is a consistently engaging, handsomely designed attempt to explore the capabilities of digital media for young audiences. Digitopia is a fun, attractive means of stimulating the eyes and ears of any spectator, regardless of age.”
While a young audience member, Joe, a pupil at Ipswich Academy wrote this review.
“I haven’t watched many dance performances before and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. To me it was like dancing in space with epic light effects and 3D patterns. I would say that any aged child would be very happy to watch the show. My favourite part of the show was the special effects. My favourite one was a black wall using lazers to create a blue man and the music went so well with the effect. Loved it – 10 out of 10.”
During the tour additional activities like ‘Stay & Play’ sessions took place on stage after performances, while the Digitopia App gave audiences the chance to explore ‘what does your Digitopia sound like? This specially commissioned sound app was developed by partners in The Mixed Reality Lab at the University of Nottingham.
In conjunction with MOKO Dance we also ran creative dance workshops exploring themes from Digitopia. These workshops offered a fun environment with emphasis on musicality and creativity.
In devising Digitopia with his creative team Tom Dale was “attempting to bring the digital world into physical being to allow for play with the physics of our environment. This theme is a constant preoccupation of mine and one we can have a lot of fun with.”
Digitopia was commissioned by MOKO Dance in association with Warwick Arts Centre. Supported by Nottingham Lakeside Arts, Dance4, Lincolnshire One Venues and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
Initial research and development supported by Triggered@Warwick Arts Centre.
Digitopia is produced by Tom Dale Company.