Scottish Dance Theatre performs Velvet Petal in London this summer
The award-winning dance company Scottish Dance Theatre performs its latest show Velvet Petal in London this summer.
The company evokes the heady atmosphere of early 1980s New York as audiences witness tough girls and pretty boys living life in the margins, dreaming about being at the centre.
On August 31 and September 1, composer Abul Mogard join forces with Scottish Dance Theatre at the Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room.
Audiences will experience a 30-minute set of Mogard’s emotive and transcendent sound.
Accompanied with visuals by Marja de Sanctis, Abul’s set will be followed by the full-length performance of Velvet Petal.
Velvet Petal is inspired by the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly, the photography of Robert Mapplethorpe, and the transformative power of creating beauty out of whatever you can find on the bedroom floor.
Choreographed by Scottish Dance Theatre’s artistic director Fleur Darkin, the Velvet Petal dancers philosophise, seduce and experiment with their bodies, clothing and ideas.
Set to a fresh dance-punk score arranged by Torben Lars Sylvest, including music by LCD Soundsystem, Spoek Mathambo and Abul Mogard, this show adapts and morphs in content and length for each performance.
Fleur Darkin said: “Velvet Petal is about change – how humans change by themselves or through relationships with others.
It’s about those times in your life when you must transform yourself.
I spent a lot of time researching the photographic process, and the polaroids of Robert Mapplethorpe inspired me to see things in a new way.
“We think we understand at first glance but actually it’s when we spend time letting the object communicate with us that the magic happens.
I think the revealing nature of time is particularly true of dancers.
The dancers are the Velvet Petals and they open themselves towards the light and dig deep to pull us through the darkness.”
Velvet Petal is on August 31 and September 1 at the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, at 8pm.
Tickets are £22.50 (£17.50). call 020 3879 9555 or go to southbankcentre.co.uk.
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