Reinventing the Wheel – Taking Flight

A trio of two dancers and one wheel. A rocking structure whose framework is transformed during the piece to form a large wheel in which the dancers can twist, roll and negotiate a pathway. Propelled within the frame the performers are lifted into seemingly impossible moments of suspension forcing split second timing, sensitive counterbalance and play and a huge amount of trust.

  • Choreographer and designer: Michele Weaver
  • Performers: Lindsey Butcher, Charlie Morrissey
  • Music: Calexico, Feast of Wine
  • Construction: Simon York (Steel the Scene)

They ride it as if cresting waves or let it flow over them as they wriggle through its struts. Its roll and reaction are like the visible forcefield of their games of give and take.

Sanjoy Roy, The Guardian

A giant metal wheel moved across the auditorium with the performers twisting and turning through the spokes with such inventiveness and split second timing that was simply amazing.

Robin Strapp, Newbury Weekly

Morrissey and Butcher weave a relationship around and with a large wheel. The result is clever but not only that. The couples agile twists, balances and climbs are a metaphor for the trust involved in any give and take situation.

Donald Hutera, The Times