SPIDER TURTLE WE

About

Quiet observation of small species can change our perspective. A spider in a bathroom. Everyday reality intersects with an imaginary world where spiders dance to survive, overlooked beings celebrate their existence, and a turtle suddenly appears. Through costumed bodies and a moving installation, the performance leads spectators on a journey in which they cease to be human and imagine life as other kinds of species. Confronted with these creatures, they experience overwhelming and contradictory feelings: curiosity is clouded by fear of the unknown, confusion intersects with empathy and everything comes together in a series of introspective questions: How do we decide to act in the face of the unknown?

Ran Jiao is a performance maker based in Prague. Her artistic interests centre on temporary places and perspective shifts. She approaches space as a series of tangible and intangible relations. She is interested in alternative perspectives proposed by materials and the more-than-human. Experiential and dialogical, her work looks to bring the audience an introspective curiosity of othered perspectives, reaching an expanded empathy and imagination.

The Spider Turtle We project is part of the international research project Foreign Body: Costume Becoming. The project is implemented with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture, City of Prague, the Czech National Recovery Plan and the European Union.

The project is produced by Ran Jiao and Lovable Humans, co-produced with the National Theatre and Lenka Vagnerova & Company, and Bazaar Festival. It has been supported by Centre for Choreographic Development: S.ES.TA, REZI.DANCE Komařice, Ponec Theatre and Alfred ve Dvoře Theatre.

Creatives

Direction and concept: Ran Jiao
Costumes: Anne-Catherine Kunz
Costume Co-Creation: Mara Ingea
Sound Design: Elia Moretti
Lighting Design: Martin Hamouz
Set design: Susana Botero Santos
Choreography consultation: Petra Hauerová
Dramatic support: Sodja Lotker
Technical support: Josef Malík
Production: Lamija Čehajić
Graphic design: Zuzana Jírová and Lamija Čehajić

Cast

Magdalena Malinová, Michał Salwiński, Ran Jiao, Tomáš Janypka, Roman Zotov-Mikshin, Jovita Siu Ji Chin, Sai Morikawa

Special thanks: Debora Štysová, Joana Simões, Ewan McLaren