The Paratrooper Project - Phluxus2 Dance Collective

Overview

You've watched films based on World War II. You've read books and possibly seen plays, too. You might not have seen an immersive dance theatre installation, though — but now, thanks to performer and Phluxus2 Dance Collective artistic director Nerida Matthae, you can. In putting together the company's latest production, she took inspiration from photographs of her grandfather, a German paratrooper.

His experiences provided the starting point for The Paratrooper Project, and for an expression of several lines of thinking about history and conflict. How does the past, particularly when filled with traumatic acts, influence the present? What imprint does war leave upon current day realities? Down in the trenches, that's what Matthae and fellow collaborators Gareth Belling, Gabriel Comerford and Margi Brown Ash investigate through movement.

Together, they dance through remnants and imaginings of time, memory, action and trauma — but they're not alone. As the performers are placed in the battle zone, surrounded by 12 moving parachutes and accompanied by a soundtrack that utilises artillery, you can walk through and explore the set. You won't just witness the intimate, thought-provoking rumination on conflict — you'll be a part of it.