Cultural Connector Project

Cultural Connector

The Cultural Connector programme, from Neon Dance, aims to support and nurture practitioners to develop their skills, with mentoring as part of a paid engagement. My role as Cultural Connector was duel, initially facilitating engagement with Neon Dance's performance of 'Last and First Men' at Dance City Newcastle and then secondly, creating my own creative response.

Based on the ground-breaking 1930 sci-fi novel by Olaf Stapledon, 'Last and First Men' (2020) is a contemporary dance work set to the backdrop of Johann Jóhannsson’s 16mm black and white film, with narration from Tilda Swinton and original score composed by Jóhannsson and Yair Elazar Gotman.

The Cultural Connector opportunity has been such a blessing, providing space for me to create a self led costume piece and spend important time networking and communicating with other North East based creatives. I also had the pleasure of attending the Newcastle performance of Neon Dance's ‘Last and First Men’ at Dance City Newcastle was truly inspiring and provided a great jumping off point for my own creative response. Big thanks to Neon Dance for their time and guidance.

I’d also love to thank Sweet Boy for their kindness, insight and general wonderful-ness. The look and images we’ve created are just what I wanted and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. Sweet was my first choice for this project and I was so happy to get to pick their brains and gain insight into their drag, learn more about the Newcastle scene and get creative together.

'Last and First Men'

Neon Dance x Sweet Boy x Phillip S Brown Costume

In both the novel and the performance, future humans, the titular 'Last Men', facing extinction, send messages back through time sharing their culture, stories and pleas. The performance is framed by captivating imagery of spomeniks - abstract, modernist war memorials built across the former Yugoslavia to commemorate sites of World War II battles and partisan resistance.

Clad in utilitarian leotards and equipped with exaggerated 'artefacts' by Ana Rajcevic, the performers take on the new strange shape of our evolved descendants - some animalesque and others almost melded with technology, somewhere between the natural and supernatural.

Written in the 30s, 'Last and First Men' is one of the great works of speculative fiction, a jumping off point for many of my own projects. Reimagined histories and distorted characters from our past inform much of my own work, viewed through a lens of silliness, queerness and tragedy.

To create my creative response, a costume and imagery in collaboration with a local drag performer, I wanted to explore shape and texture whilst also referencing 1930s fashion and classic Doctor Who monster design. It was also important that my creative collaborator and model, Sweet Boy, could bring a sense of their own drag aesthetic to the piece, namely androgyny and clownish camp.

The costume features a draped power mesh dress over a black lycra bodysuit. A sequinned wrap style waistcoat sits under a quilted collar, with a jaunty fascinator topping the look. Textural shoulder pieces add movement and help distort the body, exaggerating the shoulders and emphasising the trompe l'oeil effect at the waist. The costume was deliberately shot on a black background, causing Sweet's body to disappear and reappear as they moved.

Jovially coloured sequins reference Sweet's clowinsh persona and are a signature of my work.

Created by | Neon Dance

Concept & Direction | Adrienne Hart

Film | Last and First Men directed by Jóhann Jóhannsson ft. Tilda Swinton

Musical Direction | Yair Elazar Glotman

Composition | Johann Jóhannsson & Yair Elazar Glotman

Choreography | Adrienne Hart in collaboration with Fukiko Takase, Kelvin Kilonzo, Aoi Nakamura, Makiko Aoyama

Dance Performance | Fukiko Takase, Kelvin Kilonzo, Aoi Nakamura

Music Performance | Yair Elazar Glotman, Viktor Orri Arnason, Else Torp & Echo Collective String Quartet (Margaret Hermant, violin | Neil Leiter, viola | Charlotte Danhier, cello | Jaroslaw Mroz, Bass)

Music Performance Lighting Design | Nico De Rooij

Costume Design | Mikio Sakabe & Ana Rajcevic

Artefacts | Ana Rajcevic

Technical Management | Rick Vincent Will

Video Trailer | Ralph van Boeschoten

Photography | Miles Hart & Parsifal Werkman

Graphic Design | Naile Muslu

Project Management | Maeve O’Neill

Supported by | CTM Festival Berlin, Rewire Festival, Sadler’s Wells, Swindon Dance, Pavilion Dance South West

Funded by | Arts Council England