Domino

‘Domino’

For New English Ballet Theatre

Choreography: Ruth Brill

Music: Ryuichi Sakamoto

Lighting Design: Andrew Ellis

Performed as part of ‘Works In Progress’ at The Clore Studio, Royal Opera House and Lilian Baylis, Sadler’s Wells in September 2019

‘Domino’ explores the search for compatibility. The movement explores symmetry and asymmetry as they try to establish human connections. I also wanted to highlight different dancers and their different qualities, with a range of interactions regardless of gender. It is an abstract work based on exploring human and dancer interactions between individuals, pairs, trios and groups.

I wanted to create a playful, fun piece. I have been thinking about the parallels between games and life. The objective of dominoes is to find a match. It is a game of patterns and pairings. The arrangement of the six dots on each tile inspired the formations in the opening and closing sequences. From 1 building to 6 at the start and then building back down to the solitary 1 at the end. It uses classical dance vocabulary, with some quirky twists.

This work is to be extended and performed in the NEBT 2020 season.

Photography by Deborah Jaffe