Miniatures

It’s a charming and rigorous solo inspired by London’s V&A museum’s miniatures portrait collection, full of references to poses, dress and demeanour of the period. The resulting piece cleverly uses the modern day ‘frame’ of a TV screen, to lure audiences into a locked gaze with Candoco dancer Annie Hanauer, evoking questions around power and reality.

Choreographer’s Notes

I made this work after a series of episodes where I found myself in the miniatures room at the V&A museum. I usually create work by creating storyboards of images as an imagined score for dance and on this occasion I have chosen Elizabethan miniatures by artists Nicholas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver. I was struck by the detail and scale of the tiny portraits, the repetition and rhythm of the clothing and the focus and demeanour of the individuals depicted. I have created a series of performed portraits based on my perceived principles of these Elizabethan miniatures.

This is a vivid and thought-provoking work…visually stunning… an innovative work, superbly animated by Hanauer, which creates indelible pictures in the memory.

Graham Watts, DanceTabs