Desire Lines Dance Theatre
Are you Local?
Choreographed and performed by Orla Collier
Music by Molagon
Commissioned by Great Place: Lakes & Dales and The Dukes Theatre
Length: 45 minutes
Are you Local? is a solo dance and physical theatre piece that explores Orla's experience of growing up in a rural village in Cumbria.
The piece is a roller coaster of emotions. Memories, feelings, and sensations are explored in non-linear and bizarre ways, creating an intimate journey through the ups and downs of growing up. Taking place within a circle of rope with the audience in the round, the audience have a passive presence in Orla's small world, like teddy bears in her bedroom who she may talk to or ignore.
The first half of the work was commissioned by Great Place: Lakes & Dales, and toured to theatres, festivals, schools, dance groups, and events across the Northwest. Including Turn 23 at Contact theatre in Manchester, Brewery Arts in Kendal, 42 Degrees in Penrith, The Lowry CAT in Manchester, Selside Primary School, Zine Fest in Kendal, and Eden Dance in Penrith. This tour offered workshops exploring how we feel about our home and translating that into movement.
The second half was commissioned by The Dukes Theatre in Lancaster for Blast Fest 23 at The Dukes Theatre, and performed at Emergency 23 at Contact Theatre in Manchester and The Place in Bradford.
'Are you Local?' also received support from Theatre By The Lake in Keswick and Brewery Arts in Kendal.
Both halves work as individual pieces as well as together. They have a different feel to them as the experiences move from childhood through to adolescence.
The first half contains the imaginative nature of children, making fun out of very little, reaching euphoric highs playing knock-a-door-run, and electrifying sensitivity stepping into cold water. It also contains the beginnings of early adolescence, trying to make sense of the world and the people in it, dealing with strong emotions, and wanting to rebel ("WHAT? MUM I'M NOT GOING FOR A WALK!")
The second half contains the sudden, deep need for self-discovery that occurs in teenage years. Upon getting her first period, Orla's tears plunges her into herself. In this strange internal world, she tries to make sense of what she finds...
The ideas for this full work began with a short film Orla entered into Folded Zine back in 2022, which explored childhood friendships in rural places.
After the first half was created, another short film of the work, 'Endormore', was created by Jack Harper and exhibited at Brewery Arts as part of Nurturing Creativity X Folded Zine exhibition.
Recently, a film of the full work and short documentary was created by Jack Ballinger, exploring the audience's responses to the work.
See next page for extracts of the full work and short films.
Above images by Elly Wel Photography