Hold Tight
2022, 75 minutes
‘The ache for home lives in all of us.’ Maya Angelou
Under Choreographer/Director Charlotte Vincent, Vincent Dance Theatre has a reputation for inventive political productions which quite literally delve into the fabric of British society through a socially engaged, UK wide research process.
In Loco Parentis (2020) turned the company’s attention towards themes of home, family and belonging. Made through a process of socially engaged research and informed by real-life testimonies, this intergenerational dance-theatre production reflected on inherited cycles of trauma, rupture and repair that result in children being placed into foster care, care homes and adoptive families.
Building on the company’s research for In Loco Parentis Vincent Dance Theatre’s new full-length production Hold Tight reflects on themes of enforced separation and insecurity to draw parallels between the impact the global pandemic on family relationships and the effects adverse childhood experiences have on young lives.
Hold Tight is an inter-generational ensemble production performed by established VDT collaborators (including Rob Clark, Janusz Orlik, Aurora Lubos and Antonia Grove) with young performers, staged on a set with a huge blackboard backdrop, originally designed for In Loco Parentis.
Layered with psychological and emotional tension, with a beautiful soundtrack by Jules Maxwell, Hold Tight offers a window into the often detached and dislocated lives of care-experienced young people, embedding their stories within a wider exploration of what home, family and belonging means to us now.
“Really beautiful very, very moving” ILP Audience member & Q+A participant
“I loved the multi-layering and your varied use of media. I thought this enabled the audience to have a sense of the confusion around our children… I actually think it was so profound that some were stunned into silence. I think many will be processing what they experienced for many weeks.” Louise Michelle Bombèr, Strategic Attachment Lead Teacher & Therapist (ILP Post-show Q+A Panel Member)
VDT will be touring Hold Tight in autumn 2022. More details to follow.
