Motionhouse Makes Houston Debut, 2/22

Motionhouse, one of the UK's foremost dance theater companies, will make its Houston debut performing Scattered: A Meteor Shower of Unlikely Moments on Friday, Feb. 22,at 8 p.m. in Wortham Center's Cullen Theater, presented by Society for the Performing Arts.

Directed by Motionhouse's visionary Artistic Director Kevin Finnan, Scattered combines highly physical dance theater and mesmerizing aerial imagery to create a unique interaction between film and live performance. Scattered explores our relationship with water and how it surrounds us in different forms throughout our lives: during birth water ties us to life and on a more elemental scale, in ice, floods and tides, it can sweep lives away. The performance delves into the majesty and savagery of water, a fundamental force in our lives, as seven dancers plunge into an ocean, wrestle a raging tide and slide on an avalanche to a frozen landscape of arctic beauty.

Performed on a huge curved floor that disappears skywards, Scattered uses projection technology, daring dancing plus aerial harnesses and bungees to create an extraordinary world in which the dancers move seamlessly in, on and through the image. The performers are at one moment on the stage then suddenly sprinting up the upstage curved wall (think half pipe snowboard or skate ramp), immersing themselves in sensational images of cascading waterfalls, rainstorms and swimming pools. They hang, suspended over a frozen landscape of arctic beauty at the very top of the curve before diving onto the stage through the ice floes and frozen waters; they hurl themselves into tidal waves, they stride up projected escalators, they fling themselves onto projected deckchairs and they catch, throw and hold each other in impossible embraces.

"We create startling, passionate dance theatre," said Motionhouse Artistic Director Kevin Finnan. "Our productions are designed to challenge as well as delight our audiences and they fuse images with action and dynamism. Our performances are rooted in dance but draw on theatre, circus, acrobatics and film to create works that make audience members think and feel. We pride ourselves on producing shows of outstanding quality that are accessible and enjoyable for all."

Scattered is performed on and within an extraordinary set created just for this production, designed by long-term collaborator Simon Dormon, with an original music score by Sophy Smith and Tim Dickinson and lighting design by Natasha Chivers. Scattered is performed by Jade Barton, Claire Benson, Martina Bussi, Giorgio de Carolis, Daniel Connor, Junior Cunningham (Rehearsal Director), Anthony Middleton, Alasdair Stewart and Rebecca Williams. This work is commissioned by Warwick Arts Centre and created with support from Playbox Theatre, Warwick.

Tickets range from $35-$70 and can be purchased online at www.spahouston.org, by phone at 713-227-4772 or at the courtyard level ticket office at Jones Hall located at 615 Louisiana St. Hours of operation: 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Monday - Friday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Saturday. For groups of 15 or more call 713-632-8113.