Hit dance show about the highs and lows of doing karaoke comes to Exeter
Hit dance show Empty Orchestra is coming to Exeter Phoenix on Tuesday 12th September as part of its UK tour, after sell-out shows in London and Yorkshire last year. Combining contemporary dance with live karaoke, Empty Orchestra is a hilarious hour of karaoke classics, beautiful choreography and gloriously out of tune singing.
From dance artist Lewys Holt’s company perfectly serviceable, Empty Orchestra explores the vulnerability, power and uncomfortable feelings of cringe inherent to karaoke. Featuring Holt and Luke Divall and Inari Hulkkonen, each dancer takes their turn at the mic whilst the remaining two become backing dancers, lip-syncing and encouraging each other into the spotlight.
The show received critical acclaim in 2022 with two sell-out runs at The Place and Yorkshire Dance, securing Arts Council Funding for a UK tour this Autumn across Exeter, Bristol, Fife, Worcester, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff, Nottingham, Greenock, Aberdeen, Wolverhampton and Derby. perfectly serviceable have also announced that all shows on the UK tour will be BSL interpreted.
Holt’s previous work includes major commissions, such as performances for the Arts Council Collection's 70th Anniversary Exhibition curated by Ryan Gander and the UK premiere of Laura Swanson’s exhibition Beneath the Mask. They have collaborated with prominent international artists including Tino Sehgal, Sally Marie, New Art Club, Rosemary Lee and Christopher Owen. They are also the co-curator of improvised performance night Roadhouse with their partner Eleanor Sikorski (Nora, Dancing Museums II).
Empty Orchestra was selected for The Place’s 2021 Choreodrome programme and is supported by Dance4 and Arts Council England.
Dancer and choreographer Lewys Holt said: “I'm interested in pop music and the way it instantly connects with people, distracts them, frees them and allows them to become more themselves, but also how it has shaped society to a degree. It has a brainwashing quality, along with its emotional liberation. What I want to do with this show is find ways of engaging with pop music in ways that are not pre-prescribed. How can we find the emotions in the margins of these songs? How can we sing between the notes to find a pleasure independent of the pleasure it tries to sell us? I think dance is the answer.
“I think audiences will enjoy the opportunity to witness a new way of dealing with these songs that they know so well. There's a real party vibe to the piece, but it's coupled with a sort of bleak, otherworldliness, which is equal parts disconcerting and intriguing. Plus - there's plenty of opportunities to sing along!”
Tickets: £12* (£10*) | £5* Students/Under 25s available at: https://exeterphoenix.org.uk/events/empty-orchestra/
