East London Dance Under The Hood – Creating Stratford Living

Willi Dorner: Stratford Living. Photographer: Lisa Rastl

East London Dance is committed to engaging our local community with outstanding cultural and arts activity. With the largest regeneration project of our time currently happening across Stratford and east London we wanted to use art as a way to reflect on these changes to our communities.

Between 13 & 18 June 2017 we invited renowned Austrian choreographer Willi Dorner to Stratford to create an east London version of his international photographic project living room.

“By bringing an artist of Dorner’s calibre and international reputation here and connecting him with local residents, Stratford Living is shining a spotlight on the role of the arts in this changing cultural, physical and social landscape whilst simultaneously celebrating our local community.”
Polly Risbridger, Director East London Dance

Over six days Willi, his photographer Lisa Rastl and seven dancers visited six homes and various unique outdoor spaces across Stratford, in an artistic process described by The Guardian as the “Invasion of the sofa sculptures”, to create and capture photos of human sculptures and anonymous tableaux for East London Dance’s Stratford Living.

Fitting themselves into all sort of nooks and crannies the dancers – Rosalie Bell, Jodie Honeybourne, Nicholas Keegan, Amy Lovelock, Stephen Moynihan, Viviana Rocha and Songhai Tolden – sometime literally bent over backwards to create a series of striking images that will be displayed in the very homes in which they were created as part of a unique walking tour exhibition on 26 & 27 August.

The tour, bookable here, will give audiences an unparalleled perspective on the local regeneration: seeing Stratford through a different lens, exploring new areas and catching a glimpse of the private lives of established and new Stratford communities, all whilst experiencing the remarkable art that Willi and his team have created, in a truly unique setting.

Stratford Living would not be possible without the incredible generosity of the local residents who have allowed us access to their homes.

 

 

Photos courtesy of East London Dance

Willi Dorner creates events that give the audience the opportunity for new experiences, insights and a different perception of everyday life. His work has been invited to several international festivals including: Wiener Festwochen, Wien Modern (Austria), Musica Strasbourg, Biennale de Danse du Val- de-Marne, Festival de Marseille (France), FTA – Festival TransAmériques Montreal (Canada), Dance Umbrella London (UK), Springdance Utrecht (NL), Tanz im August Berlin, Theater der Welt Essen (Germany), Crossing the Lines New York (USA) and b:om Festival (South Korea).

Stratford Living by Willi Dorner, commissioned and produced by East London Dance in association with Sarah Trist Dance Management Agency.

Stratford Living is part of Our Living Art, a community arts programme for residents of Chobham Manor, the first new neighbourhood at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The programme is commissioned by London Legacy Development Corporation and is funded by Chobham Manor LLP, a joint venture between L&Q and Taylor Wimpey. 

Stratford Living is made possible by INTPA – INTERNATIONAL NET FOR DANCE AND PERFORMANCE AUSTRIA of Tanzquartier Wien with funds by Federal Chancellery of Austria (BKA) and BMEIA. 

Supported by Arts Council England.