"Enclosure 44 - Humans": Movement Communication Across Species

DanceHere | Aug 12, 2008 | 0

Enclosure 44 - Humans (still clip from video)

Dance lets us communicate across social, economic, and language barriers. And at the Edinburgh Zoo in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, the dancers from Janis Claxton Dance show that movement communication can also connect humans with other species.

Enclosure 44 -- Humans is an eight-hour piece of dance improvisation performed for zoo-goers each day. Since August 5, dancers have spent their days in an enclosure that used to house the zoo's European beavers.

The dancers, without any verbal communication, relate to one another, and to audience members, entirely through movement. Audience members can even see "zookeepers" enter the enclosure at 1:00 each afternoon to feed the dancers.

Claxton designed Enclosure 44 -- Humans for the the Dance Base Fringe program of the Edinburgh Festival. She wants audience members and zoo-goers to see the performance and think about the connections and similarities between humans and animals. In an interview with the Guardian, Claxton explained, "Audience interaction keeps things fresh and interesting."

Enclosure 44 -- Humans will run every day, through August 16. You can find a video with clips of the Enclosure 44 -- Humans performance at this link.

You can find out more about Enclosure 44 -- Humans by following this link to an article in the Guardian or by following this link to an explanation of Enclosure 44 -- Humans by the Edinburgh Zoo.

For more information and related posts, you can view this original post at DanceHere.

Photo source: Still clip from video

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