Figures in Extinction

We are living in an age of extinction. Can we ever hope to give a name to what we are losing? What does it mean to bear witness to a violence in which we are both perpetrators and victims?  

Across continents, choreographer Crystal Pite and director Simon McBurney have exchanged ideas reflecting on their fears and cautious hopes for our age. Their process has drawn on a rich and surprising array of source materials: from the sound of ice caps melting to the clarion calls of climate change deniers, from lectures on the neuroscience of the brain to the cacophonous clatter of Instagram influencers.

Figures in Extinction [2.0] But then you come to the humans is a searing examination of our need for connection in a separated world.

“We have been trying to RE-CONNECT for so long… And have been cut off from our sense of being ‘home’ since we left the world of animals and began to make this earth in our own image…” Simon McBurney

“We would like to express our gratitude to the performers of NDT for their essential creative contributions to this work. We’ve been profoundly moved by their insights and ingenuity, their tireless commitment and trust. These incredible dancers are the lifeblood of our creation. They have given us much joy and a deep desire to keep excavating, uncovering, discovering and imagining what is possible.” Simon McBurney & Crystal Pite

A co-production between Nederlands Dans Theater and Complicité.

Co-commissioned by Factory International.
Co-produced by Parkstad Limburg Theaters Heerlen, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg en Montpellier Danse.

© Rahi Rezvani, Harmen Straatman & Sacha Grootjans (reproduced by permission of NDT)