Luca Silvestrini's Protein21 online

Under Luca Silvestrini’s dynamic direction, Protein has brought us some of the most original, charming and thought-provoking works of dance-theatre anywhere.

Silvestrini’s adaptation of The Little Prince, created after extensive workshops with children and adults throughout Britain, and performed at The Place was arguably the family show of last Christmas.

And Border Tales, a simultaneously hard-hitting and highly entertaining exploration of multiculturalism in dance and words, was streamed by The Place last month as part of its digital offer for lockdown.

Now Protein21 offers us an opportunity to become acquainted with other Silvestrini works at the rate of one a month, available for one weekend only after first streamed.

Announced so far:

Thursday 25 June, 7pm-8:10pm: LOL (Lots of Love)

Created in 2010, LOL (Lots of Love) is an exploration of people’s growing dependency on their electronic devices and social media. With video animation by Rachel Davies and original music by Andy Pink, it features six characters trapped in their webs of aspirations, desires and self-broadcasting.

Streamed in collaboration with DanceEast and The Place online.

Here’s a taster:

Thursday 9 July 7pm-8:10pm: Dear Body

A satire on our current obsession with body perfection, Dear Body takes place on a set somewhere between a gym and a spa (Fabrice Serafino), the action punctuated and enhanced by a wealth of video, graphics, and animation by Rachel Davies. To a commissioned score by David Coulter, a cast of six professional dancers augmented by an ensemble of participants from the local community enact the aspirations and nightmares of the search for the perfect body.


A collaboration with Lakeside Arts.

August, date and time TBC – Double Bill: B for Body / To The Bone

In the shorter, 20 minutes-long B for Body, Silvestrini returns to our obsession with physical perfection, which his female protagonist associates with happiness. It combines intricate movement vocabulary, insightful text and dark humour.

To the Bone, originally created for DanceXchange’s in-the-round company Bare Bones in 2005, runs for 15 minutes and delves into the struggles and rituals of a couple in their domestic environment.

September, date and time TBC – Double Bill: Ride / Stairworks

Streamed in association with Pavilion Dance South West, this is a double bill of short (nine and 10 minutes respectively) site-responsive works created and performed in 2008 at London’s Wapping Power Station.

Ride looks at the English class system through the relationship between an Ascot lady and the subject of her fantasies, a jockey.

Stairworks is a fantasy world of bare torsos, meat and steam, made during the outbreak of the foot and mouth disease in 2003, mixing news coverage with Vivaldi’s music and images of young men wearing small bath towels.

Tempting…