At long last the Highly Sprung team are back! Last week we moved into our new office at the Daimler Powerhouse Creation Centre, Coventry and it is brilliant to be working together again. After a year in lockdown, we’ve been reflecting on our Highly Sprung highlights…here are just a few of our favourite moments from over the last 12 months!
Physical Fellowship: Unlocked
The Physical Fellowship is the UK’s only physical performance festival exclusively for young people. In June 2020, we took the festival online with Physical Fellowship: Unlocked. With over 50 videos and live streams, we shared online workshops, masterclasses, performances, tutorials and podcasts, and received over 60 creative responses from young people and emerging artists.
Relive the festival and all of our resources here.
Transmission: Gone Viral
Transmission was originally developed with experts at Coventry University and the University of Warwick to examine the concept of Anti-Microbial
Resistance. For 2021 we brought the project back to address the mixed messages and ‘science’ surrounding COVID-19, teaming up with virologists
and biologists to present a dancing a lecture.
You can watch the full series here.
Horizons 2021
Since 2019, Highly Sprung have been a partner of Echo Eternal, a commemorative arts engagement project that pays tribute to the testimonies of Holocaust survivors. It was an honour in 2020 to receive a Gold Pearsons Teaching Award for Impact Through Partnership, marking our work on this project.
Highly Sprung were a key part of Echo Eternal’s Horizons 2021 festival, working with young people to respond to survivor testimonies and culminating in a short film exploring the theme ‘Be the Light in Darkness.’ Under the artistic direction of Sarah Worth, this film was realised by a brilliant creative team and an inspiring group of young performers from schools and youth groups across the West Midlands.
Castaway
As lockdown restrictions eased, we came together for a week of research and development for Castaway, a new aerial spectacle responding to the Great Pacific Garbage patch and our throwaway society. This new touring production will premiere as a part of Coventry City of Culture 2021, inspiring audiences to take action on the climate crisis.
Learn more about the piece here.
