Spinstren (2002)

Enchantment.  
Here is a story about a girl who steals a top. 
A wooden top, precious to its owner, who has carved it by hand. 
This is a story about a girl who fell in love with spinning,  
not because of movement, but because of stillness. 

Spinstren was a dance theatre production from half/angel funded by the Arts Councils of Ireland and England in 2002. With a feminist slant and a willingness to play with the outrageous as well as the poetic, Spinstren span together existing and invented stories about women and spinning – the myth of Arachne, the fairytale of Sleeping Beauty and the haunting spinning tops of the Spinstren. It combined rich veins of poetic text, sound and video with a visual and choreographic use of performers and toured Ireland, England and Germany in 2002 / 3.  

She told me that if I bathed the distaff with blood, strange alchemies would come upon me.
She told me that if I span and pricked my finger, I could exchange blood for knowledge
.

Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre, Taunton, UK (2003) 
Queen Elizabeth Hall, Bristol, UK (2003). 
Corn Exchange, Dorchester, UK (2003). 
THEatre SPACE @ Henry Place, Dublin Fringe Festival (2003). 
Institute for Choreography & Dance, Cork (2002)   
Marktalle, Hamburg, Germany (2002) 
Exeter Phoenix, UK (2002) 
Granary Theatre, Cork (2002) 

They were calling her. She could hear it in her deep sleep. 
Gentle almost- sounds, in harmony

Funded by:
Arts Council of Ireland, Projects Scheme (2002)
Ésmee Fairbairn Foundation, UK (2002)
Arts Council of Ireland,
Awards to Choreographers (2001)
South West Arts, UK, Research & Development Grant (2001) 

Audio

the Birthing Tops
the Conceiving Tops
the Grieving Tops
the Heart Tops
the Ice Tops
the Voice Tops
the Water Tops
the Writing Tops

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