In 1797 the artist JMW Turner, then just 22, went on a walking tour of Northumberland and Durham, sketching and painting as he travelled.
Now a North East contemporary dance company is to re-imagine some of these pictures at or close to their subjects: Bamburgh Castle, Tynemouth Priory, Bowes Museum, and Warkworth Castle, transforming Romantic art into contemporary dance.
The company is Dora Frankel Dance, based at Dance City, and The Unfolding Sky: Turner in the North will be choreographed by Artistic Director Dora Frankel with original music composed by Peter Coyte.
“Turner’s artwork was controversial in his lifetime yet he is now perhaps the best-loved English Romantic painter and acknowledged as elevating landscape painting to new prominence,” Dora Frankel says. “His work remains radical, poetic and dynamic in its use of colour and suggested form and with a strong sense of movement.
“The Unfolding Sky is a celebration of Turner's work and of some of our best loved heritage sites.”
Three dancers—Audrey Rogero, Sonia Zini and Luca Rapis—perform the work and will also take part in education workshops based upon it.
“It is an outdoor performance, lasting about 40 minutes,” Frankel adds, “so audience members should wear appropriate clothing. We only cancel if there is torrential rain!”
Johnathan Hogan, Events Manager North English Heritage, dsecribes the performanec as “the perfect end to the perfect day out!”
The piece is produced in partnership with Dance City and is part of the Festival of the North East 2013.
The tour opens on 1st June at Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland, before going on to Lindisfarne Priory, Tynemouth Priory, Bowes Museum, Warkworth Castle, Bede's World and Dance City, Newcastle.