Candoco Dance Company is to collaborate with choreographer Theo Clinkard and Joe Newman of Mercury Prize-winning band alt-J in brand new work Hot Mess, marking the first time Newman has composed music for the stage. Hot Mess will première at Warwick Arts Centre on 3 October as part of a double bill with Yasmeen Godder’s Face In which premièred at Sadler’s Wells in 2018.
Clinkard said, “whilst Joe and I have only been friends for a few years, his delicate and epic tunes have been jangling my bones and welling up my eyes for much longer. I’ve always found listening to his music to be a deeply physical experience and think we both are driven by an appreciation for both personal and the anthemic, so I was really excited when he accepted my invite to collaborate. In the studio, I notice that we both interpret the unexpected and incidental moments as clues for how to move forwards, so it’s proving to be really intuitive and I feel like a very lucky man to be dreaming up a new live work with him”
Newman added, “I'm excited to take my 10 years writing experience in alt-J and move it into a collaborative setting within contemporary dance. Working with Theo and the dancers at Candoco Dance Company has already been a rewarding experience. Partly, I see this as an exercise in rediscovery and I'm interested in working through a process that requires a shared outlook—that there can be no rights and wrongs and only workings out—I'm greatly anticipating the performances we create together.”