Kirkley Creates at First Light Festival 2021

We were so pleased to celebrate the culmination of The Third Person’s Kirkley Creates artist residency with a beautiful dance performance at First Light Festival’s Longest Days of Summer. Thanks to DanceEast, who commissioned a film of the day, we have a fabulous record of the performance for you to enjoy.

Artists, Carrie Phoenix and Kasia Posen, decided early on in their residency in Kirkley that they wanted to bring choreographer Tim Casson and his company Casson & Friends in as collaborators.

After a rich variety of community arts workshops, creatively exploring food, foraging and landscape, Tim was able to provide an alternative perspective of the work with the local community, and bring the project to life for audiences on the beach at First Light in June.

As well as exploring images and content created by residents during creative sessions, Casson & Friends joined Carrie and Kasia at Kirkley Pantry for a day to work with the project participants.

The dancers listened to participants’ tails of foraging, edible plants, herbs, learning to grow, and drawing. They then added movements to interpret key words and phrases that the participants highlighted.
Together, they created a unique dance that translated the experiences the participants had enjoyed as part of Kirkley Creates into movement. Tim and his dancers headed off to rehearse, and just 24 hours later, the dance was performed through the afternoon to the delight of audiences at First Light Festival.

Meanwhile, a pair of unique planters were filled with edible plants and herbs, to serve as an installation on the beach and backdrop to the dance, before heading to their permanent homes at the Kirkley Centre, and Kirkley Pantry.

Artist, Carrie Phoenix, says of the performance: “Casson & Friends brought such a wonderfully inclusive slant to Kirkley Creates.
“Tears of joy were shed by some locals whilst watching the dance. It was a beautiful and moving representation of our work and the experiences of the participants throughout the project.”