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Nederlands Dans Theater & Complicité Figures in Extinction

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Faced with the devastation of our environment, Pite and McBurney present their rallying cry.


Can we ever hope to give a name to what we are losing? What does it mean to bear witness to a violence in which we are both perpetrators and victims?

Experience the culmination of a major new collaboration between world-renowned international artists Crystal Pite and Simon McBurney, and the astounding NDT 1 dancers.

Over the last four years, fuelled by the urgency of our times and the increasing global destruction they were witnessing, Pite and McBurney have weaved their hopes and fears for our current moment into this moving and timely dance trilogy. The result, Figures in Extinction, is a cross-continental conversation split into an evening of three startling, half-hour works which fuse dance, performance, spoken word, documentary and music.

Figures in Extinction [1.0] the list (Winner of the most impressive dance production at the 2022 Nederlandse Dansdagen) is a study of the species and environments we have lost and are losing. This piece was previously seen at Sadler’s Wells in 2022.

Figures in Extinction [2.0] but then you come to the humans is a searing look at our need for connection in a separated world.

Figures in Extinction [3.0] requiem is a requiem for grief, and our relationship with the dead.

NDT’s associate choreographer Crystal Pite, known for her breath-taking, boundary-pushing work in dance, and Simon McBurney, influential and innovative theatre-maker and Artistic Director and co-founder of Complicité, unite their visionary practices to explore how artists can meaningfully create in the face of mass destruction.

In this age of disconnection, we must come together to comprehend what we are living through. Figures in Extinction is an attempt to find this unity, and ignite a collective spark of hope in the darkness.

Kindly supported by Alexander & Brenda Leff and The Mirisch & Lebenheim Foundation

A Nederlands Dans Theater and Complicité production.
Co-commission by Factory International
Co-produced by Schrit_tmacher Festival, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg and
Montpellier Danse

Header image description: A large group of men kneel facing away from the camera. They have their hands above their heads, heads bowed. They all wear beige vest tops. There is a warm orange light behind them.

Header image © Rahi Rezvani

Nearest tube is
Angel

Textured, varied, utterly beautiful – a towering achievement
★★★★★ THE OBSERVER

A deeply moving and thought provoking triumph that should be at the top of every dance lover’s list of shows to book this coming autumn
★★★★★ THE TELEGRAPH

Never less than incredible
★★★★★ THE SCOTSMAN

A desperately urgent work that thrums with the passion of its creators in every flickering detail or muscular sweep of movement
★★★★★ THE LIST

This year’s major dance event
HUFVUDSTADSBLADET

An extraordinary triptych, both ambitious and deeply moving. A total artwork
MIDI LIBRE

An impressive, high-octane poetic work that cuts right through our deepest fears
DIE DEUTSCHE BÜHNE

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