During lockdown Robert Cohan continued to create his final work for stage, Afternoon Conversations with Dancers.
He adapted, as we all did, to working remotely which enabled him to complete the series of eight solos which comprise this new work. With the stage premiere postponed, we decided to film each solo on location in a unique setting. Documentary filmmaker David Stewart had already been in collaboration with Cohan on a documentary about his life. This helped him and his incredible team create intimate film versions of the dances which have become a new work in their own right: Lockdown Portraits, a series of seven solos.
Set to music by Nils Frahm and Ólafur Arnolds and danced by artists from the Martha Graham Company, Royal Ballet, Phoenix Dance Theatre, New Movement Collective and Yorke Dance Project, these moving portraits are a unique opportunity to experience Cohan’s final work with stark immediacy.
The Barbican will be screening the solos on Sunday 17th October, followed by a discussion with David Stewart and Yolande Yorke-Edgell.
— more details to follow on the Barbican website
