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Dog Ballet

Nigel Barrett and Louise Mari

Listen to a sound celebration of London’s dogs and their owners

Dog Ballet, artists Nigel Barrett and Louise Mari with Amy Pitt. Photo by Matthew Kinani

Dog Ballet is a celebration of the community around the dogs and dog owners of London, and the joy and tenderness that can be found in these relationships of mutual care.

Over the summer, artists Nigel Barrett and Louise Mari, with Amy Pitt and Lewis Gibson, talked to people in the parks of London about their dogs.

The recorded conversations were mixed with the profoundly beautiful music of composer Lewis Gibson, to create Dog Ballet Solo, a soundscape to watch dogs play by. 

Dog Ballet Solo was available online via LIFT & Artsadmin’s websites, and was free for you to download or stream in your own local park.

LIFT and Artsadmin invite you to put on your headphones, press play, and let the everyday act of dog walking be transformed into something poetic and playful.

Dog Ballet launched with an in-person collective listening experience on Sunday 12 September at Alfred’s Meadow in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as part of Artsadmin’s What Shall We Build Here festival of art, climate and community, and LIFT’s LIFT LOVES LONDON summer season of art to recharge the city and renew your London. The event included Dog Mini-Golf and Listening Party.

Presented by LIFT and Artsadmin. Dog Ballet is supported by ACT (Art, Climate, Transition) through the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.

Nigel Barrett and Louise Mari make wild, bold, visual performance for people who don’t really like theatre and unusual theatrical experiences for those who do. They create work both for, and with, children and adults – in traditional theatres and studios, outdoors and in found spaces. They have been commissioned by Manchester International Festival, Tate Britain, the ICA, Museum of London, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, National Theatre Studio, The Science Museum, Cambridge Junction, New Wolsey Ipswich, Torquay Wavelength Festival, Shoreditch Town Hall, Unicorn Theatre and National Theatre Wales. They met as members of pioneering cult performance collective shunt, and together ran the radical arts club and bar ‘the shunt lounge’ under London Bridge station. They received the FringeReview Outstanding Theatre Award for ‘The One Man Show’ and won the Samuel Beckett Award with ‘The Body’ at the Barbican.

A transcript of the audio is available:
Download the PDF
Download the Word document

Download a map of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, showing the nearest stations, toilets, wheelchair accessible toilets and other facilities.

Full details about access can be found on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park website. The park offers good step-free access, hard-standing surfaces, regular seating and accessible Blue Badge car parking. There are accessible toilets near Alfred’s Meadow at the info hub.

Date and time

12 September – 28 October 2021
Dog Ballet Solo - audio download available online

Please note
This is now a past event.

Venue

Online + Alfred's Meadow, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
London
UK

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