POP-Up Duets at Merchant City Festival

Award-winning dance duets to kickstart world tour at Hidden Door 2018

We are excited to share the first details of our 2018 programme, as we confirm that a series of award-winning, innovative dance duets will feature at next year’s Hidden Door before heading off on an international tour of Asia, Europe and the USA.

POP-UP Duets (fragments of love) are 5-minute, contemporary dance duets designed for a wide range of public spaces such as museums, galleries, cafes, libraries etc.

POP-Up Duets at Merchant City Festival

Bringing together the talents of choreographer Janis Claxton and composer Pippa Murphy with four world-class dancers, POP-UP Duets is designed to emerge from public situations to be enjoyed by invited as well as accidental audiences who find themselves passing by.

The 8 stand-alone duets draw on the theme of love through elegant and dynamic contemporary dance that evolves from simple everyday interactions. Each duet is accompanied by a track of original music specifically composed for the choreography by Pippa Murphy, with vocals by Scottish Album of the Year Award winner Kathryn Joseph (who delighted audiences at this year’s Hidden Door).

The four dancers lined-up for POP-UP Duets (fragments of love) in 2018 are Joanne Pirrie, Albert Garcia, Amy Hollinshead and Valerio Di Giovanni.

“Everything about POP-UP Duets is inspired. This is, at every level,  a richly inventive, wonderfully perceptive work, danced with a persuasive humanity to a score you want to own”

★★★★★ The Herald

With funding from Creative Scotland, POP-UP Duets will tour extensively across Scotland, and will also be extended to the UK, Asia, Europe and the USA, following a prestigious invitation to bring the work to Jacob’s Pillow, home to the longest-running dance festival in the United States.

Janis Claxton said “POP-UP Duets (fragments of love) has been an exciting success with both audiences and critics. We are delighted to be touring it in 2018 and especially thrilled to be invited to Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. It’s a huge honour.”

We’re thrilled to have POP-UP Duets start their exciting year of touring at Hidden Door. We’re sure that festival-goers will be enthralled by what they have in store.

POP-UP Duets will feature at Hidden Door in May/June 2018, as well as Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival, before heading to the USA. Read some of the reviews for POP-UP Duets.

Stay tuned for more programme announcements in the coming weeks, leading up to our full programme launch in March 2018. Ticket packages are available here.