WANT IS THE WICK

Choreography: Stephen Shropshire

Dancers: Lea Giamattei and Jeroen van Acker

Music: Tomás Luis de Victoria

Light, sound and video: Xavier van Wersch

Costume: Mieke Kockelkorn

Production: Stephen Shropshire

Co-production: Musica Sacra Maastricht, Holland Dance Festival

Premiere: 20 september 2019, Cellebroederskapel Maastricht

With thanks to: Frank Klinkers and Sally Dansgezelschap Maastricht

Created for Musica Sacra Maastricht, and inspired by the festival theme of prayer, Want is the Wick is an exploration of the body as an instrument of prayer and channel for the immaterial. Drawing on mythology’s Psyche narrative as an allegory for the soul’s trial, and the Shaker understanding of the body as instrument for divine receptivity, the work examines a specific notion of prayer whose function is to change the nature of the one who prays. The work was created as a sort of material offering; to position the body in the space between faith and doubt and reflect the paradoxical challenges of remaining sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.