Covid can’t defeat sky high dance, theatre & music
Those craving the cultural highs can now experience the magic of one of the UK’s most exciting vertical dance companies on YouTube from the comfort of their home. Several chapters of the work of Cornish-based Yskynna’s daring work will be released online over the next six months in an ongoing programme of special digital, bite-size dance and storytelling events.
Yskynna (Cornish verb ‘to ascend’) founded by artistic Director David Greeves is a vertical dance company known for immersive and sensitive works in the vertical realm off iconic architecture, buildings, trees, cliffs and large open spaces. The Cornish company creates bespoke, location-based vertical dance and theatre-based storytelling which brings historical characters and episodes alive in fresh and theatrical ways. With its 2020 production (Into the Deep Blue) postponed until 2021, the Yskynna team has taken to the digital world to re-create its back catalogue of thrilling performances and stories.
The first to be released on June 3rd is the quite literally moving and sky-high performance of ‘Bligh Spirit’, developed in response to the popular exhibition ‘Captain Bligh: Myth, Man and Mutiny’ at the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth, Cornwall. Originally created to occur whilst scaling the 26m high ‘lighthouse or observation deck’ of the Museum’s Lookout Tower, in 2017, this epic performance is a hybrid of song, poetry, sea shanties and awe-inspiring dance inspired by the life of Captain Bligh.
Vice-Admiral William Bligh was an officer of the Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. The Mutiny on the Bounty occurred during his command of HMS Bounty in 1789. After being set adrift in Bounty's launch by the mutineers, Bligh and his loyal men all reached Timor alive, after a journey of 3,618 nautical miles.
David Greeves, artistic and creative director of Yskynna said, “We have to create in different ways when it comes to experiencing arts and culture. Fortunately for us, we have a lot of recorded material of our performances and we have seized this opportunity to share this with people craving that cultural fix during the pandemic. We are so excited to showcase our storytelling and vertical dance virtually via YouTube during this crisis. For those who didn’t witness the physical performance, it gives them a true flavour of what we do.”
Bligh Spirit will be available with narrated storytelling and exclusive interviews with cast and crew members via Yskynna’s social media platform from June 3rd.
We have to create in different ways when it comes to experiencing arts and culture
