The City Will Crumble

"...choreographed and performed to perfection"

The Latest on Nyctolopic's "The City Will Crumble" at the 2012 Brighton Fringe

Who are we?

Nyctolopic is a new dance theatre company based in London, committed to creating original work in the borderland between dance and physical theatre. In 2012, we created "The City Will Crumble" - a dance theatre piece for seven dancers which presents a vision of the dark megacity in original and movement and music. It premiered at the Courtyard Theatre in Shoreditch (The Upcoming's review called it "the kind of show that needs to exist... different, thoughtful and musically arresting"), and was included in The Warren's repertoire for the 2012 Brighton Fringe (read The Latest's review here)

For 2013 we have been invited to perform the piece at Rich Mix in East London's Bethnal Green and at Centro Gabriela Mistral in Santiago de Chile.  We also hope to take the piece to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. We now need your help to make it happen!

What is the piece?

Millions of people walk the streets of the dark city. Sometimes they notice one another; most of the time they pass each other by, driven on by the unrelenting rhythm of the city itself. How can one woman believe that her individual story matters, when the city makes everyone interchangeable, substitutable, and disposable?

"The City Will Crumble" is a collaboration between Chilean dancer and choreographer Ana Marambio, Australian composer David Holyoake, Norwegian writer and journalist Martin Sandbu, and the dancers and actors working with Nyctolopic. This new dance theatre piece is inspired by previous aesthetic reaction to a great socio-economic shock – film noir as a reflection of the Great Depression and its aftermath. We live in times with strong parallels to that earlier era – most obviously a devastating economic crash. But there is more. Then and now, breathtaking technological changes seem to offer great opportunities but at the same wears down honest human relations. Then and now, seeming prosperity masks continuing relations of power and the sharpening vulnerability of those at the bottom. Then and now, faith in progress gives way to powerlessness in the face of a social system that depends on making each individual replaceable, insignificant, and, therefore, disposable.

"The City Will Crumble" tells the story of a lone individual's struggle against these forces. Click on the video trailer above to get a feel for the piece!

How will the money be spent?

The more we raise, the more we can do...

The funding we need most urgently is for upgrading the production value of the piece with better lighting and costume design. That is our biggest expense before the first show of the season, a performance at Rich Mix in East London on February 22.

The rest will go to cover travel costs to Chile, Edinburgh, or both depending on how much we manage to raise elswhere. Obviously £3000 is not enough to take a company of seven dancers across the Atlantic or even to Scotland once the light and costumes are paid for. But the first funds are always the hardest to raise, and if we meet this goal, we are in a strong position to apply for grants from big funding organisations. We were funded by Arts Council England in 2012, and with your help we can achieve that again!

The fine print

Nyctolopic is a registered charity (Charity Commission registered number 1149908) and eligible for Gift Aid (HMRC reference XT31471). The rewards given in return for donations are below the allowable limits for Gift Aid, so if you are a UK taxpayer, you may elect for the government to refund to Nyctolopic the basic rate tax you have paid on the amount you give us (and reclaim the higher rate tax if applicable). You may tell us so in the comment field when you pay, or we may contact you to ask if you are happy for your payment to be treated as Gift Aid. You may also use the Gift Aid button on www.nyctolopic.org/donate.html. Nyctolopic is a company limited by guarantee incorporated in England (Companies House company number 7701385).