Kakilang Presents Si Rawlinson's New Comedy Dance Theatre Show, SAVING FACE

A new comedy dance theatre show exploring stories of invisible illness, private struggle and what happens when being professional collides with being human...

UK premiere: Curve, Leicester, 26 & 27 May
London premiere: The Place, 23 & 24 June

British Chinese choreographer and theatre maker Si Rawlinson has had a chronic illness since childhood - he is essentially allergic to food. His condition costs the NHS £37,000 per year. This personal story underpins Rawlinson's new comedy dance theatre show Saving Face which premieres at Curve, Leicester on 26 and 27 May before coming to The Place, London on 23 and 24 June.

Saving Face tells the stories of four office colleagues hiding from each other in plain sight, each with their own private struggles, each trying to save face. But what happens when buried things come up for air?

Rawlinson uses interdisciplinary theatre to push the boundaries of storytelling, mixing hip hop and contemporary dance, dialogue and physical theatre, finding humour and comfort in the things that we choose to hide. Dance punctuates the show to drive the story when words can't. For Rawlinson, dance is a way of having agency over the body (a body he has always wrestled with for control), bringing the internal drama to the surface in a spectacular way.

The movement of Christine Ting - Huan 挺歡 Urquhart's brilliantly clever set design becomes a living part of the choreography. Four mobile workspaces glide across the stage and morph into unique yet recognisable office environments, as if the office is the fifth character. The performers are at times carried by them, and at times dance with and around them.

Born and raised in Hong Kong with mixed Chinese and British heritage, Rawlinson says: "Asian-ness is a context for the show - there is an ingrained idea in South East and East Asian cultures of 'saving face', where admitting to perceived weakness or mistakes is hugely shameful, both personally and professionally. Saving Face is about the freedom to be human."

Saving Face is performed by dancers Yukiko Masui, Jamaal O'Driscoll, Lisa Chearles and Rawlinson himself. Supporting dramaturgy is by Daniel York Loh.

Saving Face is produced by Kakilang, an NPO arts organisation based in London, where Rawlinson is one of three Associate Artistic Directors alongside York Loh and Ling Tan. Rawlinson is also a Curve Resident Creative.

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