Sarah Hopfinger's PAIN AND I Returns to Scotland

Scotland-based Queer Disabled artist Sarah Hopfinger (she/her) will return with her award-winning performance Pain and I - a bold exploration that explores and celebrates the rich complexities of living with pain by asking, ‘what can pain teach us?’

Returning to Summerhall, where the work first premiered during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2022, Pain and I will tour Scotland from Friday 22 March -  Friday 10 May 2024, travelling to Edinburgh, Greenock, Hawick, Mull and Shetland.

A powerful, honest and compelling body of work, Pain and I invites audiences to reflect on what it means to care for our bodies, ourselves and each other in times of personal and collective pain.

The dance theatre piece features an intimate autobiographical text framed as a love letter to Hopfinger’s body and chronic pain, paired with original classical music composition by Alicia Jane Turner (they/them), dramaturgy and movement direction by Laura Bradshaw (she/her) and lighting design by Michaella Fee (she/her).

To further platform and promote access and disability arts, a selection of performances are BSL integrated and there is a freely accessible digital Graphic Score here, designed by Rachel O’Neill, with graphic design by Michaela Pointon and images by Brian Hartley.

To mark the opening in Edinburgh, the work coincides with a new immersive art installation that takes over Dance Base during Sarah Hopfinger’s role as Artist in Residence. This culminates with a movement workshop designed to embrace diverse bodies, disability, and those with chronic pain, on Saturday 23 March.

As an artist, Sarah Hopfinger’s practice encompasses contemporary performance, dance and live art. Her work is philosophically based in crip politics that embrace and celebrate disability as valid and valuable.

She often works with diverse collaborators including children and adults, trained and non-trained dancers, disabled and non-disabled performers, composers and visual artists.

Her work has been presented nationally and internationally, having been presented at festivals, organisations and venues that include Tramway, The Place, The Roundhouse, Made In Scotland, Battersea Arts Centre, Buzzcut and South London Gallery.

Recently, Pain and I had its international premiere at Festival Quartiers Danses where it was awarded the Choreographic Work and Indoor Performance / International Prize.

Talking about Pain and I, artist and creator Sarah Hopfinger said:
‘I’m excited for Pain and I to return and tour Scotland this year, and to be presented across the country for people to connect with the work.

I created Pain and I in response to my experience of living with chronic and neurological pain. Over the past four years I have been exploring how to turn towards my pain differently, using dance and performance to creatively collaborate with my pain.

I was inspired to make this work in response to my need - and the need of other people I spoke to who live with chronic conditions – for a creative space to acknowledge, share and celebrate the rich complexities of living with pain.’

Pain and I returns to Scotland where it will be performed at Summerhall in Edinburgh from Friday 22 - Saturday 23 March at 7pm, Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock on Friday 29 March at 7.30pm, Heart of Hawick in the Borders on Wednesday 3 April at 7.30pm, An Tobar and Mull Theatre on Mull on Saturday 6 April at 7.30pm, Cumbernauld Theatre on Thursday 25 April at 7.30pm, and Shetland Arts on Shetland on Friday 10 May at 7.30pm.

For more information about Sarah Hopfinger and her work visit:
https://www.sarahhopfinger.org.uk/ 

 

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