Semi Improvised Dance/Comedy Show PHRASES is Headed For Fringe

Can you have your cake and eat it too? Wound up? Or wounded? Is it time to hit the sack? Phrases can be complicated, nonsensical and misleading and yet, somehow, we all know what they mean. Or do we?

Exploring confusion and anxieties in language and our understanding of it, Phrases hilariously examines what would happen if we took certain sayings and words literally. Mixing contemporary dance with comedy Lewys Holt looks at the circles and binds we create for ourselves through words.

Returning to The Fringe for the first time since his well received 2016 Summerhall show Of, or at a Fairly Low Temperature, Holt's dance-comedy has been compared to New Art Club (with whom he shares a mutual admiration) and branded as "delightfully and disconcertingly bizarre".

Touching on themes of mental health, Lewys Holt stands united with the anxious, the confused and those who overthink, to face awkwardness head-on.

Phrases exists in a kind of ethereal space. Stream of consciousness writings are projected onto the stage for Holt to interact with. Improvised movement and discussions of communication create a subtly humorous yet unnerving piece that is personal revealing and fun.

'Phrases expresses some kind of solidarity with anxious, confused people who feel the need to overthink everything,' said Holt, 'but it doesn't tell anyone that it's going to be okay...it just kind of says accept it - and strokes your head while having its own little freak out.'

Lewys Holt is an interdisciplinary dance artist based in the UK. Often compared with New Art Club, while his main focus is on dance he also blends in comedy, visual arts and devised theatre. He is an Associate Artist at Attenborough Arts Centre and a Breakthrough Artist at Curve, Leicester. He has worked with International Artists including Tino Sehgal, Sally Marie, New Art Club, Simone Mousset, Rosemary Lee and Christopher Owen. In 2016 he was commissioned to make a responsive performance for the Arts Council Collection's 70th Anniversary Exhibition curated by Ryan Gander. www.lewysholt.com

Phrases is created, choreographed and performed by Lewys Holt and produced by Daniel Nicholas.

The show's development was supported by Arts Council England, De Montfort University, Attenborough Arts Centre, Be Festival, University of Lincoln, Curve, Dance 4, Camden People's Theatre and Yorkshire Dance.

Lewys Holt's companion show Footnotes can be seen at the same venue on alternate dates.

Phrases trailer: https://vimeo.com/300846121

Summerhall, Anatomy Lecture Theatre, Venue 26, 31 July, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 14, 16, 18, 21, 23, 25 Aug. 20.45 (50 mins)

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