“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time”
T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets
Seke Chimutengwende returns to the Nuffield Theatre with his first show here since 2023’s It Begins In Darkness. The Last Quartet imagines a “last work” or a “last attempt” at choreography.
Four dancers are figuring everything out through movement - how to begin, how to connect, how to change, how to end - leaving fleeting traces of scenes, relationships, and characters for the audience to contemplate. They share the stage with composer Jamie McCarthy, whose elegiac, electro-acoustic score evokes the slow and sudden changes of weather systems and cloud formations.
Seke is thinking about this “last work” as an opportunity to go back to the beginning; back to the core elements of dancing and music, to imagine them anew. The Last Quartet offers a glimpse of limitless possibilities and new beginnings in this current moment where hope is scarce and futures lie everywhere in ruins.
Seke Chimutengwende is a choreographer, performer, movement director and teacher. The Last Quartet is inspired by T.S. Eliot’s ‘Four Quartets’. Following the performance of The Last Quartet, Seke will be in residence at Lancaster Arts for a week, researching his new choreography for six dancers set to Miles Davis’ groundbreaking 1972 album On The Corner. There will be a sharing of this work in progress on 20 November.
"A rare choreographic language."
Corridor8
Credits:
Choreographer: Seke Chimutengwende
Dancers: Temitope Ajose, Charlie Ashwell, Seke Chimutengwende and Matthias Sperling
Rehearsal Director: Stephanie McMann
Composer: Jamie McCarthy
Dramaturg: Efrosini Protopapa
Costume designer: Annie Pender
Lighting designer: Marty Langthorne
Set designer: Bethany Wells
Production manager: Michael Picknett
Producers: Metal & Water
For more info on Seke's work, please see: https://www.sekechimutengwende.com/
Age:12+
Image design: Jack Barraclough; Photography: Jemima Yong
