Watch: The Wapping Project
Double Bill

Ride (2008) & Stairworks (2001)
Conceived and directed by Luca Silvestrini and Bettina Strickler for
The Wapping Project

Stream online for free from 7pm, Friday 20 November to midnight, Sunday 29 November 2020.  

“Still provocative and complex, these works seem to spring from the air before leaving the space almost unchanged except in the memory and legacy of this fine company.”
★★★★ Reviews Hub

“Intelligently conceived, interesting to watch and excellently realised.”
Number 9

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Listen to Luca Silvestrini discuss the making of both Ride and Stairworks with curator and writer Gareth Evans and choreographer Lea Anderson by tuning into The Wapping Project’s podcast:  Past – Forward: The Wapping Project at 20, Episode 2: with choreographers Lea Anderson and Luca Silvestrini (Also available to stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts).

Presented in partnership with The Wapping Project and Woolwich Works and featuring an introduction from Luca Silvestrini, this humorous and relevant double bill of site responsive works marks 20 years of The Wapping Project, 21 years of Protein and celebrates Luca Silvestrini’s long term collaboration with the late Jules Wright, founder and director of The Wapping Project.   

Featuring a provocative duet oscillating between aspiration and desire, unbridled passion and respectability, and an afterlife of chefs ‘culled’ during the foot and mouth pandemic of the early 2000s, Ride (2008) and Stairworks (2001) were commissioned by The Wapping Project for its now former building – Wapping Hydraulic Power Station and include performances from some of Protein’s early company dancers, including Luca Silvestrini himself. 

“Protein’s piece (…) established a benchmark for dance pieces to come.”
The Wapping Project On Paper about Stairworks 

Ride (2008) was commissioned for Turning the Season, a major exhibition playing with the idea of the Season – the social elite’s summer of balls, races, festivals and regattas – and spanning photography, film, sculpture installation and performance. The third Protein’s commission from The Wapping Project responded to the sports aspect of the Season with a duet between Ascot lady and jockey, performed by Charlotte Broom and Omar Gordon. Jules Wright described Ride as “…extremely provocative and sexually, sensually in your face. (…) A commentary on class and aspiration.”  

Stairworks (2001), Protein’s first piece for The Wapping Project, was commissioned as part of the Jerwood 10 X 8: Stairworks series, and guest–curated by Siobhan Davies. Eight choreographers were invited to make a 10-minute piece intended to be caught out of the corner of the viewer’s eye, and to play with the idea of what a dance performance could be and where it can be performed.  

Protein’s Stairworks mixes news coverage with Vivaldi’s music and images of men wearing only white bath towels. Performed on an outdoor staircase, it could only be viewed through windows and doors from the restaurant inside the building. Following its premiere, the piece became so popular (and re-named the Boys in Towels piece) that its filmed version went on to be shown on screens around The Wapping Project’s building in the following years.  

Running time 26 minutes
English subtitles and sound description available
Protein advises that audiences use subtitles as some spoken sections are difficult to hear

Performers: Charlotte Broom and Omar Gordon (Ride); Ben Abbott, Jean Abreu, Robin Dingemans, Kristoffer Hahn, Ilkka Kokkonen, John Milroy, Eddie Nixon, Luca Silvestrini, Johan Stjernholm and Daniel Watson (Stairworks)

This online broadcast is part of our Protein 21 Remix Series which brings back historical works onto a digital stage to help us take some distance with the present and provide a social and individual perspective on society, interpersonal connections and the everyday.

#Protein21 #TheWappingProject #WoolwichWorks #Stairworks #Ride