Catriona Hill: Clàr Commission 2023

Work in Progress showing

Stornoway based dancer, Catriona Hill has recently completed the inaugural Clàr commission for young Hebridean creatives aged 14-25. Since receiving the award in late 2022, Catriona has been developing a dance performance that explores womanhood through movement and interactive projections. Catriona describes her experience of the process:

“We started by playing about with some projection mapping, reactive technology, and generally seeing what the parameters were before I started to produce movement and choreography. Having never really worked with such high technological requirements before, I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of weaving together movement and technology in a way that made sense visually within the narrative. The project culminated with a work-in-progress sharing to a small audience followed by a Q&A/discussion where the audience were invited to share their thoughts, which was valuable for thinking about the next step of the piece.”

The commission is the first step in what will hopefully be the development of a full scale contemporary performance piece, pending further funding. It was created in-house at An Lanntair with the support of programme leader Robbie Thomson and mentoring from artists such as Bex Anson and Ana Norrie Toch. Robbie says:

“It was fantastic to be part of Catriona’s process, she had a very clear vision for the piece and it was a great opportunity to push the technical capabilities of the auditorium at An Lanntair. It’s exciting to see new work being created through the Clàr programme and to be able to provide opportunities for young creatives on the island”