Theatre gets physical

Texas invaded Ormskirk recently as a group of American drama students introduced physical theatre to Edge Hill.

Co-devised as a joint project between the University and Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, the two-week workshop brought together students to produce several stunning dance and theatre pieces.

The students used the Ormskirk campus as their stage and props, as they took their show outdoors in the university grounds and around faculty buildings, making the environment as much a centrepiece of their performance as the dance and movement.

The students travelled to Edinburgh at the end of their stint at Edge Hill to showcase their performance at the Fringe Festival and to continue their development as dancers and actors.

Sarie Mairs Slee, Senior Lecturer in Dance at Edge Hill said: "At the Fringe Festival, the student group will see over a dozen diverse professional physical theatre companies. A majority of the performances will be seen at Aurora Nova, a Guardian-award winning festival venue whose programme is devoted to outstanding and original visual and dance theatre. This week-long opportunity will allow the experiences from the first two weeks to be contextualized through professional practice.

"This is the first shared activity of a new, international partnership between the performing arts provisions in these universities. We are all really looking forward to watching this exciting relationship between the two universities develop."