The FATHoM Project

FATHoM members combine elements of their diverse performance, artistic, professional, physical and geographical backgrounds to create innovative and exciting performance work. Our work aims to be accessible to all.

The result of this diversity is cross-art form performance including, dance, music, theatre, installation, improvisation, science, new audio and visual technology, voice, and film.

Adam Benjamin

FATHoM has been working with the internationally renowned choreographer, Adam Benjamin, to produce a piece that was premiered on the 8th of March 2008 at Dance City. The work has been further developed and is now ready for touring from September 2009.

Slight dances its way with humour, poetry and the occasional waltz into a realm of small hurts, failings, the solitude of the unloved and that careful enquiry needed of the inept that leads, just may be, to love.

This piece was developed though structured improvisations, resulting in a highly refined choreographed work.

Adam was joint founder and artistic director of CandoCo, an inclusive performance company, and his most recent work for Scottish Dance Theatre received critical acclaim:

'SDT celebrated the physical and emotional strengths of integrated work'    The Herald

'Angels proved that beautiful movement comes in many forms…the work
played to everyone's strengths'    The Scotsman

'an extraordinary example of integrated dance'    The Times

Working with Adam Benjamin - Dance City

Between here & there A Collaboration with Molly Sturges, Littleglobe

Between Here and There is an on-going collaboration between Fathom and a hostel for boys and men who are in transition. Many of them are working hard to start a fresh life after many challenges, and difficulties associated with drugs and street life. The piece is an intimate exploration of the essential human themes of belonging, rejection, resilience and our desire for love and connection. The work integrates movement, electronic and acoustic music/sound, film and text and consists of a series of modules that can be adapted to a wide range of venues.

Developed first as a site-specific work for a church in Stockton as part of the Stockton International Riverside Festival, the work originally integrated a choral component with a silver singers group and several young opera singers who engaged in conduction, a form of sculpted music employing improvisation and composition. While this element is not present for the fall 2009 tour, Fathom will eventually move Between Here and There into residencies with communities, hostels and silver singer groups to create versions of the piece that reflect each specific community and performance space.

Artistic Director Statement
Courage is one of the first words that comes to mind when I reflect upon my time with Fathom. They are a unique artistic force. As a company that is practiced based, their work is illuminated from the inside. They listen deeply to one another, they lead, follow, collide, relish nuance, and embrace humanity at its fullest. For me, creating a piece with Fathom has been about learning their vocabulary, facilitating revelatory interactions, following radiant threads that have emerged in the creative development and building a flexible structure that will grow with them as the piece develops over time. Fathom is capable of great depths and seem to require them as artists. This is a rare and wonderful gift- one that bestows the opportunity for meaningful artistic insight as well as the chance to expand and the felt experience of our shared humanity.

Molly Sturges/Littleglobe

Working with Molly Sturges - Dance City

'type'

'type' explores laughter and crying, a theme both universal and personal, engaging with the emotions of the audience and performers. There are stories of crying, stories of laughter and stories where the two merge, emerge and conflict…

Soundscapes are then created through typewriter technology, enchanting inanimate objects.

Type is a highly accessible and inclusive performance piece that can be installed and presented in many spaces, sites, theatres and galleries.

type rehearsal - Dance City

FATHoM's previous performances include:

March 2008	'type' premier at Dance city
June 2007	'type' premier at The Customs House Community Room, South Shields.
March 2007	'type' R and D performance at The Buddle, Wallsend, Newcastle.
September 2006	Unlocking doors. A week of workshops led by FATHoM members engaging participants in a creative dialogue, allowing for an exchange of ideas and the sharing of skills, while building relationships for possible future collaborations.
Dec 2005	'Home Truths' - Sharing of new site-specific work looking at the themes of home, identity, trust and lies, created and performed throughout the new Dance City building, Newcastle.