last updated may 2006

our collaboration began during our undergraduate study at the university of central lancashire. following our graduation in 2001, the next three years were spent researching and developing our own individual practices. in 2004 we formed theybreakinpieces as a result of our common involvement in cross-disciplinary and improvisational practices. our first major project was a residency at st. peters arts centre, preston, in 2004. during the early stages of this residency we ran workshops that targeted artists with an interest in sharing performance skills and moving beyond the predefined limits of their disciplines. through these workshops we were able to identify, and in some cases resolve, a number of questions relating to interactions between different disciplines and our performance location. such questions included:

can sonic and movement based art forms work together without maintaining the segregation of performers (e.g. musicians vs. dancers)?

what are we hoping for collaborators to gain from participating in our working process?

how can we share specialist knowledge?

how can improvisation and performance technology bridge disciplinary gaps?

what is the significance of site-specific work to our practice?

what are we hoping for the audience to gain from our work? how are we able to evaluate this?

throughout the remainder of 2004 we delivered a series of small-scale works that explored the knowledge and questions resulting from our st. peters residency. examples of these performances include: the emergency live arts platform (greenroom, manchester), and the experimental platform (the met, bury).

based on the success of our performance at st. peters we were offered financial support from fresh: creative industries preston. this money contributed to our next major project.

in 2005 we began negotiating a project with the victoria baths trust (vbt) in manchester. the vbt are responsible for managing the preservation and restoration of the victoria baths, a three-pool swimming bath house built in 1906 and a winner of bbc2's restoration. the resulting project included a series of workshops in manchester and preston, followed by a two-week workshop and devising period in the victoria baths female pool culminating in a 4-hour durrational performance. this project enabled us to further develop our collaborative workshop methods, and explore in-depth our practices relationship to site-specific work. as the project was part of a victoria baths monthly open day, it allowed us to engage a largely non-experimental arts audience. additionally, this project marked the first use of our specially designed performance software. the project was funded in part by the arts council england.

for the remainder of 2005 and the early part of 2006 we focused on the development of our performative lecture model. performative lectures to date include: collision: a symposium on interarts and interdisciplinary practices (university of victoria, canada), and a symposium on northwest-based collaborative performance practices (university of central lancashire). we were responsible for the organisation and delivery of the latter of these symposiums in which we targeted artist collectives, performance companies, and performing arts organisations in preston and the surrounding area. the event consisted of performances, performative lectures, and discussion seminars that aimed to expose the diversity of collaborative performance practices currently existing in the local area, as well initiating a dialogue surrounding collaborative performance-making issues.

we are currently developing a new working method for a range of environmental interactions conducted through the media of conversation, improvised performance, and audio-visual recording technologies. these interventions take place in a wide range of urban and rural environments providing opportunities to explore the collision of localised academic, social and geographical settings.

our long-term ambitions for theybreakinpieces are in relation to three strands of our practice: site-specific performances, performative lectures, and artist workshops

we intend to develop a range of models for site-specific work, which can later be applied and adapted to specific locations. this will allow us to respond to a range of opportunities (such as festivals, commissions, and platforms), with tried and tested working methods that can be evidenced by reviews and documentation of previous work. examples of models we will be developing in the near future include the following:

a series of interventions surrounding a specific geographical location and/or event, which will provide the source material for an evolving audio-visual archive/performance space.

a residency in a non-urban location (areas typically lacking access to contemporary performance practices), in which we animate the environment through the creation of performances and temporary installations.

playful durational performances that explore the cultural significance of the relationship between the coast and its communities and industries.

in each of these models our primary target audience are the people that make use of, or value, the specific location. it is our intention that these individuals may gain appreciation for new live art practices through identification with the site of the performance.

we intend to continue to develop our performance lecture strand through participation in a variety of events (including symposiums, artist talks, and festivals). these lectures will create an opportunity for dialogue on the questions and discoveries that arise out of our practice. examples of questions that we will continue to discuss in our performative lectures include:

if an individuals successful performance is not solely based on traditional modes of virtuosity (e.g. technical skill on an instrument, mastery of a specific dance form), how do we develop successful performance skills?

how should we document our work? how should we present this documentation?

our workshops will continue to be an opportunity to introduce artists to our practice, and to widen our network of potential collaborators. these workshops will also allow us to further explore the by-products from our performances, including our new musical instruments and performance technologies. the primary audiences for our performative lectures and workshops will be professional artists, arts educators, and students.