Claire Cunningham Songs of the Wayfarer
Freesheet
About Songs of the Wayfarer
I really love turning into this sort of four-legged creature. All the little places that you can wedge the crutch really right into a corner or into a crack. In Scotland, we’d say nooks and crannies. I get so lost in that sort of play…when the ground really becomes… my companion.Claire Cunningham
In this new solo Cunningham asks what it is to wander? To seek to scale great heights? What can be learned from those of us who reach for the ground through crutches as 4-legged creatures, the choreography of crip* navigation and the maps we would re-draw? Of scale and time and energy? What it means to keep going and, importantly, the wisdom to know when to turn back.
Led by her lived-experience as a disabled person, her memory of training as a classical singer, knowledge drawn from the world of mountaineering, and Gustav Mahler’s ‘Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen’, Claire Cunningham sets out to traverse known and unfamiliar landscapes. Through a crip* lens, Cunningham invites us to pay closer attention to the ways we navigate the physical world, alongside profound loss and change in our lives.
*Crip is a political and cultural identity embraced by some disabled individuals.
About Claire Cunningham
Claire Cunningham is a performer and creator of multi-disciplinary performances based in Glasgow, Scotland. One of the UK’s most acclaimed and internationally renowned disabled artists, Cunningham’s work is often rooted in the study and use/misuse of her crutches and the exploration of the potential of her own specific physicality with a conscious rejection of traditional dance techniques (developed for non-disabled bodies). This runs alongside a deep interest in the lived experience of disability and its implications not only as a choreographer but also in terms of societal notions of knowledge, value, connection and interdependence.
In 2021, Claire was honoured for her Outstanding Artistic Development in Dance at the German Dance Awards. Since October 2023, Claire has been Einstein Profile Professor of “Choreography, Dance and Disability Arts” at the Inter-University Centre for Dance (HZT) in Berlin. Claire premiered a new solo work, Songs of the Wayfarer in November 2024.
Artistic Team & Credits
Concept & Choreography Claire Cunningham with Dan Watson & Luke Pell
Performance Claire Cunningham
Associate Director & Dramaturgy Dan Watson
Dramaturg Luke Pell
Set and Costume Design Bethany Wells
Lighting Design Chris Copland
Sound Design Matthias Herrmann
Video Design Michelle Ettlin
Artistic Collaborator Julia Watts Belser
Captioner Maria Wünsche (Panthea)
Executive Producer Nadja Dias
Projects & Access Producer Vicky Wilson
Production Manager Gregor Knüppel
Technician Keir Martin
Company Stage Manager Anastasia Booth
Artistic Access Consultancy Nelly Kelly, Panthea, Angela Alves, Rita Mazza and Naomi Sanfo-Ansorge
Mountaineering Consultants Cormac Lynch and Simone Kenyon
Administrative Support (for HZT) Susanne Adam & Jeanette Gogoll
Audio Description Script (English) Claire Cunningham and Julia Watts Belser, with Vicky Wilson and Luke Pell, Spoken by Claire Cunningham
Audio Description Translation (German) Leo Baur & Agnes Ehlich, Spoken by Juli Reinartz
Funding Credits
A Claire Cunningham Production.
Created as part of the Einstein Strategic Professorship „Choreography, Dance and Disability Arts“ at the HZT Berlin.
Co-commissioned and co-produced by Mousonturm Frankfurt, No Limits Festival Hong Kong, HAU Hebbel am Ufer & No Limits Festival Berlin, Münchner Kammerspiele, Next Festival Kotrijk, Sadler´s Wells London and Dampfzentrale Bern. An Unlimited International Strategic commission made possible thanks to funding from British Council