Amici Dance Theatre Company have unveiled a powerful exhibition Amici: Our Historyto be displayed alongside their upcoming new full-company production, Our Time. Produced by Turtle Key Arts, both the exhibition and the production will pay tribute to the life and legacy of Amici’s late founder and artistic director Wolfgang Stange, who passed away in December 2024. Amici: Our History showcases the important work and impact of Amici and Wolfgang over 45 years.
With candid photography of Wolfgang Strange and the company from Sheila Burnett and Shane Aurousseau, the living exhibition will provide an exciting and fascinating retrospective. Also included will be a series of audio interviews (to be experienced through headphones), produced, recorded and edited by Primo Digital Film Productions, showcasing the unique and inspiring stories of 20 different Amici members. Visitors can also share their own stories and experiences about Amici in an audio booth, complementing the spirit of Wolfgang’s strongly held beliefs in inclusion, collaboration and the creative potential of every individual, regardless of physical or emotional limitations.
Gurpreet Dosanjh, Amici Member and Associate Artist comments, He’s given us this gift, this story, and he’s gone “this is for you and it’s going to bring you all together and it’s going to get you to do something together”. And, so, the spirit lives on.
Ebony Rose Dark, Amici Member says, The magic of Amici is the people that come together to make Amici happen. That togetherness and the energy that each individual has for Amici.
Our Time is a profoundly personal work conceived and began by Wolfgang in the final year of his life, which Amici is completing in his honour. Inspired by his extraordinary relationship with his lifelong partner, the renowned Sri Lankan artist George Beven, the piece journeys through history – from the Cold War and the Fall of the Berlin Wall to the legalisation of same-sex marriage and today’s conflicts marked by displacement and division. It explores how society’s views on love, identity and belonging continue to evolve.
Our Timeis directed by Michael Vale (Macbeth, RSC; Bent, National Theatre), choreographed by Amici’s Interim Artistic Director Elaine Thomas and has costume design by Tina Bicat (Critics’ Circle Award for Punchdrunk’s Faust) and lighting design by Phil Supple (Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, Tower of London). It also features original live music by long-time Amici collaborator Nao Masuda (Music in Motion, London Jazz Festival, Analema Group).
Infused with Amici’s signature blend of dance, theatre, circus and live music, Our Time is a production full of colour, heartbreak and celebration. As Amici Dance Theatre Company steps into its next chapter, Our Time is both a celebration of all that has come before and a promise to carry forward Wolfgang Stange’s extraordinary legacy of inclusion and artistic courage.
Main Image: Amici Dance Theatre Company