DanceLab Collective, Lily Armah and Maria Sole Montacci

Resolution Festival 2025

About DanceLab Collective, Lily Armah and Maria Sole Montacci

Credit: Photo by Leonie Hampton

Letting The Light In

Tense, intense, tender, gentle, hopeful - the piece explores the notion of 'resilience'. How do we cope with difficult, emotional and traumatic life experiences, including bereavement? What lifts us back into the light? Where are the cracks that let in glimmers of hope? What enables us to find our way through sorrow and extreme stress enough to keep on going? The performers draw on echoes and fragments of personal narratives in their search for transformation, from being literally 'floored' to somehow finding those glimmers of hope, humour, release, and even joy again: letting the light in.

About DanceLab Collective

DanceLab Collective (Exeter) was co-founded in 2010 by Pam Woods, Kerry Chappell and Lizzie Swinford, to research collaboration between dancers and actors. In between juggling full-time academic roles and parenting, we have created several pieces, most recently Kin-a-sphere.

Aiming to give ourselves space and permission to keep dancing because of, not despite our age, we always draw from our life experiences to inform our process. At different times, this has involved us all being directly affected by sudden death and trauma; but the ideas of 'persistence' and 'resilience' resonate for us, as we hope they will for our audience.

Cast & Credits

Cast: Kerry Chappell; Lizzie Swinford; Pam Woods
Choreography: the cast
Costume/design: tbc
Photo: Leonie Hampton
Sound/music: tbc

5 female dancers create a strong pose with a piercing gaze towards the camera. They wear a mixture of different textured and coloured clothing and are surrounded by brick structures.
Credit: Photo by James Cooper

Fashion Sense

In a dimension where bizarre beauty and personal sensory perception co-exist, Fashion Sense is an abstract interdisciplinary contemporary dance piece. Inviting the dancers/models to explore their agency through a costume-led practice, the garments act as both a statement and mode of discovery. Fashion Sense celebrates the spectacularity of the fashion show whilst using the garments as stimuli to unlock movement potential. Fashion Sense urges spectators to share the performer's sensory exploration whilst immersing them into the world of eclectic and eccentric haute couture.

About Lily Armah

Lily Armah is a London-Based dance artist. After completing her BA training at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, Lily graduated in MA Performance and Professional Practices with Emergence Dance Company in 2023. Exploring an interdisciplinary approach to dance is of interest to Lily. More specifically, her practice is rooted in dance’s connection to fashion and art; how they can inform, inspire and translate into one another. Recently, Lily has been researching how the body’s capabilities can be extended by fashion garments and artistic materials; how they can spark curiosity and stimulate unhabitual movement.

Cast & Credits

Dancers/Models: Lily Armah, Andrea Louca, Mercedes Prevatt, Lisa Robinson and Kato Thomas

Soledad

Soledad is an experimental solo performance blending contemporary dance and live music. It explores the feeling of isolation that comes from difficulties in expressing or understanding spoken language. By analysing gestures, postures, facial expressions, and bodily movements, the performance highlights how non-verbal communication can bridge gaps where words prove insufficient. Using a new method inspired by two existing movement notation systems, the choreographer has created a performance that reflects on the power of the body to communicate. Through movement, Soledad invites audiences to consider how we can connect beyond words, emphasising the significance of bodily expression.

About MariaSole Montacci

MariaSole Montacci is a UK-based Italian artist with extensive international experience as a professional dancer and performer. She recently completed an MA in Creative Practice at Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London, where her research focused on developing a new methodology for analysing verbal and non-verbal communication through movement. With a foundation in multiple dance forms, Sole’s work explores the expressive potential of the body. She continues to collaborate with artists across disciplines, driven by a passion for pushing the boundaries of movement and uncovering new ways to communicate beyond words.

Cast & Credits

Choreographer and Performer: MariaSole Montacci
Musician and Sound Collaborator: Riccardo Militerno
Lighting: Irene Fiordilino

Image gallery

GALLERY

  • 5 dancers pose with limbs intertwined with one another. All wear a mixture of textured and coloured clothing.
  • 5 female dancers create a strong pose with a piercing gaze towards the camera. They wear a mixture of different textured and coloured clothing and are surrounded by brick structures.
  • 5 females are intertwined with animalistic facial expressions. All wear a mixture of textured and coloured clothing and stand between two brick structures.
  • 5 females are intertwined with animalistic facial expressions. All wear a mixture of textured and coloured clothing and stand between two brick structures.
  • 5 females stand in a line, looking strongly at the camera with a dead-pan expression and pose. All wear a mixture of textured and coloured clothing.
  • 5 dancers pose with limbs intertwined with one another. All wear a mixture of textured and coloured clothing.