Lyre Liar

Liam Francis Dance Company

A person with glasses stands behind a small lectern on a dark stage, wearing a bright orange unitard under a dark open shirt. He has one hand raised near his face in a thoughtful gesture. Behind him, a large, dramatic projection of a bird with its beak wide open fills the background, creating a surreal and commanding atmosphere.
Photo by Lee Baxter

About Lyre Liar

LIMITED EARLY BIRD TICKETS AVAILABLE*


Liam Francis Dance Company returns to The Place with Lyre Liar due to popular demand, following its sold-out UK premiere in 2025.

Conceived and performed by Liam Francis, Lyre Liar traces his journey through dance with excerpts from works by Merce Cunningham, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Kate Prince. With vulnerability and wit, the piece demystifies the life of a dancer, unpacking shifting identities, the toll it takes, and the questions it leaves behind. Lyre Liar offers an intimate encounter with embedded dance history, as performance and reflection unfold side by side.

After the performance, Liam Francis will return to the stage for a conversation with Ben Duke, Artistic Director of Lost Dog, Affiliate Artist at The Place, and mentor for Lyre Liar. This discussion will delve into the themes within the piece and Liam's creative process.

*Early Bird discount applies at checkout

About Liam Francis

Liam Francis is an award-winning dancer and choreographer who has gained international recognition through his dancing career with Rambert Dance Company and LostDog. His choreographic work has been presented in numerous cities, including Hannover, Rotterdam, Rome, Paris, London and New York. Drawing on his background in contemporary dance, ballet and hip-hop, Liam's practice seeks to explore his eclectic embodied knowledge to give form to human emotions and concepts centred around community, identity and liminal spaces.

Building on an established international track record as a choreographer and performer, Liam Francis launched the Brighton-based Liam Francis Dance Company in 2025. Liam Francis Dance Company reimagines how dance is created, shared, and experienced. Guided by a commitment to deconstruct hierarchy within the form, the company places hip hop, contemporary, and ballet on equal ground, bringing these movement languages into a shared choreographic space. By dissolving boundaries between styles, the work highlights the expressive potential of each and what becomes possible when they are placed in dialogue. Rooted in hybridity and collaboration, the company’s practice is shaped by sustained exploration of dance in conversation with other art forms. Through collaborations with artists working in sound, music, and visual art, each work cultivates genuine cross disciplinary exchange, where one medium can influence and transform another. Storytelling emerges through this process not as a fixed narrative, but as an evolving relationship
between movement, rhythm, and image.

At its core, the company approaches dance as a form of artistic and emotional inquiry, a way to process experience, embody vulnerability, and connect human stories through abstraction and non linear expression. The work seeks to spark conversation around identity, community, and liberation; the freedom to be seen, to be multiple, and to belong. Through creation, touring, and outreach, Liam Francis Dance Company creates spaces where movement becomes a language of empathy and coexistence, inviting audiences to encounter the complexity and beauty of shared human experience.

Cast & Creatives

Concept & Direction: Liam Francis

Choreography: Kate Prince, Merce Cunningham, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Liam Francis

Creative Associate: Maya Carroll

Dramaturgical Direction: Hannes Langolf

Writer: Liam Francis in collaboration with Hannes Langolf, Maya Carrol, Jethro Cooke and Ben Duke

Sound Design and Composition:Jethro Cooke

Additional Music: Massive Attack, David Tudor, Philip Selway and Claude Debussy

Costume: Stevie Stewart and Liam Francis

Rehearsal Directors: Jeannie Steele, Mavin Khoo and Shanelle ‘Tali’ Fergus

Mentorship: Ben Duke

Lighting Designer:Zoé Ritchie

Production Manager: Zoé Ritchie

Producers: Liam Francis and Steph Bergé

Performer: Liam Francis

Credits

Co-commissioned by Lowry with support from Zoonation, Eastman, Merce Cunningham Trust, London Studio Centre, Smikle Dance Studio, Wainsgate Dances and Brixton House.

  • A close-up of a performer looking upward with an open-mouthed, emotive expression. He is shirtless on one side, clutching a draped pink fabric across his chest with both hands against a dark, minimalist background.
  • A solo dancer in a bright, neon-red unitard performs on a dark stage. He is captured in a wide, low second-position lunge with his arms extended dynamically – one reaching straight upward and the other out to the side. A cool-toned spotlight hits his body from the side, creating sharp highlights against the black background and reflecting off the polished stage floor.
  • A lone performer stands on a dark, expansive stage in front of a tall mirror, facing their own reflection. They are wearing a white t-shirt and bright blue trousers. A single, sharp spotlight cuts through the darkness from above, illuminating the figure and creating a long, clear reflection on the polished black floor. Faint wisps of stage smoke are visible in the beam of light.
  • A dancer wearing light-colored briefs performs a solo on a pitch-black stage. He is captured in a dynamic, leaning pose with one leg extended to the side and his torso twisted slightly. A cool, blue-toned spotlight illuminates his physique from the side, casting deep shadows and highlighting his muscle definition, while his reflection is faintly visible on the stage floor.