Press Release: Matthias Sperling's No-How Generator at Lilian Baylis Studio from Thursday 21 - Friday 22 April

[Jan McNulty]

Matthias Sperling  No-How Generator   Thursday 21 & Friday 22 April    Lilian Baylis Studio    Tickets: £17  Ticket Office: www.sadlerswells.com     Matthias Sperling’s newest work No-How Generator makes its London premiere in the Lilian Baylis Studio on Thursday 21 & Friday 22 April. Performed by Matthias Sperling, Katye Coe, and joined by SERAFINE1369 / Jamila Johnson-Small as guest performer on 21 April, and Fernanda Muñoz-Newsome as guest performer on 22 April.  No-How Generator invites audiences to experience a ritual-like performance that connects scientific perspectives on embodied cognition with more magical ways of knowing, such as divination, alchemy, shamanism or hypnosis.  Embodied cognition is an approach to understanding mind, consciousness and intelligence as processes that are fundamentally constituted by bodies and their movement in relation with their environment. Sperling’s choreographic perspective weaves connections between embodied cognition’s scientific emphasis on bodily, felt and intuitive forms of intelligence, and the ways that these same bodily ways of knowing can be considered active in magical practices like divination.    With both seriousness and gently subversive humour, the work reflects on a dance performance’s potential to serve as a collective experience where particular forms of knowing are conjured into being – for performers and audience members alike.    Matthias Sperling said: “No-How Generator is full of paradoxes and contradictions that animate it. All of this opens up a lot of complexity, and yet it’s also very simple – just like the artform of dance and the experience of being a living body-person in the world is at once infinitely complex and very immediately present. My invitation is: just come, be part of the experience of No-How Generator and ideally bring some curiosity, openness and intuitiveness (and a slight sense of humour).”  No-How Generator has been supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, Midlands4Cities, Dance4, Siobhan Davies Dance and Sadler’s Wells.    NOTES TO EDITORS        About Matthias Sperling  Matthias Sperling is a Canadian/German artist, choreographer and performer living and working in London since 1997. His work includes creating performances in theatre, gallery and museum contexts, as well as extending to curatorial work and scientific research collaborations.   His work investigates and foregrounds the generative potentials of dance and choreography, often with a focus on exploring the implications of body-mind continuity and embodied knowledge-generation in the context of dance performance. His approach to these investigations inherently combines a genuine seriousness with a playful not-seriousness as the key to their activation. He has often critically engaged with ideas from neuro- and cognitive sciences as an aspect of his work, including through creating choreographic science-fiction (Now That We Know, 2016). His recent work focuses on the generative potentials of the range of ways of knowing that unfurl in experiences of dance performances. He describes these as embodying ‘Magic & Science’ at once: a continuity between human embodied capacities for rational 'scientific' ways of knowing and felt-sense, intuitive, more-than-rational ‘magical’ ways of knowing.   His work has been presented in the UK at a.o. Sadler’s Wells, Tate Modern, Southbank Centre, Royal Opera House, Wellcome Collection, Dance Umbrella and Nottdance, and in 15 other countries worldwide. He is the Artistic Director of the 5-year EU-funded interdisciplinary research project NEUROLIVE. He has been a frequent collaborator with Siobhan Davies Dance, an Associate Artist with Dance4 (2007-2015) and a Sadler's Wells Summer University Artist (2010-2014).  Earlier in his career, he studied with Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre (Toronto) and with Transitions Dance Company at Trinity Laban (London). He then danced with companies including Wayne McGregor's Random Dance (2001-2006) and Matthew Bourne's Adventures in Motion Pictures (1999-2000), before focusing on his own choreographic work. Most recently, he completed his PhD in choreographic practice at De Montfort University (Leicester) supported by Midlands4Cities in partnership with Dance4 and Siobhan Davies Dance.  www.matthias-sperling.com  @matthias_sperling    About Sadler’s Wells     Sadler's Wells is a world-leading dance organisation. We strive to make and share dance that inspires us all. Our acclaimed year-round programme spans dance of every kind, from contemporary to flamenco, Bollywood to ballet, salsa to street dance and tango to tap.    We commission, produce and present more dance than any other organisation in the world. Since 2005, we have helped to bring close to 200 new dance works to the stage, embracing both the popular and the unknown.    Each year, over half a million people visit our three London theatres - Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Lilian Baylis Studio and Peacock Theatre. Millions more attend our touring productions nationally and internationally or explore our digital platforms, including Sadler’s Wells Digital Stage.   In 2023 we’re opening a fourth London venue in Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Sadler’s Wells East will house a 550-seat mid-scale theatre, as well as facilities for the Choreographic School and Hip Hop Theatre Academy.     Supporting artists is at the heart of our work. We have associate artists and companies, which nurture some of the most exciting talent working in dance today. We host the National Youth Dance Company, which draws together some of the brightest young dancers from across the country.   Sadler’s Wells Breakin' Convention runs professional development programmes to champion and develop the world’s best hip hop artists, as well as producing, programming and touring groundbreaking hip hop performances.     Around 30,000 people take part in our learning and engagement programmes every year. We support schools local to our theatres in Islington and Stratford, designing experiences for children and young people to watch, explore and critically engage with the arts. We also run Company of Elders, a resident performance company of dancers aged over 60 who rehearse with renowned artists to make new work for public performances locally, nationally and internationally. Young people aged 16 - 30 can access £10 tickets to our shows through Barclays Dance Pass.  Sadler’s Wells is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.         www.sadlerswells.com    Stay up to date with everything Sadler’s Wells on social media    Facebook: @SadlersWells    Twitter: @Sadlers_Wells    Instagram: @sadlers_wells    YouTube: Sadler’s Wells Theatre