• Photo: Alice Underwood

  • Photo: Alice Underwood

  • Photo: Alice Underwood

  • Photo: Alice Underwood

  • Photo: Alice Underwood

Blame Game

Human Collective & Rough Connections
Ireland, Sweden, UK, Holland

Following the success of Union Black (2018), Mateusz Szczerek (Ireland/Poland) and Alessio Motta (Sweden/Italy) are working on Blame Game, a new show that merges hip hop with circus.

Blame Game  explores how human relationships require us to navigate fault and responsibility. As a society we have wired our brains to take shortcuts and push away the burden of responsibility in favour of blame. Continuing themes explored in Union Black, and blending hip hop and circus skills, this new work will look at Brexit from a socio political perspective, drawing on both sides of an argument that has become intensely personal for all involved.

Using innovative dance moves, Chinese pole and juggling, Blame Game  explores our constant search for a scapegoat. By pointing the finger at the ‘other’, those who we disagree with politically and socially, we escape our personal responsibilities.

The artists had their first R&D in London in February 2019 and Blame Game will premiere in 2020. Watch this space for further details.

  • COMPANY BIOGRAPHY

    Blame Game  is conceived and devised by Mateusz Szczerek (Human Collective) and Alessio Motta (Rough Connections), following their experience on Union Black  (a co-production between Crying Out Loud, Far From The Norm, Le Plus Petit Cirque du Monde, Cork Midsummer Festival and Subtopia and funded by Creative Europe) in which street dance and circus merged to talk about Brexit. The artists decided to establish a collaboration between their respective companies to continue exploring cross disciplinary skills and processes.

    Alessio Motta (Rough Connections) from near Turin has experience as a theatre and street dancer as well as in disciplines such as Tae Kwon Do, Capoeira and Parkour. Motta also trained in dance-acrobatics and Chinese Pole at Turin’s Scuola di Cirko Vertigo. Latterly Motto completed the Bachelor Circus program at the University of Dance and Circus in Stockholm and while there he explored his passion for hybrid movement forms. Motta has performed in Egypt, Scotland, Sweden, France, Spain, Estonia and Brazil.

    Mateusz Szczerek (Human Collective) is a Dublin based contemporary-urban dance artist and a professional member of Dance Ireland. Szczerek has danced with CoisCeim Dance Theatre as a principal dancer in The Wolf and Peter (2015), and in RTE’S 1916 Centenary performance at Bord Gais Energy Theatre, choreographed by David Bolger. Mateusz has programmed and delivered several international urban dance events and and was recently invited to teach master classes at Portugal’s Danca no Coracao.