Curious Seed - Code Butterfly

Code Butterfly is an exploration into the constant possibility of transfomation - within ourselves, within a building and within a community.

A brief remark between choreographer Christine Devaney and Leith Festival Director John Paul McGroarty began the creative process that led to Code Butterfly. Embracing the community ethos of the Festival, the piece was conceived through a series of dance workshops with young women from local youth organisations and three other professional dancers and aerialists.

Set dynamically within the new Out of the Blue building and using the company's individual response to it’s architecture to develop the physical language for the show, Code Butterfly promises to be a unique experience for audience and performers alike as they literally come into contact with the building and each other in this imaginative and intriguing use of a complete space.

Code Butterfly is a journey into the dark and out again, reminding us  there is always  potential for transformation...everywhere.

About the company

Curious Seed is made up of four professional dancers/aerialists, and a group of young women from Leith and North Edinburgh brought together especially for this colourful site specific performance - the first dance production in the history of the Leith Festival!

Christine was  part of the collaborative team who worked intensively with students to produce 3 large-scale, site-specific performances, one in a gothic church, one in a castle and the other in a London docklands warehouse.She also  directed 'Something Unspoken', a performance for 30 dancers and musicians, which was  performed in the Ballroom of the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the Southbank, London. Her performance and choreographic work spans both dance and  theatre, satisfying her passion for working collaboratively with artists from other disciplines.

Companies she has worked with include Yolande Snaith TheatreDance, Plan B; Freshmess, Benchtours, Boilerhouse, and Tag Theatre.

Jennifer Paterson is Scotland's leading aerial dance artist. An established performer with several dance and physical companies throughout the UK, she has gone on to perform internationally in dance, aerial, theatre, high profile events and film including award winning productions with Leah Stein (USA) and Katrina McPherson (Scotland).

Jennifer has toured with Plan B Collaborative Theatre, Fidget Feet Performance Company, Company Chordelia, Spinal Chord Productions, Expressive Feat, Arts in Motion, Tartan Chameleon and Paragon Ensemble.  She has hung from boats, buildings and burst through glass ceilings for Scarabeus Theatreland was lead actress/aerialist for Boilerhouse Theatre's 2004 outdoor spectacle 'the Bridge'.  As well as developing her own company All or Nothing, Jennifer will be spending the summer flying from a crane in Fidget Feet's 'Wired and Free'.

Jillian Thomson was born in Aberdeen and trained in Performing Arts at London Studio Centre graduating with a BA (Hons) in Theatre Dance.  She has performed with Intoto Dance, Pulse8, Off Kilter and Trap 4 Dance Company and is most associated with Freshmess Dance Company with whom Jillian has performed for the last four years.  Jillian is also Artistic Director of Flipside Dance Ltd, a resident Dance Company based in Aberdeen. As well as performing, Jillian works as Dance Development Officer for Aberdeen City Council at Citymoves Dancespace.

Australian-born Skye Reynolds is a movement practitioner/performer with a keen interest in art, politics and human rights. She works within and is inspired by both the professional and community arts worlds. Over the past 10 years this focus has manifested in a number of exciting projects and multi-media collaborations which have taken her from Orkney and Shetland, to Iran and Albania working with artists, university students and young people.

Skye is also a Pilates teacher and is currently inspired to further develop her Code Butterfly aerial exploits, find out what burlesque is all about and set up a dance-based Variety night.