From a background in contemporary dance, Ula Sickle works across disciplines and in collaboration with artists from other domains such as the visual arts, contemporary music or architecture. While her work takes many forms, from video to installation to live performance, she focuses on a choreographic approach to movement and a work on perception and reception, specific to the live arts.
The Sadness brings together a trio of performers around the genre of 'Sad Rap', a home grown musical style that emerged on Soundcloud and other music platforms over the last years. Mostly self-produced, the genre combines emo-style lyrics that speak about depression, often with references to death and suicide, all set to melancholic instrumentals and hip hop beats.
At a time when the future has never been more uncertain, The Sadness explores the prevalent feeling of futurelessness. Under the musical direction of Japanese American musician Lynn Suemitsu, the performers self-written lyrics are set to pulsating rhythms and heavy bass. While the choreography explores lyric dance, setting movements to the lyrics of the song, so that a strong relationship is formed between words and gestures. A cross between a dance performance and a concert, the work is performed in the round in an intimate setting, where performers and public share the same space.
The Sadness brings together a trio of performers around the genre of 'Sad Rap', a home grown musical style that emerged on Soundcloud and other music platforms over the last years. Mostly self-produced, the genre combines emo-style lyrics that speak about depression, often with references to death and suicide, all set to melancholic instrumentals and hip hop beats.
At a time when the future has never been more uncertain, The Sadness explores the prevalent feeling of futurelessness. Under the musical direction of Japanese American musician Lynn Suemitsu, the performers self-written lyrics are set to pulsating rhythms and heavy bass. While the choreography explores lyric dance, setting movements to the lyrics of the song, so that a strong relationship is formed between words and gestures. A cross between a dance performance and a concert, the work is performed in the round in an intimate setting, where performers and public share the same space.
The Sadness explores live music making as a collective act that brings the performers (and audience) together. In the project the climate crisis and the feeling of inertia and anxiety that it produces are central. Rather than preaching to an already converted crowd, The Sadness gives voice to our repressed fears, using feeling as a powerful tool for empowerment and action.