SERPENTINE

Serpentine is an installation performance created by artist and choreographer Daina Ashbee. Vibrating with the essence of Daina’s dark and feminine style, the work constitutes a summary of three previous pieces: Unrelated (2014); When the ice melts, will we drink the water? (2016); and Pour (2016). In developing Serpentine, Daina’s research explored the occupation of space, time, and attention, evolving into a cathartic solo for the performer, Irène Martinez, based on reclamation and insistence.

Presented in 20-minute cycles that repeat and intensify, Serpentine incorporates simple imagery chosen to resonate with a wide audience, and is set to an original electric organ composition by Jean-Francois Blouin. The juxtaposition of the haunting, at times disturbing sounds of the organ with the slow, sensual movement gradually escalating in violence produces a powerful effect.

Daina says: “Sometimes things need to be insisted upon, and I believe repetition is powerful because it insists, because we remember and we absorb. The body is powerful and Serpentine allows one body to speak—to occupy space and our attention, over and over, insistently revealing the enormous strength of the interpreter.”

Co-curated by Tramway and Dance North as part of RISE 2026, Dance North's Festival of Contemporary Dance and Performance. RISE honours global Indigenous artists whose work connects land, story, and movement worldwide.