Soft Edges is a practice that observes the body in relation to changing contexts, when journeying through landscape. This work is about making a structure for devising choreographies for and about the outdoors. I have been in residency at Dartington, Devon (2014), developed many scores for Soft Edges, and have been supported by my mentor Simone Kenyon, to deepen research. In June 2018, I gathered with artists Amy Lawrence, Paul Pascal and Hermione Purvis to generate a performance work centring the ethos of the practice as a group (pictured below).
Soft Edges knows the body as a political landscape, placed in the public realm, in the way of the law. The practice asks where there is an invisible or invented boundary and leans into that edge. Occupation of space in this choreographic work is a softened but persistent act of traversing.
Feedback:
‘I have never felt more valued within a collaboration than that of the collaboration of Soft Edges, it was true play and exploration on an intelligent and thoughtful level.’ – Performer Hermione Purvis
‘Soft Edges was guided by Emma's extraordinary intelligence and sensitivity towards the tensions and possibilities of public art. This project was a rare and significant opportunity for me to develop my own understanding of these pertinent artistic questions; and felt like a hugely formative moment within Emma's long-term practice. I am left deeply enriched, and excited to see what will happen next.’ - Performer Paul Hughes
‘Soft Edges was a process that challenged the process of making and perception of performative outcome in the public sphere without apology yet with a tentative understanding.’ - Performer Amy Lawrence
‘I witnessed myself in this space.’ - Audience member
‘I saw an honesty and a struggle in the work and it made me feel invested in the performance.' - Audience member