MOCA Movements 2026: Dora Frankel
Tread Lightly on the Planet, 2021

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We are in a climate emergency!

Tread lightly on the Planet explores this through live music and extraordinary and beautiful dance. Working with acclaimed composer Peter Coyte the ensemble weaves together different sections that evoke different questions and situations, referencing the great landscape painter JMW Turner and his industrial land and seascape paintings.

This is the 3rd and final part of the JMW Turner inspired trilogy;
Part 1, The Unfolding Sky: Turner in the North was created in 2013.
Part 2, Figures in a Floating Landscape in 2019 by Dora Frankel and Peter Coyte has created the edgy film exploring the early stages of creation.

To transition to a sustainable world, we need to tread more lightly on the planet. Prof Andy Purvis 2/06/20

@moca_london
www.dorafrankeldanceartist.com   ​
@frankeldora

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Credits:
Concept, choreography and music: Dora Frankel & Peter Coyte
Costume design and make: up Kate Blakely
Dancers: Luca Braccia, Livia Massarelli, Becky Horne, Giacomo Pini, Zara Sands
Film Camera and edit: Peter Coyte
Stills: Luke Waddington

Biography​
​​Dora Frankel, born in London is a performer, choreographer, Benesh Dance Notator (choreologist), teacher and Artistic Director of Dora Frankel Ensemble. She is also Artistic Director Emeritus of Newcastle based dance company Fertile Ground, founded in 2013 and the UK’s only professional dance company dedicated to the professional development of emerging dance artists from the North East.

Trained at Rambert School of Ballet and Benesh International, with further qualifications from Sweden and the US (Utah University, Salt Lake City), she has worked nationally and internationally in large and small scale companies and with solo projects, including Rambert, American Ballet Theatre, Malmo Ballet (now Skane Dans Teater) and Wasa Theatre, Osterbottens Regional Theatre, Finland

Her extensive teaching career includes the design and leadership of a three tier, 3 year dance programme at Angereds Gymnasium, Gothenburg, 1993 to 2001. On her return to the UK she gained a MA in Choreography from Middlesex University and moved to Newcastle upon Tyne.
There she continued to develop her already extensive practice, teaching at Universities and colleges across the region parallel with rich and varied choreographic, performance and leadership roles. She continues to work independently, creating live and film work that explores the interface between environment and people. 
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As a dance critic she reviews for British Theatre guide.

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