Stand of the sun
A solstice ritual for the melting metropolis, where environmental history meets the wonder of celestial interconnectedness.
Emerging from and expanding upon stories held in My Body is a Sundial, Stand of the Sun is a multi-disciplinary storytelling experience that seeks to stir empathy for an entity so different to ourselves, yet intertwined with our fate. Tilting closer to the hot heart of our solar system on solstice night, audiences, academics and artists wonder together: How does the Sun experience our over-heating world? What would the Sun say to humanity today, if only we could listen? What does it feel like to move through our too-hot cities and heat-stroked bodies? How does it feel to be held? - ricocheting between man-made materials and modernity.
Page-wide photograph credits: Alberto Romano, www.albertoromano.co.uk, Orleans House Gallery 2025
Stand of the Sun: A solstice ritual for the melting metropolis. Live performance film (abridged) by North South.
The performance-ritual takes place at sunset as a call and response between human and star through music, spoken word, dance, lighting and sculpture.
Travelling through time and space, we journey from deep-time beginnings into the present-day metropolis, where inequities and uncanny qualities to our celestial relationship surface as we observe our cities through the solar gaze. What new (old) wisdoms might emerge from heightened embodied attentiveness, compassion and broader sense of community?
Body-time and solar-time converge as environmental history collides with embodied perceptions and memories of the emergence of urban heat islands in London, New York, Port of Spain and Paris. The performance is inspired and commissioned by the ongoing Wellcome Discovery Award research project Melting Metropolis. It was first performed in 2025 as part of the Richmond Arts and Ideas Festival at Orleans House Gallery.
Cast & crew:
Antoine Marc: Choreographer & dancer
Aron Kyne: Sound designer
Austin Tang: Lighting technician
Bryony Ella: Writer/director, spoken word & lyrics
Bumi Thomas: Composer, voice & lyrics
Carlene Etienne: Steel pan
Clare Hirst: Flute & saxophone
Cosimo Keita: Percussion
Elixir: Sound healing & ambient soundscape
Emmanuel Clem: Voice
Han Sayles: Production electrician
Kieron Daniel: Cello
Joanna Penso: Producer
Max Rademacher: Ngoni, voice & guitar
Miles Danso: Upright bass
Olia Poliakova: Dancer
Pharoah Russell: Drums
Rachel Sampley: Lighting designer
Renako McDonald: Dancer
Robert Dunkley-Gyimah: Dancer
Rose Aida Sall Sao: Dancer
Sade Alleyne: Dancer
Tomi Allen-Nurse: Jewellery designer
Vincenzo Capodivento: Sound engineer
behind the scenes
Coming soon: A behind-the-scenes film by Hannah Earl, documenting the process and value of interdisciplinary collaboration between academics and artists.