Dancing Quilts

As part of a unique research and development project, we collaborated with Scarabeus Aerial Theatre and Gravity & Levity to explore the intersection of textiles, movement, and performance. Together, we created three monumental quilts—each measuring 4 x 5 meters—which were then suspended on a wall, transforming them from soft, comforting objects into a striking, vertical stage for aerial dancers to respond to.

The quilters, who had spent countless hours stitching these vast pieces together, watched as their work came to life in an entirely new way. The team of vertical dancers moved across the fabric, climbing, gliding, and spinning, their bodies weaving new narratives into the patchwork. The textures, patterns, and seams—once stitched by steady hands at a sewing table—now became landscapes for motion, feeling, and storytelling.

It was an overwhelmingly emotional experience for everyone involved. Seeing the dancers suspended in mid-air, interacting with the fabric in ways we had never imagined, was both mesmerising and deeply moving. The quilts—so often associated with warmth, rest, and home—had been reimagined as a dynamic and living part of the performance, responding to the dancers’ weight, energy, and movement.

This project was a powerful reminder of how collaboration between art forms can transform our understanding of materials, space, and expression. What began as a quilting experiment evolved into a breathtaking dialogue between fabric and flight, stitching and gravity, tradition and innovation.