Give me a reason to live

Give Me a Reason to Live draws upon imagery of disabled people in Bosch’s apocalyptic paintings to question our present perspectives on “otherness” and “difference.” As in much of Cunningham’s work, the performance is rooted in the study and use/misuse of her crutches and the exploration of the potential of her own specific physicality with a conscious rejection of traditional dance technique.

Give Me a Reason to Live has been created through B Project, an artist-development initiative which invites European choreographers to research and create new dances inspired by Bosch. B Project is one component of the Bosch 500 Foundation’s major celebration of the visionary painter and his work.

Directors note

Inspired by the work of medieval Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, particularly the role of beggars/cripples as possible symbols of sin, Give Me a Reason to Live is a study in the notion and provocation of empathy. A live memorial to the disabled victims of the Nazi Aktion T4 euthanasia program of the mid 20th Century, and the current disabled victims of recent ‘welfare reform’ in the UK. Give Me a Reason to Live is a test of body, and of faith.

BWV 4 Cantata: Christ lag in Todesbanden III. Versus II

Den Tod niemand zwingen kunnt
Bei allen Menschenkindern,
Das macht’ alles unsre Sünd,
Kein Unschuld war zu finden.
Davon kam der Tod so bald
Und nahm über uns Gewalt,
Hielt uns in seinem Reich gefangen.
Halleluja!

No one could defeat death
among all humanity,
this was all because of our sins,
no innocence was to be found.
Therefore death came so soon
and took power over us,
held us captive in his kingdom.
​Hallelujah!

– J.S. Bach