The Dreaming
Althea Young
As dreams of babies invade the waking world of Althea Young, she struggles to understand not only what she wants, but why?
A work of auto-fictional performance, this work-in-progress flicks through dream-worlds consisting of lyrical text, responsive sound, and visceral choreography. In a complex interrogation of reproductive desire and resistance.
As she explores her own ambivalence to parenthood within our state of perma-crisis, she must ask; What makes our lives meaningful? What are we willing to sacrifice? And what is it all for?
Althea Young has been supported by The Workroom, Tramway, and Creative Scotland to develop her show, The Dreaming, originally presented as part of the Present Futures Associateship in 2023. The Dreaming is a choreographic-text based auto-fiction which investigates parental ambivalence in times of crisis, through the perspective of a woman plagued by dreams of carrying babies through post-apocalyptic landscapes.
Hacks have supported Althea to secure Creative Scotland funding through the Open Fund to bring together a full creative team for her 2024 residency. The Dreaming will preview as part of Buzzcut Double Thrills in April 2025.
‘Their performance straddles contemporary dance and live art, and dissects sexual desire and autonomy, the desire for having children, the fear of legacy, and the fairy tales we are force-fed as children. It's lyrical, caustic and rather touching, playing with tropes of lust, gender, family and love.’
Lorna Irvine, The Fjord Journal: World-class Review of Ballet and Dance
The Dreaming is currently in development available to book in 2025. It is 70 mins long and suitable for a range of performance spaces. To request documentation please get in touch.
Lead Artist and performer - Althea Young, Insta @althea_later_alligator, Produced Annie Lowry Thomas as part of Hacks - Insta @producedbyhacks , Sound Design and operation - Isaac Orson-Wells, Scenography and Design - Bex Anson, Lighting Design - Laurie Loads, Dramaturgy - Laura Bissell, Choreographic Outside Eye - Collette Sadler.