32 feet per second per second

When you're falling, your life flashes before your eyes......if only you lived to tell the tale.

A man is falling from a hotel room, his body accelerating at 32 feet per second per second.  This work charts the story of one man's physical and metaphorical fall, a rapid descent triggering a reflective journey into himself and his past.  32 feet per second per second took inspiration from, amongst other things, Lucian Freud's painting entitled Hotel Bedroom.

A significant piece in the Company's development as Mark introduced film projection into the live performance.  The original film footage was made during the rehearsal process and projected from video and 16 millimetre projectors onto two screens within the performance space.  Mark cited Scorsese, Polanski and Lynch as the film-makers to whom his images paid reference to.  With limited resources but an ambitious vision, Mark began to explore the dynamic integration of media for which V-TOL would become renowned, and it was with this piece that the term 'dance cinema' was born.  Mark, in his own words "...felt like a newly qualified pilot - adventurous but dangerous..."

The opening scene of this piece is still as clear in peoples' minds today as it was then.  James Hewison's character is suspended in a harness in mid air.  Slowly he begins to tumble forwards, faster and faster, his arms and legs flailing wildly, whilst behind him the film rushes past - his life literally flashing before his eyes..... And that was just the beginning....

The set played an interactive role in the choreography and featured a mobile hotel room with en-suite shower.  An up-ended bed played with the audience's viewpoint; as Mark had previously explored with the three piece suite in Time Spent in the Company of Bad People. 

The score by Dominic Murcott featured original compositions fused with famous pop classics by the likes of Tom Jones, Gene Pitney and Elvis Presley.