Colette Sadler’s choreographed performances are frequently concerned with altering perceptions of the human body by morphing and hybridising it to the threshold of recognition. Her work deals with the uncanny, the alienated appearance of both bodies and objects and the attempt to live or stand outside of oneself.
The performers in these works are often conditioned by a set of formal restrictions, caught in an unstable state between moving and being moved. Challenged by bodily phenomenas such as disassociation or ecstatic states, they experience the body as if a foreign entity.
Her current work further investigates themes of human alterity, namely the animistic desire for transformation, mediated by the physical body. How does the strong inherent drive for action motivate a search within and beyond bodies?
Colette Sadler (born in Glasgow, 1974) is a British choreographer and dancer. She trained firstly in Classical Ballet followed by completing a BA (Hons) at the Laban centre, London. From 94-95 she was a member of Transitions Dance Company based at Laban. Since 95 she has worked as a performer for choreographers including Liz Aggiss and Billie Cowie, Jeremy James, Wayne MacGregor, Gary Stevens, Bebeto de Cidra and was a member of Cia Vicente Saez Spain (1997-2000). In 2002 she initiated her own choreographic work with commissions from Tramway Glasgow and the National Review of Live Arts/ New Territories Festival.
Since 2006 she has created 9 works for theatre and gallery space that have been presented in numerous contexts for dance and performance including South Bank Centre London, British Dance Edition, Impuls Tanz 8:tension series Vienna, Tanz Nacht Berlin, alongside the British Art Show, Kaai Theatre Studios Brussels, CAMPO Ghent, Spring Dance and Düsseldorf Visual Art Quadrenniale amongst others. Since 2010 Colette Sadler is an associate artist with Dance 4 Nottingham UK.
Sadler gives master classes and workshops internationally. Recent invitations include at Critical Path Sydney, Australia, eXplore Dance Bucharest and at Freie University, Berlin, Master studies in dance.