Movers and makers
We are Grand Gesture, a London-based performance collective of senior dance artists. We fight systemic ageism by using choreography, radical playfulness, and bodily joy to subvert institutional narratives about the ageing body. We embrace authentic somatic expression to celebrate the mature body as a site of political resistance.
Discover our vision through our two core creative approaches:
Performance as Resistance: We reject hyper-polished, youth-centric aesthetics to reclaim the stage for lived somatic histories.
Radical Playfulness: We intentionally leverage improvisation and joy as a critical methodology to destabilise rigid cultural expectations of how older bodies should move.
Check out our Latest Work or read more about our collective in the Grand Gesture About Page.
Staging Ageing
Learn more about Grand Gesture in this documentary by pioneering Swedish film-maker Anders Larsson, acclaimed for his dance films with Charlotta Ofverholm.
Read how we’re challenging the narrative around ageing in ‘Dancing with Geri-Anarchism’ by Lucy Bennett, activist, writer, and choreographer. Read paper.
@lucybennettresearch.
The Hempen Jig
Our latest project is a spooky camp horror short with original songs.
Find out more about the film on the official website.
Interview by acclaimed filmmaker Anders Larsson where Bruce Currie talks about Grand Gesture's Rite of Autumn.
HAPPY EVER OLDER
Happy Ever Older is an original musical fairy tale based on the symbolic themes of little-known elder folk tales, which offer guidance on how to transition into a good old age. In our story a queen is condemned for being too old. She is thrown out of her royal life and left to die alone in a dark forest. Can a silver fox, an elder tree and an ageing caterpillar save her? Watch and find out!
“Great fun. And marvellously DIY. Reminded me of 1980s Derek Jarman.”
Rose Rouse, Founder of Advantages of Age.
We love living
A big hand for our amazing supporters
David Dutfield, composer, musician
Alice Mills, composer
Louise Scapin, production assistant
Lucy Bennett, dance researcher
Patrick Ross Webster, dance artist
Vilma Laryea, photographer
Laura Hinski, photographer
Rehearsal space: