Frances Byrnes - Just Dance

What happens when a brilliant dancer loses his will to dance? Frances Byrnes' passionate play is about someone who has stopped moving and needs to move again.

Luke was a brilliant dancer, the star of his generation. Suddenly, without warning, he loses his ability to dance - not physically, but psychologically. He has one last chance to dance onstage - his old company has a big producer in that audience they must impress. But Luke can't cope, he runs to hide in a seedy bar behind the theatre where he meets Guy, an elderly gentlemen adamant he will find the love of his life at the party he has heard about in the woods.

Inspired by real non-dancers' stories, and based on workshops at London Contemporary Dance School and Northern School of Contemporary Dance, this new drama takes the audience deep into what makes a dancer tick. The physical compulsion to express oneself through movement and dedicate yourself to relentless, all consuming dance training is examined in words and movement.

Frances Byrnes is a Sony award winning dance features maker and dramatist. Her adaptation of L P Hartley's The Go-Between for BBC Radio 3 was shortlisted in the 2013 Writers Guild Awards.

Cast:
Luke..........John Heffernan
Guy...........Wyllie Longmore
Bea............Alexandra Mathie
Debs..........Carla Henry
Dancer........Akeim Toussaint Buck

With thanks to Peter Lovatt, Ihsaan de Banya, Veronica Lewis, Naomi Thomas and London Contemporary Dance School; Janet Smith, Ceri Brierley and Northern School of Contemporary Dance.

Written by Frances Byrnes
Producer/director: Polly Thomas

A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 4

What happens when a brilliant dancer loses his will to dance?