Zjana Muraro
← Research and archive

Producer brief · Archived performance · 2017

Set Sail

A critically reviewed dance solo about the line between fake and real, expanded through acting, live music and visual projection into a six-performer event.

London premiere Interdisciplinary dance 6 live performers Critically reviewed
Watch 2017 documentation Discuss a new context

The artistic proposition

How do we recognise the line between fake and real?

Set Sail considers what it means to have more possibility than opportunity: unrealised dreams, unstable realities and the decision to keep dancing amid the chaos around us.

The solo dancer is held inside a wider live world of acting, music, film and VJ performance. The result brings a personal question into a collective, interdisciplinary event.

At its centre A clear human question, carried through movement and transformed by other live forms.
Zjana’s role Dancer · Choreographer · Director

The review archive

Resolution · The Place · 23 February 2017

Critical response

Two critics reviewed the work on The Place’s original Resolution page. These archival excerpts refer to Set Sail under its 2017 programme title.

Lead review · Archive

“Has magnetic appeal. The alchemy onstage is engrossing.”

Carver’s review foregrounded the work’s immediate pull and the chemistry created by its combined live elements.

Cath CarverResolution review · The Place

Read the archived review

Second review · Archive

“It was entrancing … they have created something rather special … an experience, full and complete. Remarkable.”

Gilbert emphasised the performance’s completeness, describing the final experience as unusual and memorable.

Jenny GilbertResolution review · The Place

Read the archived review

Programmer + partner view

Why engage with this work now?

Set Sail is an archived production, not a currently specified touring package. Its value for future partners lies in the strength of its proposition, its documented critical response and the interdisciplinary method it demonstrates.

01

For programmers

A concise, human theme expressed through dance, acting, live music and visual media, supported by a clear performance record and documentation.

02

For residencies

A strong starting point for renewed research into truth, mediated perception, unrealised possibility and the body’s response to instability.

03

For grants and partners

Evidence of Zjana’s ability to lead a multidisciplinary team, make decisive artistic choices and deliver a complex live work under pressure.

Potential future contexts

  • Research and redevelopment residency
  • New interdisciplinary commission
  • Artist talk or process-sharing event
  • Curated presentation of the archive or documentation

Current status: any future version would be newly scoped with the partner. This page does not claim that the 2017 production is tour-ready.

Development story

From duet to premiere in four decisive steps.

  1. 01

    Foundation

    Developed during Zjana’s MFA in Choreography at Trinity Laban and conceived as a duet.

  2. 02

    Turning point

    The second dancer withdrew only days before the scheduled Resolution performance.

  3. 03

    Artistic response

    Zjana re-conceived, re-choreographed and rehearsed the dance as a solo in approximately three days.

  4. 04

    Premiere

    The solo was realised within a six-performer event combining acting, live music, film and VJ performance at The Place.

Cast + creative team

The people behind Set Sail.

The Place, London · Resolution · 2017

Dancer · Choreographer · Director

Zjana Muraro

Actress

Gabriela Flarys

Filmmaker + VJ

Reynir Hutber

Live music

Matt Kirk · Caterina Dos Santos · Ged Flood

Rehearsal coordinator

Gianna Burright

Residencies · commissions · programming

Interested in what Set Sail could open now?

Zjana welcomes conversations about research residencies, new commissions, process-sharing and appropriate presentations of the archive.

Start a conversation