IMPERMANENCE Presents... Powered by Jerwood

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CRASHOUT is a new site-specific solo work by Marikiscrycrycry that takes in Impermanence’s new home for dance in Bristol.

Continuing a legacy of the choreographer’s investigation into dark fantasy, horror, and the choreographic form, CRASHOUT unfolds a tapestry of symbols, aesthetics, and subaltern narratives that directly engage with the ancient iconography of the Ouruoboros (the snake that eats its own tail), the seminal experimental metal album Uroboros by Japanese avant-metal band Dir en Grey, and the interrogation of biographical tension, affect generation, rage and regret.

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This new work is the eighth in a series of works by the artist Marikiscrycrycry that utilise choreographic practice to pose ontological questions around peculiar human condition, the material nature of possibility, and what it means to find pertinence and perpetuity.

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Biography

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Malik Nashad Sharpe is a choreographer and movement director working with dance, dark fantasy, and horror. Creating primarily underneath the alias 

Marikiscrycrycry, he makes provocative performance works that are formally engaged with construction of affect, atmosphere, and dramaturgy from more marginal perspectives. He graduated with a BA in Experimental Dance with highest honours from Williams College, and holds a certificate in Contemporary Dance from Trinity Laban Conservatoire for Music and Dance, where he won the Simone Michele Prize for Outstanding Choreography. 

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His works address violence, alienation, horror, melancholia, belonging, and the horizon and his many works have been widely presented across the U.K., Europe, Canada, and the USA. His work  has been commissioned by The Yard Theatre (U.K.), Theatre La Chapelle (CA), Festival Trans-Amerique (CA), New Queers on the Block (U.K.), Marlborough Productions (U.K.), Dansehallerne (DK), MDT (SK), Attenborough Centre for Creative Arts (U.K.), Dance4 (U.K.), The Place (U.K.), Theatre in the Mill (U.K.), Fierce Festival (U.K.), CCN Caen (FR), Block Universe (U.K.), Dansehallerne (DK), MDT (SE), Cambridge Junction (U.K.), Roskilde Festival (DK), amongst many others. He has shown his work in venues including Battersea Arts Centre (U.K.), Montreal arts et interculturels (CA), Birmingham Hippodrome (U.K.), Edison/Betty Nansen Teatret (DK), Pia Bouman at Soctiabank Theatre (CA), University Settlement (USA), Schauspielhaus (AT), Insitute of Contemporary Art (U.K.), Kampnagel (DE), Tate Britain (U.K.), MDT (SE), Beursschouwburg (BE), Inkonst (SK), Project Art Centre (IE), Bora Bora (DK), Abrons Arts Center (USA), Portland Institute of Contemporary Art (USA), and in festivals such as ImpulsTanz (AT), Birmingham International Dance Festival (U.K.), Glasgow International Dance Festival (U.K.), American Realness (USA), Les Urbaines (CH), Skopje Pride (MK), Mayfest (U.K.) Audra Festival (LT), Side Step Festival (FI),  Edinburgh Fringe (U.K.), NottDance (U.K.), Roskilde (DK), amongst many others. 

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In the 16th edition of Festival Transamerique, he premiered High Bed Lower Castle (2022), a work co-created with Montreal-based choreographer Ellen Furey to critical acclaim with critics deeming it ‘bold, rich, dreamlike’ (Artichaut) and ‘remarkable, mesmerising’ (Westmount). And in 2023, he premiered his large-scale production of DARK, HAPPY, to the CORE  at Roskilde Festival to widespread critical acclaim, with critics calling the work, ‘jaw-dropping’ (******* in Scenenblog), ‘entertaining, good style, sexiness’ (***** in Politken), ‘quivering, smouldering, postapocalyptic’ (Seismograf), ‘exciting, challenging, intense’ (TBA.no), ‘grabbed my by the collar and reminded me of the radicality and wildness of Roskilde’ (Information.dk) In 2025, he joins Norrdans (SE) as lead choreographer, creating new touring repertory work for the company. His next British-made stage work ‘Hangtime’ will premiere in London in Spring 2026. 

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As a movement director, he has worked widely across the British theatre sector, including on the productions of Henry V (Shakespeare’s Globe/Headlong), Bootycandy (Gate), Closer (Lyric Hammersmith), The Glow (Royal Court), Scandaltown (Lyric Hammersmith), Two-Character Play (Hampstead Theatre), Fairview (Young Vic), and Effigies of Wickedness (Gate/English National Opera), A View from the Bridge (Headlong/Chichester Festival Theatre/Bolton Octagon),  Mates in Chelsea (Royal Court), and Ada (National Youth Theatre). He has also directed fashion campaigns for top-tier brands, like Converse, and Doc Martens, and has choreographed music videos LYZZA, BOX, chi, Deto Black, p-rallel, Bianca Scout, Chinchilla, and Shy Smith. He has consulted countless artists in movement dramaturgy and choreographic practice around the globe. 

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In 2019, he was named a Rising Star in Dance from Attitude Magazine, and in 2022 he was featured on the prestigious Forbes 30 under 30 list for his unique and pervasive choreographic achievements. In 2023, he was nominated for the Premio Cunha e Silva Prize at Galeria Municipal do Porto (PT)

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He is currently an Associate Artist at The Place, and a former studio resident of Somerset House Studios. He has held artistic residencies at Sadlers Wells, Barbican, Performance Situation Room, Dance4, Duckie, and Tate Modern. He is currently a guest teacher in dance and performance at the Stockholm University of the Arts in Sweden. He lives in London, U.K.

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