​Mother Computer: Folk Dances From The Future is a new choreographic work by Imogen Reeve & Co., currently in research and development.

 

Designed as a trio for both indoor and outdoor settings, the project reimagines traditional folk dance and storytelling practices through a feminist lens that responds to urgent questions of today — including gender bias in artificial intelligence, digital isolation, and the changing nature of community.
 

Drawing on collective movement structures found in folk traditions, the choreography moves between moments of shared rhythm and deliberate disruption. Dancers gather, separate, collide and reorganise — reflecting how connection and belonging shift within technologically mediated worlds. Where traditional folk practices once centred physical closeness and communal ritual, Mother Computer explores how those dynamics are transformed in the digital age.
 

Visually, the work incorporates reflective, metallic materials that suggest both robotics and futurism. Activated by the performers, these materials transform — becoming cloud-like, river-like, and occasionally mythical — evoking the way technological systems reshape ideas of nature, myth and collective imagination.

Rather than illustrating technology, the work approaches these themes through embodied research: using choreography to think through how systems of power, bias and connection are felt in the body.
 

The project is being developed collaboratively with performers and creative partners through an ongoing research process.

 

Development

Mother Computer is currently in research and development, with a series of development sharings taking place in the UK and Norway during 2026.

These moments form part of the project’s ongoing choreographic research, allowing the work to evolve through dialogue, reflection and exchange.
 

Development Sharings:

10 April — Exeter Phoenix, Exeter (UK)
22 May — DansiT, Trondheim (Norway)
29 May — Stage@Leeds, University of Leeds (UK)

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ARTISTIC TEAM:

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IDEA AND DIRECTION: Imogen Reeve

CHOREOGRAPHY: Imogen Reeve in collaboration with the performers

PERFORMERS:  Allegra Vistalli, Hannah Durkan, Jemima Colins. 

PRODUCER: Natalie Richardson
 

WITH SUPPORT FROM: Arts Council England, Yorkshire Dance, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Exeter Phoenix, DansiT Norway, Stage Leeds.

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