About
Phoenix Dance Theatre | Interplay
World Premiere In Association with York Theatre Royal
In Spring 2026, Phoenix Dance Theatre presents a striking mixed bill that brings
together work by internationally acclaimed choreographers Travis Clausen Knight and James Pett (Pett Clausen-Knight), Ed Myhill, Yusha-Marie Sorzano, and Phoenix Dance Theatre’s Artistic Director, Marcus Jarrell Willis. This dynamic programme celebrates creative collaboration, placing dialogue, contrast and connection at its heart.
Across duet and ensemble works, the evening explores themes of duality and shared authorship, revealing how distinct artistic voices can intersect to create something greater than the sum of their parts. Each piece offers a unique perspective, united by a bold physicality and a deep curiosity about human relationships, rhythm and collective experience.
Originally premiering in New York in 2013, Marcus Jarrell Willis’s Next of Kin has been newly reimagined for Phoenix Dance Theatre. The duet explores the subtle humour and tension between two kindred spirits navigating life together.
Ed Myhill’s Why Are People Clapping?! (restaged by Camille Giraudeau) is set to Steve Reich’s Clapping Music and uses rhythm as its driving force. With wit and precision, the choreography highlights the music of life – rhythm can be found in a tennis match, footsteps in an empty street and in the beat of our own hearts.
In Small Talk by Travis Knight and James Pett, two figures inhabit a shared yet distant space. Through quiet gestures and unresolved tension, the work reflects on relationships that fade not through catastrophe, but through the slow exhaustion of time. The work showcases a portrait of two people held in a fragile standoff, suspended between what they once knew and what they can no longer admit.
The evening concludes with a powerful new collaboration by Yusha-Marie Sorzano and Marcus Jarrell Willis. Inspired by ritual, meditation and the roots of hip-hop and house culture, Suite Release reclaims dance as instinct, resistance and communal connection and joy, inviting audiences not only to witness movement, but to remember it.
Age guidance: 12+
Content warning: Contains some explicit language
Join us for a Post Show Discussion after the Fri 27 Feb performance with the Company.
Aged 18-35? #35LIVE is free to join and gives you and a friend discounted tickets for lots of live performances at York Theatre Royal. Find out more.
There is a limited amount of 35LIVE tickets up for grabs, book early so you don’t miss out – if you can’t book it’s because they’re sold out (sorry!).
Performances:
Fri 27 Feb - 7.30pm
Sat 28 Feb - 2.30pm and 7.30pm
York Theatre Royal Opening Hours
BOX OFFICE OPENING TIMES
Monday | 1pm-5pm
Tuesday to Saturday | 1pm-8pm (5pm on non-show days)
CAFÉ OPENING TIMES
Monday to Saturday | 10am – 5pm
