Staging Rooms is a performance that addresses human adaptation in the face of environmental transformation. Through a dance theatre performance that takes place inside constructed ‘rooms’, the work exposes the limits and possibilities in our efforts to adapt to a rapidly changing world.

Diving into a sited practice and bringing it to the stage space, Staging Rooms developed during a workshop process where participants created solos for themselves that engaged with one individual’s viewpoint on the issue of climate change. They also built portable ‘rooms’, based on a template developed by Scottish visual artist Fergus Dunnet, in which they perform their individual solos. In creating the solos, participants discovered methods to merge issues of art and sustainability, developing a knowledge base and a sense of empowerment in the face of the seemingly overwhelming challenges of climate change.

The work premiered in 2016 at the Professional Series at the University of Calgary.