Traplord

From award winning dance artist and cultural innovator Ivan Michael Blackstock comes TRAPLORD, a dance performance meditating on life, death and rebirth.

Wandering between dreams and reality, TRAPLORD takes us on a new heroic journey to self-actualisation.

Using dance, theatre and spoken word to explore raw and confrontational themes of mental health and masculinity, TRAPLORD is an invitation to question the stereotyping of Black men in contemporary western society; an attempt to escape from the mental state of being condemned before having lived.

“Ian William Galloway’s videos are superb, creating the fast-moving, hyperreal computer game with its blazing tower blocks, and menacing streets.” - Culture Whisper

Playing with themes of quests, escapism and immersive worlds, Mesmer produced an entire videogame quest for the world of Traplord in Unreal Engine, navigating our central character around dream-like worlds and envionments. This was combined with filmed XR footage, traditionally animated retro-arcade elements and hand-drawn animation to create a rich framing device for the show, with the content being displayed on a semitransparent video wall.

Client:
Altruviolet
Sadler’s Wells
DEM Productions

Location:
180 The Strand, London, 2022

Services:
Video & Projection Design
Content Creation

Team:
Video Designer: Ian William Galloway
Systems Designer: Salvador Bettencourt Ávila
Associate Designer: Barbora Šenoltová
Lead Animator: Jachym Bouzek
Animator: Rena Iizawa
Editor: Jakub Krumpolc

Production Credits:
Choreographer: Ivan Michael Blackstock
Production Designer: Chloe Lamford
Production Designer: Shankho Chaudhury
Lighting Designer: Simisola Majekodunmi
Sound Designer: Luke Swaffield
Musical Director: Torben Silvest

Photos:
© Camilla Greenwell