Scintilla
'My vision is to bring ordinary people at risk of isolation together through artistic creativity alongside top professional artists, and together find ways to express the struggle’
- Liz Dilnot Johnson
Scintilla is a multi-arts project exploring notions of isolation and connection through wild exterior landscapes and the interior of the mind.
Scintilla is a unique, rich tapestry of poetry, music and dance weaving in layers, combining to transform and shape-shift, inspired by the poetry of David Hart’s Crag Inspector.
The project idea was conceived at a time when Liz Dilnot Johnson was suffering isolation due to a serious health breakdown. Scintilla examines the struggle to find one's own true voice in the world and the search for a calm centre, away from fantasies and nightmares.
Liz Johnson's original music for Scintilla has morphed out of her clarinet quintet Sea-change.
R and D for Scintilla
The Scintilla Project has been awarded several national grants to support the research and development process, including a generous Arts Council England 'Developing Your Creative Practice' grant. This investment has allowed Liz to work with choreographer dancer Dane Hurst, musician Jack McNeill, digital artist formuls, mentor Tess Howell, producer Jackie Newbould, creative producer Mira Moschallski and film maker Oli Clark to develop creative ideas for the project.
An initial work-in-progress event in May 2019 evoked strong responses from audience members:
“And what we were watching… was a passing of time with that deep awareness that time passing in that perhaps confined way hurts.”
“organic and beautifully layered… it seemed to inhabit this really interesting space between abstraction and a concrete narrative.”
“Wonderful. I was really blown away by it. ”
“moving and beautifully conceived.”
Liz’s vision for the project is to expand it into a full-length dance/theatre piece and to develop digital versions of Scintilla for VR/app. These are being designed specifically to in order to engage with and support those suffering, or at risk of, isolation.
Find out more
Scintilla Act 1 (performance)
The Search for Scintilla (documentary)
Composer Liz Dilnot Johnson and Poet David Hart watch Scintilla (documentary)
Liz describes Scintilla in a film created for Help Musicians UK.
