Science in the City will be turning on a spotlight on the brain and contemporary dance at this year’s festival being held in Valletta on Friday, September 26.

Moveo Dance Company will perform Mind Set at St James Cavalier while duo Doug Comley and Sandra Mifsud will present Laws of Motion at St George’s Square, Valletta.

An interdisciplinary, collaborative project between the Centre for Biomedical Cybernetics, Department of Systems and Control Engineering and Moveo Dance Company focuses on building up a new viewer-centred performance. Mind Set is set on translating brain activity into actions without acting physically, through the use of Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technology.

Aided by Owen Falzon and his team from the Department of Engineering of the University of Malta, the act marries this emerging technology to create an innovative performance where the audience’s brain activity and the dancers’ movement communicate to create a unique performance.

Moveo creates work that is never static and always evolving

Moveo’s main philosophy is to constantly search for the new and that which can capture an ambiguous notion in performances. The constant study of the body is also very essential, and by merging strong technique with its philosophy, Moveo creates work that is never static and always evolving.

Moveo Dance Company in Mind Set.

The body in performance is what is most intriguing, and with it lies a whole spectrum of possibilities that includes identity, cultural and social behaviours.

Choreographed by Dorian Mallia and Diane Portelli, the project is supported by the Malta Arts Fund.

The Friday performances are free of charge and will be held at 6pm and repeated at 7.30pm, 9pm and 10.30pm, each running for one hour.

Supplementary performances will be held on Saturday, September 27, at 8pm and on Sunday, September 28 at St James Cavalier at 5pm. Tickets can be obtained from St James Cavalier or online at https://ticketengine.sjcav.org .

Meanwhile, dancers Comley and Mifsud will present an engaging dance duet in Laws of Motion, an entertaining physical theatre performance where from a sitting slumber, two bodies begin to collide, spin and fall to the laws of motion and gravity. A documentary will run throughout their show.

Organised in collaboration with the University of Malta and Lufthansa Technik Malta, Laws of Motion will be performed at St George’s Square, Valletta, at 6.30pm, 7.15pm, 7.45pm and 8.30pm.

The full programme and venue details can be downloaded from www.scienceinthecity.org.mt.