Performance Dates & Times:

Saturday 1st November: 2pm & 7pm
Sunday 2nd November: 2pm & 5pm

Auto Italia presents Bystander, a new performance work by UK-based choreographer Richard Pye and TLGBQIA+ youth collaborators from Tower Hamlets and Newham.

Bystander examines the politics of witnessing, the choices we make in moments of intervention, and the urgent realities of trans and queer safety. Developed with TLGBQIA+ young people amidst intensified scrutiny of queer communities, Bystander utilises movement as a language for communities to advocate for themselves and imagine alternative forms of collective support. The work positions bystandership and solidarity as a shared responsibility built through collective care and action.

Through task-based investigations,  practical movement exercises and reflective discussions, Bystander was co-developed with youth collaborators, who have contributed as dancers, choreographers, and critics at every stage. Drawing on Pye’s choreographic practice, which foregrounds intricate contact work and somatic approaches engaging with breath, touch, pressure, and movement, collaborators explored collective physical structures that reimagine shared responsibility in public environments—elements that are central to the work.

With four dancers, motion is presented as a negotiation; each gesture and shift is a dialogue, balancing trust and agency. Audiences are invited to attune to one another’s presence, navigate unexpected contact, and engage with emerging collective patterns. This shared composition explores boundaries, the building of trust, and the ways relational norms are felt, tested, and reimagined, offering a space to witness and inhabit the subtle dynamics of care, attention, and connection.

Bystander

Artist-in-Residence / Choreographer:
Richard Pye

Youth Collaborators from Tower Hamlets and Newham 

Dancers:
Louisa Fernando
Timothy Firmin
Silas Grocott Cain
Gian Sanghera-Warren

Sound Designer:
Rainy Miller

Lighting Designer: 
Seth Rook Williams

Dramaturg:
Joe Moran

Bystander has been made possible through the generosity, creativity, and expertise of many collaborators. We are grateful to the participants, partners, and contributors whose insight and commitment have supported the work at each stage.

With thanks to Antony Daly Luna, Axel Arigato, Centre 151, Come As You Are (CAYA), Dominic Rocca, Douglas Dare, Genevieve Reeves, Grace Nicol, Juan Sánchez Plaza, Juliet Jacques, Kaia Goodenough, Kaz Algacs, London Performance Studios, Mosaic LGBTQ+ Young Person’s Trust, Pietro Mazzotta, Protection Approaches, Temitope Ajose, Tim Aldcroft, and Tilly Wace.

Bystander is commissioned and produced by Auto Italia, with support from The National Lottery Community Fund and Arts Council England.