Barrowland Ballet’s Family Portrait is an interactive installation piece themed around a single parent with her three children

A ballet is returning this summer with an intimate and interactive show.

Family Portrait is an interactive video installation work, combining striking imagery and  choreography, capturing Barrowland Ballet’s artistic director, Natasha Gilmore, and her three children in an intimate portrayal of family life.  

Audiences will see the family through choreographed sequences and more candid, natural ‘off camera’ moments as they encounter and embrace the many different landscapes of Scotland. 

With space to roam, the children encounter rabbit skulls, converse with spiders, make war paint with berries and discover the fun of burying their mother in bark.

The work takes the audience on a geographical and emotional journey, giving the audience an in-depth insight into what it is to be a mother and a single parent to three young children. With humour and candour, the work shares an honest depiction of what family really is - responsibility, joy, balance, intimacy and, most of all, love. A celebration of getting out into nature, it invites you into an intimate journey of family relationships with all its relentless and glorious chaos.

Adhering to government guidelines at all times, Family Portrait is a theatrical experience. The work is presented on four screens with the audience being able to move their focus from one screen to another.

The piece will be shown at the Edinburgh Interactive Children's Festival between 28 May and 5 June, at the Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock on Wednesday 9 June and the Macrobert Arts Centre in Stirling on Saturday 26 June. More information is available here.