Acclaimed choreographer Theo Clinkard helps bring dance, painting and film together at The Box

3rd September 2026

A choreographer who has worked with Kylie Minogue, Emma Thompson and Olivia Colman, will join forces with creatives from the worlds of painting, film, and dance for a special evening of performance and conversation at The Box, Art Fund Museum of the Year 2026, later this month. 

Cornish-born, Devon-based choreographer and designer, Theo Clinkard will present A Spilling, a newly commissioned performance inspired by the work of celebrated British painter Gillian Ayres, before joining artist and filmmaker Jordan Baseman and Dr Eve Ess, Head of Painting at Arts University Plymouth, for a panel discussion exploring the power of art to communicate human emotion, experience and meaning.

The event will take place at The Box on Saturday 19 September as part of its ‘Summer of Expression’.

Clinkard's career has taken him from performing in the original production of Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake and touring work by Trisha Brown to working as assistant choreographer to Rafael Bonachela on Kylie Minogue’s Showgirl and Homecoming world tours.

For A Spilling, Clinkard responds to Gillian Ayres' lifelong passion for colour and paint. Dancer Ronan Cardoza and musician Emma Holbrook will create a live dialogue between movement and sound, using instinctive physicality and experimental live drumming to explore Ayres' independent spirit.

Clinkard will then be joined by Jordan Baseman, whose film Pro Grip (How to be Humans) is currently on display in The Box's Media Lab, and Dr Eve Ess, Senior Lecturer and Course Leader for BA (Hons) Painting, Drawing and Printmaking at Arts University Plymouth. The panel will consider how different art forms can express ideas and experiences that may be difficult or impossible to articulate through language.

Jordan Baseman is a visual artist and Reader in Time-Based Media at the Royal College of Art. His film, Pro Grip (How to be Humans), combines archive footage from the TSW collection held at The Box showing the 1990 UK Arm Wrestling Championships with an original interview with psychologist Dr Gray Atherton from the University of Plymouth, and reflects on how humans use movement, gestures and facial expressions to communicate and bond.

Dr Eve Ess’ practice explores connections between personal and historical details, embodied experience and emotional states. She previously taught at the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford, and has contributed to projects with organisations including Tate and the Slade.

The evening, which runs from 5.45-8.30pm, will also offer audiences an opportunity to experience Pro Grip in a playful new context, with local arm wrestlers sparring in The Box's Kitchen & Bar while guests wait for the performances. Tickets (£10 standard / £8 concessions and members) are available to book online at The Box Plymouth Website.