makes performances emerging from the collaborative work of choreographer Maya M. Carroll and composer Roy Carroll. They create work that is unflinchingly sensual, characterised by an almost molecular tactility encountering fantastic viscerality. The Instrument works in close collaboration with a diverse circle of artists, taking an integrated approach that radiates outwards from a clear movement and sound aesthetic, permeating all aspects of the work, scenography, lighting design, graphic and visual art.

Maya and Roy have been working together since 2006, creating over 40 works for the stage. They formed The Instrument in 2011. They are Berlin based while devising and presenting work internationally.

Maya Matilda Carroll is a choreographer, dancer, mentor and teacher, based in Berlin since 2004. Her work has developed over two decades of independent creating and performing; collaborating with dance artists, musicians, actors, poets and visual artists. Her affinity towards detail, embodied-animation, other-worldliness and poetry; meet with human stories through an imaginative exploration of movement vocabulary. In 2011 Maya formed The Instrument with composer / musician Roy Carroll. Their long-standing collaboration is a unique embodiment of sound and music within which Maya continues developing her choreographic landscapes. As a mentor and teacher she guides master classes and workshops in Europe and abroad, extensively sharing her artistic practice with large dance communities, alongside her production work; drawn from and towards the human, social and poetic manifestation of the dancing body. In recent years, Maya's creative focus is dedicated to the power of prayer, the transcendence of grief and the human ethos which drives collective remembrance and connectedness through art and performance.

My choreographic work is an embodied expression of primal - cultural longings; rooted in existence which craves creativity. The pieces become immersive universes; a listening space within which the real and imagined are mutually challenged and exposed. In the act of creating and performing I sense the languages of gesture, dance, light, sound/music and image; emerging naked and autonomous. I am moved by the nature of knowing - unknowing which enables a transformative power for our minds and bodies because it reaches below certainties, opinions and expectations.

A zone, a dream, an emotion we may all project ourselves through. It is a delicate and raw experience, where I find myself dancing with elements that attract, concern and fascinate me. Each piece is a world, a ritual, a journey; inviting the audience to travel in and through.

The Instrument of which she is an artistic co-director with Roy Carroll have toured their pieces in Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Canada, New Zealand, Brazil, Israel, Switzerland and Norway.

In her earlier dance journey Maya worked with choreographers Lara Barsacq, Ohad Naharin, Anat Danieli, Arkadi Zeides and Sasha Waltz to name a few. Since 2013 she is a member in Allen's Line company, directed by Julyen Hamilton.

Roy Carroll is an Irish musician and composer, based in Berlin. He works primarily with electroacoustic media; which encompasses transducers, synthesis, feedback, audio recordings, amplification, software, - auditory and psychoacoustic phenomena even. With these materials, Carroll instigates processes that ruthlessly investigate timbre, articulation, gesture, form and so on. His self-made devices and instruments span the entire timbral spectrum. Carroll's work takes the atomic particles of music making, traverses acoustic preparations and extended techniques; and collides with signal processing and amplification. Feedback, the horror of an instrument hearing itself, is a recurring component of Carroll's work, creating multi-layered forms that continually renegotiate the transformation of electrical audio signals into disturbed air. Collaborations include The Instrument, Paroxysm, The Monophonic Havel, Splitter Orchester, Voutchkova/Thieke/Carroll, Hamilton Carroll.

roycarroll.com

The Instrument practice offers an in-depth physicality and exploration of body and mind in our compositional work. It is a study for dance-making; through movement, motion, precision and imagination. Guiding themes for the practice are: tangibility, space, time, musicality and narrative - all through which we draw upon choreographic and human interactions. As we work with present – choices, our perception becomes alert; as our actions and images encounter freedom and discipline with joy and appreciation. Joining these themes in the process of dancing / performing, the work draws upon human nature, environments and choreographic narratives.

Maya teaches classes / workshops in Europe and abroad, for free-scene platforms as well as academies and international companies. In the past twenty years Maya has been a guest teacher at HZT University (Berlin), Staatstheater Kassel (Johannes Wieland), Theater Greifswald (Jan Pusch), Impulstanz (Vienna), Fabrik Potsdam, Carte Blanche (Bergen), Présomptions de Présences (Paris), CND Lyon, CNSMD Lyon, CCNR Rillieux (Cie Yuval Pick), Le Pacifique / CDC (Grenoble), Glasgow Theatre and Arts Collective (Glasgow), SOZO (Kassel), Kelim Choreography Center (Bat-Yam, IL), Hochschule für Musik und Tanz (Köln), SEAD Academy (Salzburg) and Folkwang University (Essen).

Roy and Maya also conduct workshops together, in which they engage their collaborative experience within a process of group learning and dancing with live sound / music.