Sarah Warsop

From the choreography made for What Isn't Here Hasn't Happened, slivers of movement were chosen and mapped using a dynamic drawing process, capturing the essence of the movement onto the page. From these drawings  Sarah worked directly into 18ct gold, hand forging each element, maintaining the original  character of the movement.  The rhythms, direction, speed and flow  of the choreography are captured within each piece of jewellery.

Price range £700 - £4,500

Whisk was made possible through Arts Council England Lottery funding.

Photography: Steve Speller

Each piece of jewellery is individual. Please contact Sarah through the Contact page to commission a work from the Whisk designs or purchase a piece from this collection.  Or email sarah@sarahwarsop.com

Lucio Uncut began as a single commission to make an 18ct gold brooch with an uncut ruby. The piece was based on Lucio, the clients young son. From video Sarah studied his movement as he played, learning his particular rhythmic and dynamic qualities and choosing short phrases to learn. 

The slivers of movement were then taken into a dynamic drawing process, transposing Lucio's particular movement qualities onto the page. The jewellery pieces evolved directly from these drawings forging gold and silver and incorporating uncut rubies. The initial commission became a small collection, each piece containing an essence of Lucio's play.

Price range £500 - £5,000

Photography: Steve Speller

To commission a piece or purchase a one off work from this collection please contact Sarah through the Contact page or email sarah@sarahwarsop.com

The Portraits jewellery collection began as an eight minute dance solo performed as part of a full evening work Two Quartets for Siobhan Davies Dance in 2007.

Sarah developed the movement for her solo using specific words and text which eventually became the rhythmic structure for the dance when it was performed.

Returning to the same words and phrases to design her jewellery,she used the rhythmic structure of the text to  contain the drawing hand on the page just as the dancing body was held within the choreographic structure. Sarah then worked directly from her drawings into precious metal, hand forging each element to give each jewellery piece the character and identity of the original Portraits solo.

 Price range £250 - £5,000

Photography: Steve Speller

Please contact Sarah through the Contact page or email sarah@sarahwarsop.com to commission a piece from the Portraits designs, or purchase a one off work from this collection.

The Lying in Wait jewellery collection began as a dance and film collaboration with artist Idris Khan.

To design her jewellery, Sarah returned to her original choreography used in the film. Marking a simple floor plan on the page she initiated the motion of the pencil on the the paper by making each action of the hand correspond to the dynamics of a whole body action. 

From the drawings Sarah worked directly into precious metal, hand forging each piece enabling the finished work to hold the characteristics of the original choreography.

Price range: £400 - £2,000

Photography: Steve Speller

Every piece of jewellery is individual. To purchase from this collection or have something made in gold or silver using the original designs please contact Sarah through the Contact page or email sarah@sarahwarsop.com

What Isn't Here Hasn't Happened is a collaboration between artist and bookbinder Tracey Rowledge and Sarah Warsop. Commissioned by Siobhan Davies Studios in 2011,  their series of graphite drawings explore mark-making through choreographed movement and movement through mark-making.

They began their process collecting specific words and phrases that expressed emotional states of being. The chosen  text became a spring board for movement research, and eventually became a working structure in which to develop a piece of choreography.

The final drawings explore the potency of marks, how physical presence can be experienced through a drawing made by the human figure. The drawings capture the particular qualities and character of the movement without the body being present and in this way, the mark-making and the body’s physical and emotional state are inseparable. 

Sarah used the choreography from this series to develop the Whisk jewellery collection.

photography: Pari Naderi

To exhibit or purchase from this series please contact AlisonP@siobhandavies.com

Lying in Wait is formed of layered images which travel between three life size projections. Viewers move around the space and become aware of their own body's interaction with the screens and the projected figure.

In this film Sarah continues developing her own coding and notation systems to create choreographic material. The resulting short phrases of action were filmed many times and when layered, the human variations in timing, dynamic and quality are revealed.

Lying in Wait was a co commission by Victoria Miro and Siobhan Davies for The Collection and had been exhibited at the Victoria Miro Gallery, London and Ikon Gallery, Birmingham.

Photography: Stephen White

See a video clip on The Space, the online gallery from the BBC and Arts Council England.

Originally created for the Cape Farewell exhibition, The Ship: The Art of Climate Change (2006), at the Natural History Museum, the projection Endangered Species shows a small, semi-human figure inside a museum display case. Her movements are exaggerated by a costume of long bending rods that increase in number as the dance progresses. At first they extend the boundaries of her body allowing greater range, but eventually the many rods restrict and extinguish her life form.

Sarah worked together with Siobhan Davies, looking at how the quality and quantity of the rods could extend and limit movement, emphasising the fragility of the dancing form.

Endangered Species has been exhibited at The Natural History Museum, London; Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool Cathedral; Oxford Playhouse and internationally.

Photography: Vicky Long, Marije de Haas

See a video clip

Sarah's choreography and dance projects have become a key element in her jewellery design and making. She captures the qualities of detailed human movement in her objects, each piece of jewellery beginning life as a moment of dance, and becoming a sliver of choreography caught for the wearer. 

Sarah performed with Rambert Dance Company for six years from 1991 to 1997, working with choreographers Merce Cunningham, Christopher Bruce, Richard Alston, Martha Clarke and others. In 1997 she joined Siobhan Davies Dance Company helping to create many works including Bank (1997), Bird Song (2004) and Two Quartets (2007).. 

In 2008 Sarah was commissioned to collaborate with artist Idris Khan to create the film Lying in Wait (2009), and then What Isn't Here Hasn't Happened (2011), a collaboration with artist and bookbinder Tracey Rowledge which resulted in a series of graphite drawings.

As part of her work with Siobhan Davies she co ran The Bank Project for eight years with Deborah Saxon. A professional development project, Bank gave six professional dancers six weeks to explore their own choreographic and movement interests, structured around the making processes used by the Siobhan Davies Company. 

Between 2001 and 2006 Sarah set up Snag Project with Joanne Fong and Catherine James, their work was performed at the Clore at the Royal Opera House, The Queen Elizabeth Hall, Tate Britain, The Millennium Centre, Cardiff and internationally.

To discuss choreographic work or jewellery commissions, please contact Sarah through the Contacts page or email sarah@sarahwarsop.com