Sarah and Liz met during British Council-funded project Precipitate, which brought together dance artists from Scotland and Lebanon to foster new collaborations with a focus on sustainability. For Sarah and Liz, sustainability extended beyond environmental concerns and was interpreted through their shared struggles to sustain their artistic work.

Both artists had been living in a state of survival mode, frequently navigating crises, and dealing with persistent interruptions that made it difficult to maintain a consistent creative practice. Their collaboration evolved from a shared desire to explore creativity in crisis whilst countering imposed resilience narratives. As movement artists, they began by developing movement material that reflected their personal experiences, while also experimenting with more accessible and flexible working practices.  Leading to a desire to create a dance performance that not only accommodates but embraces the unpredictability of their lives and their capacity: meaning either performer could cancel last minute, arrive late, or perform remotely without compromising the live audience experience.  They quite literally might not make it!

In place of traditional approaches to absence (understudies) they have been exploring adaptive performances and installation formats, allowing for real-time audience interaction with and manipulation of the space, enabling audiences to slow down, and engage on a multi-sensory level. 

The work aims to offer a semi-autobiographical reflection of their embodied experiences of sustained crisis whilst modelling ways to undo the harmful effects of the constant demand for resilience. Over time, they hope the performance will help both the artists and the audience explore creativity as a means of coping with pressure and trauma, rather than perpetuating feelings of not belonging—whether as artists or citizens.

  • Lead Artist

    Liz is an Edinburgh based actor, theatre facilitator, and physical theatre performer who specialises in visually driven theatre that is devised, interactive and subversive. She has worked with companies such as Company Of Wolves, Mischief La-Bas, Al Seed Productions, Hearts & Minds, Tatraum Projekte Schmidt, Imaginate, Plutôt la Vie, Salty Dolls, Active Inquiry, Magnetic North and Surge. Liz trained at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and The Desmond Jones School of Mime and Physical Theatre (London). She continues to train further in ensemble practice, clown and bouffon. She also has a degree in Community Education from Edinburgh University.

  • Lead Artist

    Sarah is a choreographer, mover, researcher, educator, and sworn translator. She has an MFA in Choreography from the University of Roehampton, certificate in dance studies from University Paris VIII, and BA in translation USEK. She currently serves as the Co-Artistic Director of Al Sarab Dance Company, teaches dance and communication at the Lebanese American University, and as a committee member of the International Dance Day Festival in Lebanon. Sarah has collaborated with many artists from many nationalities resulting in performances in London, Scotland, Paris, and Lebanon. Lately, she has been working on concepts around trauma, and code-switching.

  • Dramaturg/ Project Producer

    Emma's work is a combination of making, thinking, and doing that seeks to narrow the gaps between ideologies and actions. Their practice invests more in people, values and context than any definable form. Meaning that, while it always starts in the body, it can become anything: performance, conversation, games, installation, cartography, poetry, geo-caching and more. They have facilitated, produced and toured a range of work that fosters connection beyond the transactional. Since 2019 their work has focussed on degrowth futures and radical justice. Based in rural South-West Scotland, Emma currently travels between Central Scotland, London, and Lebanon to work and live.

    Image by Jassy Earl

I Might Not Make It has been supported in development by Manipulate Arts. The work began as part of Precipitate, a bespoke creative lab designed to bring together artists from Lebanon and Scotland to exchange ideas and collaborate. The lab was designed and facilitated by Dance Base and Yaraqa, with support from the British Council.

The team would also like to extend special thanks to Jo Matthews, Magnetic North, and The Tron Theatre for their support of both the artists and the work.

  • We meet almost weekly online. Sometimes this is just a space to connect, sometimes we are discussing practical planning and most often it is to touch upon one of the creative elements of I Might Not Make It. This could be exploring movement over Zoom, discussing how the work has been reflected in our everyday lives or looking at the work of other artists who inspire us. What is most important is that we are consistent in our connection.

  • The idea of resilience is often framed as an individual trait rather than a structural issue, shifting responsibility away from systemic failures and onto those forced to endure them. Many people have been told they are “so resilient,” yet that resilience often comes at the cost of exhaustion, isolation, and unaddressed injustices. Instead of celebrating how well individuals survive hardship, we believe that we need to ask why they are forced to endure so much in the first place. The ability to “bounce back” or “push through” is too often treated as a marker of success, when in reality, it highlights the failure of systems meant to provide support. We want to shift the focus from individual perseverance to the structural issues that keep demanding it.

  • We believe technology could be a key tool in blurring the lines between immediacy and distance, liveness and participation. For us, it brings with it the possibility to exist in multiple spaces at once, creating intimacy across vast separations—or for the work to exist without the performers without compromising the audience’s experience. We are also excited to explore how technology can make our presence feel fragmented or conditional, reflecting the realities of the contexts we navigate.

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As a group of collaborators exploring creativity in times of crisis and working towards more sustainable approaches in the performing arts, response times may be slower than the fast-paced demands of commercial culture. We appreciate your patience and understanding.