February 6, 2026 |
Satie Studs, the five-minute solo by Scottish choreographer Michael Clark, first made an appearance in 2003. The tightly structured movement and dance performance, originally created and first shown that year, was an example of the sharp-edged, punk-inspired, rigorous and experimental dance style Clark is renowned for. It was stripped-back and exacting, built from a sequence of taut balances, abrupt leg extensions and fast directional pivots, the body held upright and alert, the steps clipped and unyielding rather than fluid.
In 2026 at Serpentine South, the showcase responds to Peter Doig’s House of Music, a multi-sensory exhibition which, now in its final days – it closes this Sunday – has prompted unusually sustained engagement. As Hans Ulrich Obrist, artistic director at the Serpentine Galleries, London, notes, “The exhibition was an amazing success, not only in terms of visitor numbers, but, most importantly, in the amount of time people spent in the space.” He adds, “Visitors lingered longer than in almost any exhibition we’ve had, and there were an extraordinary number of repeat visits.”
As such, the expressive dance has received a radical update. Now, Satie Studs is performed by dancer and long-time collaborator of Clark’s, Jules Cunningham, who takes on the solo for the first time. Cunningham brings a lean, tensile physicality to the choreography, sharpening its angles and making its rhythms more exposed. The movement unfolds through extended holds that snap suddenly into kicks, scissoring legs and swivelling turns, with arms often locked or cutting decisively through space. The feet strike and flick with precision, while the stillness between phrases becomes as charged as the motion itself. Obrist situates this moment clearly within the exhibition’s final week: “This had much to do with the exhibition’s multi-sensory nature, bringing together sound and painting… and, in the final week, dance and choreography by Michael Clark performed by Jules Cunningham.”
The collaborative spirit is rife here, with the 2026 rendition of Satie Studs set to piano pieces by French composer Erik Satie, whose sparse, repetitive structures give the choreography a steady but unsentimental pulse. Costume design comes from Phoebe Philo, her garments shaping the dancer’s outline without ornament, reinforcing the clarity and severity of the movement. Obrist frames the convergence succinctly: “Like the Ballets Russes, which brought together choreography, painting, music, costume, and design, the exhibition brought multiple disciplines together.” He continues, “In that sense, the exhibition became a kind of Gesamtkunstwerk – a total work of art.”
The performance arrives at a point where disciplines begin to collapse into one another. “Sound was central throughout,” Obrist explains. “Visitors could listen to Peter’s records all day, every day, but the special listening sessions became key moments.” Those sessions, he says, “often… evolved into performances. This culminated beautifully with Michael Clark, one of the leading artists of our time.”
The final performances of Satie Studs took place today at 12pm, 1.30pm and 3pm, marking a closing gesture that folded dance into an exhibition defined by, as Obrist put it, “a growing desire among artists not to separate disciplines, but to bring them together into a shared, immersive experience.”
‘Satie Studs’ performed by Jules Cunningham, 2-6 February 2026, Serpentine South. Performed as part of Sound Service with Movement in Peter Doig: House of Music. Photography by Talie Rose Eigeland courtesy of Serpentine.
