Tongues was created for Ballet de Barcelona by David Rodriguez and Luke Prunty, choreographers with international careers across classical and contemporary dance.

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Catalan-born Rodriguez and Australian-born Prunty have worked with companies including Béjart Ballet Lausanne, Ballet of the Tyrolean Opera, Gauthier Dance and Metamorphosis Dance. Rodriguez also developed his choreographic work with Gauthier Dance and presented work at Stuttgart Opera.

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Created for sixteen dancers, Tongues is inspired by the life and work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, one of the twentieth century’s most influential philosophers. His work examined language, meaning and the ways context shapes how we understand one another.

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Rodriguez and Prunty translate these ideas into movement, exploring communication, misunderstanding, rejection and empathy through ensemble work, solos and duets.

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Contrasts between light and darkness, materialism and spirituality, and the individual and the group shape a work in which movement becomes its own form of language.