In the field of statistics, a dominant form of inquiry, there is a prevailing belief that larger sample sizes yield more accurate conclusions, while small samples are often dismissed as insufficient or misleading. This approach drives a way of thinking that is highly detached from the direct experience of being in the world. Phenomena do not emerge as tidy, understandable averages; instead, they appear to us in mysterious, specific, and situational forms. Engagement with the world does not reduce moments to detached objects of study; it reveals them as vivid, immediate encounters. Small Sample Size Theatre embraces this philosophy, suggesting that our individual lives are deeply meaningful precisely because they are limited and uniquely situated, revealing truths that could otherwise be lost in generalised, collective understanding.
Through expanded choreography, Small Sample Size Theatre stages pieces in unconventional spaces such as galleries, theatres, toilets, playgrounds, and museum staircases, each location becoming a stage for discovering how the subjective lens- our own limited access to understanding the world-is not a limitation but a profound way to see and be. The work they create amplifies singular, potent experiences that reveal the beauty of human existence, evoking the mysteries and peculiarities that statistics might smooth over.
Key members and collaborators include choreographer Casper Dillen, composer Gia Dreyer, artists Yi Wang, Christy Taylor, Yujie Duan, Canaan J. Brown, Qibaiting, Lewis Oliver Douglas, Dann Xiao.
Work includes Orfeo (2022), a retelling of the Orpheus myth at The Place (London),Long Tennis (2023), a dance duet devised in a kitchen at the Center for Performance Research (New York), a performative intervention on the staircase of the Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge), and Cycle (2023) a choreographic sound sculpture at WIELS (Brussels).