“The Ends” by Cailin Leigh and Nojus Setkauskas encapsulates the synthesis of dance and city – the post-war brutalist architecture of social housing in Westbury, Lambeth, South London and the movement of contemporary dancers – in a hypnotic and visually striking experience. The end result is the creative contemplation of the collision of human and urban landscape, their interdependence and (potential) coexistence.
Nabil Al-Kinani, a built environment professional, calls social housing threatened with gentrification “the Ends”. This slang comes from Afro-Caribbean influence and simply means “neighbourhood” or “the house” in working-class dialect.
In the last 10 years, almost 23,000 social rental homes were demolished, while today there are more than 100 social housing units in London that are under threat of demolition.
Through the movement of lived bodies in conversation with monumental architecture, the film raises awareness of the numerous social housing estates in contemporary London that are under threat of demolition and expresses the struggle of local communities against the unstoppable processes of gentrification.
