Dying Swans & Dragged Up Dames comprised photography and complementary writing interrogating:

• the efficacy and reliability of photography as performance documentation and/or historical artefact;
• Photoshop as a co-choregorapher;
• images of performance perfection;
• the invisibility of dancers above a certain age and weight;
• cross dressing and drag as a subversive encounter.

Iconic images of dancers from history were recreated in the studio, modelled by Mark Edward, a self confessed dancer beyond his dance prime and ideal weight, to interrogate via humour and reconstruction, images of dance perfection. Insights collected during the shoot, the post-processing of images were published in a catalogue accompanying the exhibition. Articles about the exhibition were published in dance magazines, and a paper authored by Newall was delivered at TaPRA, Glasgow, 2013.

Dying Swans & Dragged Dames was exhibited in The Arts Centre, Ormskirk (2014), and Bank Street Arts, Sheffield (2015).