Ana Dance

Author Archive

Last night we (DEC) performed as part of the Oxford Improvisers Oxfringe event at The Old Firestation.  The evening, convened by Malcolm Atkins was informal and inspiring with its mix of the Improvisers’  first class musicians, poets Gavin Selerie and Vahni Capildeo and visual artists and dancers from the  DEC group.  The first half the poet’s words (spoken, pronounced, declaimed, performed) were met with musical comments, sensitive and delicate .  Poet and musicians fluidly alternating with or accompanying each other. We were treated to a range of sounds from subtle percussion to rhythmic,  melodic or haunting vocals, electronic crackles and pulses, breathy pipes, crunching plastic, wind, brass,  keyboard and violin phrases.  In the second half, DEC took the floor (and wall).   This felt like a good session and despite the added element of words/poetry was not as cluttered as I’d feared it might be.

The Oxford Improvisers are celebrating 4th June with an Oxfringe event at The Old Firestation  ‘Sound Image Word Motion’ .  The evening will include a variety of pieces by the improvisers with poet Gavin Selerie and a section by the DEC group working with poet Vahni Capildeo and additional artwork by crisis members.

A Cafe reason workshop with Adrian Freedman and Jeannie Donald McKim at The Straw Bale studio, Hertfordshire.  The workshop was a welcome reminder to me of some key Butoh concepts through the medium of sound and silence and also introduced me to some new ideas and techniques which I look forward to applying and developing.    All dancers present found confidence in creating sound and music even with instruments they’d never encountered before.  The emphasis however was not so much on creation of sound as creation of opportunities for silence/stillness through listening, awareness and attention to the present moment.  These are of course transferable approaches/skills and reinforced to me the value of cross art collaboration.   There was opportunity throughout the day to experience sound as a maker, a silent audience and as a mover/dancer.

Saturday 26th May was Cafe Reason’s 9th Diamond Night.  Featuring film, dance and live music.  As ever an interesting and varied mix of performances.  Peter Jones showed one section of a four part film series based on the elements.  The one presented  showed a fascinating range of shots and effects all linked by the theme ‘earth’ – from slow motion digging and throwing of sod to timelapse growth of mushrooms, eroding sands, google like earth to abstracted atmospheric images.  Myself , Paola Esposito and Paul MacKilligin filled a gap with an underprepared and last minute improvisation.  Anne Ryan from the depth of the stage beautifully sang a song to a tune written for guitar and was accompanied by a wonderfully expressive  dance of hands by Flavia Coube.  Ending the first half Fabrizia Verrechia performed ‘Sleeping in the Forest’ A serene piece rich with natural and spiritual references and detailed attention to visual presentation.

The second half began with another video this time by Dariusz Dziala and featuring Paola Esposito.  Crisp, clean and intriguing,  the camera followed a character both in harmony and at odds with the passing crowd and used time, speed and direction to great effect.  Flavia Coube followed this in another of her wonderfully succinct and hauntingly evocative creations of character.  The evening finished with a Cafe Reason group piece ‘Doll’s House’ choreographed by Jeannie Donald McKim.  In a new development the group used voices – sung, spoken and garbled which has added a new dimension to their work.  The piece ended with a surprising and dramatic contrast in tone with a powerful performance by Fabrizia Verrechia as a malevolent spirit juxtaposing a madcap frantic dance by the rest of the cast.

Looking forward to the workshop  tomorrow in Kent with Hofesh Schechter Company.  Always interested in lighting so hoping to learn some useful approaches and tips from the technical team and get an insight in to how this company manages the production aspects of preparing a show to tour.

Thursday and Friday,  DEC inhabited a space at The Story Museum culminating in 3 20 minute performances for the private view/opening of ‘Other Worlds‘.  Continuing our explorations with drawing, dance and music in live collaboration improvisations we discovered more approaches and developed and refined some of those we’d already tried.  It was also great to have a wander round the installations set up in the numerous rooms, corridors and spaces of the building.  Plenty of opportunity for delight, thought, imagination and inspiration.

Puppet is being screened today as part of the Oxdox film festival at The Ultimate Picture Palace.  Rather a contrast to the feel good, family focussed film it is being twinned with…

Another DEC session yesterday exploring the combination of dance; projected image -drawn, painted and found; and music.   Challenging and exciting.  Yet more ideas developing to be shown soon at The Story Museum as part of  ‘Other Worlds’ .

Good news to be selected as one of four artists to be supported by the germinator strand of the  homebed programme by Oxford Dance Forum at Old Firestation.  Homebed is an Arts Council funded initiative by ODF to support the professional development of Oxford’s dancers.  I look forward to using the opportunity to continue exploration of light, film and choreography.

Pleased to hear that my film ‘Borderlands’ is going to be shown in April in Dundee’s Hannah Maclure Centre at the Jump Cut Dance Festival.  So, if you’re planning to be in Scotland in April or are already there it’s a great opportunity to attend some interesting looking workshops, talks and screenings with a focus on choreography and film.