Ana Dance

Author Archive

It is always interesting to learn/hear how people perceive a performance; to hear or read audience feedback or have the opportunity to read a longer more considered response in the form of a review.  We have been lucky with Luminous Shadows to receive two.  If you didn’t make it to the show these two pieces of writing offer a couple of windows onto our latest performance.

Visit Rebecca Nice blogspot to read her review of DEC’s performance at OFS.

For another review of Luminous Shadows by Paul Medley, click here to read on Oxford dance writers.

Today I joined Susie in the studio at URC Summertown  to dance improvise to Malcolm Atkin’s live music in The DEC Project’s Drawing Dance Workshop.  Open to experienced artists and students,  it is an opportunity to draw, sketch, paint, or mold directly from dancing figures.  For the dancers  it is an opportunity to improvise always conscious that you are the moving subject for the artists to work from.  Malcolm with his  set up of keyboards, loops and violin creates amazing atmosphere and soundworlds that both set the shifting moods or respond to the dancers moves.  Artists, dancers and musician become absorbed in their creations and the unique world that emerges between music, dance and drawing.  Over 3 hours the time has passed and you feel you have only just begun.

Saturday June 1st was the eleventh in Cafe Reason’s series of ‘Diamond Nights’ -organised this time by myself and Paul MacKilligin.  Conceived as a platform to share and show experiments and new work it continues to offer the chance to see interesting and experimental new work in a small theatrical environment.  We are grateful to Russell Anderson and Oxford Brooks for use of the studio.

This time we had perhaps less Butoh than on previous occasions and quite an international flavour with Indian classical dance from Fabrizia Verrechia and Argentinian song and story from Patrissia Cuberos.  There was live experimental music from Fractofusus and film from Peter Jones.   Butoh came in Flavia Coube’s solo and in Jeannie Donald McKim’s Duet with vocalist Anne L Ryan.

Organising these events always requires a mixture of thorough planning, preparation, trust and improvising/thinking on one’s feet!  It is a delight when, on the evening, between stage managing and mcing you can sit down and enjoy what all the performers are offering and it feels a privilege to be present at ‘the birth’  of a new work or the shining example of a practised piece.

On Thursday 23rd May the DEC group presented ‘Luminous Shadows’ at OFS, Oxford. We had 2 performances one at 6 and one at 8pm so after set up, tech and rehearse it was a long and tiring day!  But great to be able to share some of the interactions we’ve been working on in a theatrical environment.   One review of the show so far can be read here on Oxford Dance Writers , written by Paul Medley.

Saturday I had the luxury of the Pegasus studio to try to develop some more ideas for Inertia and onwards. It is so lovely to have studio time -thank you Pegasus. As I warmed up and then started on some ideas I realised I had hardly used the floor space at all. I am always complaining that there is not enough space at home, that a bedroom is too cramped but here I was in a huge space and I’d barely moved from my yoga mat.
However there is a big difference. In a studio your ideas can expand and there is always the possibility of using the fullness of the space – the light, mirrors, proper floor. It is like the difference between trying to do administrative work at the kitchen table or your bedroom floor with all its clutter and distractions instead of in an office. The former is not impossible but it is often difficult to arrive at the right headspace and to value the time or even the work without according oneself the respect of an appropriate creation space. This is why venue support is so valuable and so appreciated.

Saturday I went up to Sadler’s Wells to this year’s Dance UK Choreographers’ Conference.  The theme was Choreography and Collaboration so I was particularly interested to go.  Collaboration is both something I enjoy and actively seek as well as being an almost inevitable part of what I do -whether I like it or not!  There are so many ways of collaborating and of negotiating its meaning and one’s role in a particular creative relationship.

Saturday’s conference opened out even further some notions of ‘collaboration’ and it was interesting to hear some of the very practical necessities for this when working on large scale projects or in environments such as film and t.v.  which revealed a much less cosy picture than the word collaboration often evokes!  There were stories from succesful collaborating partnerships, newly emerging collaborative groupings as well as recollections from established artists connected to dance who could share their experiences of different collaborative experiences.  Opportunity to further question some of these relationships in discussion groups  followed some of the presentations.

I enjoyed hearing about these different worlds and seeing, meeting and hearing from so many choreographers in one place.   I still think collaboration is a joy but also a minefield whose terrain could be navigated better with a bit more advice, planning and good communication.   I’d still like to learn more of the ‘how’ for a succesful collaboration but the experiences shared at the conference confirmed how unique each collaboration is and how difficult to predict the outcome.

Here is just one of the photos taken at OFS as we experimented with light, projected artwork and dance.  DEC will be performing here on May 23rd

photo: Naomi Morris

Another ODF workshop. This time at The Playhouse.  I always want to know /learn more about lights and lighting but wondered how much could really be covered in a 2 hour session.  I was pleasantly surprised.  After a quick explanation of the basic light types and demonstration of their beams, an introduction to the computerised system for logging and controlling cues/lighting plan we had the opportunity to see one or two of Richard Alston’s dancers lit from different angles and appreciate the impact on mood/feel that this alone made.  We were also given a tiny introduction to the history of lighting for dance and approaches to lighting.   Finally we were treated to a short duet sequence and encouraged to suggest how we might approach lighting it  -building from movement, to addition of music and then costume.  Then we watched from the auditorium as the painting with light began and the various suggestions were applied.

We had plenty of opportunity to ask questions and give opinions with Charles being approachable relaxed and knowledgeable.  It was a treat also just to be in the theatre with the stage and auditorium to ourselves.   I’d love to have a whole day or two to really see /explore a few more different possibilities.

A busy month for DEC with all the visual artists (Susan Moxley, Kassandra Isaacson and Clare Bassett)  opening their studios and exhibiting their work and the group preparing for performances on 4th May in Headington and on 23rd May at OFS.

Today’s practice session focussed on how to use a small rather than a large screen/wall.  We discovered that the impact is quite significant and does not enable us to employ the full range of techniques and visual interactions that we have been developing.   However, we did discover a few new approaches both to material and to use of space.  With our attention on the theatre performance at OFS on the 23rd the challenge of adapting our work to a big, light church space with no screen or plain walls is quite great!  The site specific responder in me wants to take over but for this we would need much more time developing work in the space itself.

Today was the last of my ‘Germinator‘ slots at OFS.  What  a treat to be in the theatre with access to some lights! I wanted to make the most of it so I split the day up to work on different ideas/projects with different people.  Naomi and I tried working with a few prerecorded video clips and made a new discovery about cellophane and shadow.  With the DEC group the chance to work with light as well as projection really drew our attention to the difference between various lighting states when combined with the live art work and dance helping to clarify how we will approach our performance on the 23rd May.  Naomi used her photography skills as we worked – looking forward to seeing some of her pictures.

In the afternoon I was joined by other Oxford dancers (Marina, Jane, Susie, Leslie, Naomi) to help me explore and develop some ideas for a group choreography  around ‘Inertia’.  This is a real treat.  With other bodies I am able to choreograph speed, pathways and other dance that I can no longer do.  A nice contrast to my more usual pace!  What a privilege to work with such a lovely group of dancers in a space with dance floor, screen and lights.