News: Olivier Awards Nominations

March 16th, 2012

Congratulations to choreographer Arthur Pita for his Olivier Award nomination for the Best New Dance Production for The Metamorphosis.

Metamorphosis. Edward Watson

Edward Watson as Gregor in The Metamorphosis 

Also to dancer Edward Watson for being nominated for his performance in The Metamorphosis for Outstanding Achievement Award. I was fortunate to draw The Metamorphosis during the rehearsals at the Linbury Studio at the Royal Opera House. It is an extraordinary and beautiful show choreographed by Arthur Pita, and Edward Watson is an extraordinary and beautiful dancer.

Another fantastic dancer is Hip Hop dancer, Tommy Franzen, who I recently drew in rehearsals of Russell Maliphant’s The Rodin Project (and am in the middle of a painting of him dancing in The Rodin Project) he has been nominated in both categories: Outstanding Achievement for his performance in ZooNation’s Some Like It Hip Hop and for his part in the choreography of Some Like it Hip Hop he has been nominated for Best New Dance Production.

Tommy Franzen in Rodin Project

 Tommy Franzen rehearsing The Rodin Project

The Olivier Awards Ceremony takes place at the Royal Opera House on Sunday 15 April 2012, hosted by Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton, live coverage by BBC’s Red Button service on TV, Radio 2 and online.

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Shobana Jeyasingh Dance. Classic Cut

March 15th, 2012

13th March

Shobana Jeyasingh Dance at the Linbury Studio Theatre, Covent Garden, performed Classic Cut, a double bill of Configurations and new work Dev Kahan Hai/Where Is Dev? This is the first project of their three year 25th anniversary celebration programme.

Configurations was choreographed by Shobana Jeyasingh in 1988 to music commissioned from Michael Nyman, String Quartet No. 2. Played live on stage at the Linbury adding to the visual and acoustic feast.

Shobana Jeyasingh. Configurations

Shobana Jeyasingh. Configurations

Configurations 

Shobana Jeyasingh says of Configurations, “It is a dance work that has shifted and changed, reflecting my own work as a choreographer.”

Shobana Jeyasingh. Dev Kahan Hai?/Where is Dev?

Dev Kahan Hai//Where Is Dev?

The web site says Shobana Jeyasingh’s vision for the company “is rooted in a vision of a Britain that is culturally coherent in new and unexpected ways…We see connections where others only see differences and we seek to make these connections through choreographic practice.”

The evening is a wonderful, exhilarating fusion of classical Asian dance – Bharata Natyam and contemporary dance, very fast, very sharp, very now and to me feels very London.

In May I am looking forward to joining the company to draw the dancers during rehearsal, keep an eye on my blog I will post some of the drawings on as I go. I hope to use the drawings to inform a painting and etchings which I will show in my solo exhibition in September.

Open Studio: Thursday May 17th 5pm – 9pm. Saturday 19th May 11am – 6pm. Sunday 20th May 11am – 6pm. Studio 17, Unit 0, Second Floor Studios, Mellish Industrial Estate, Warspite Road, London SE18 5NR

Solo exhibition September 13th – 23rd, part of ‘On Sublimity and Synaesthesia‘ exhibiting in conjunction with freelance writer Dr Stephen Baycroft. No Format Gallery, Second Floor Studios, Mellish Industrial Estate, Warspite Road, London SE18 5NR

More details on the exhibitions will follow soon

Contact sallymckay@btinternet.co.uk for more information on exhibitions and sales

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Ballet Black at The Linbury

March 9th, 2012

6 March

Ballet Black danced four new ballets at The Linbury, Covent Garden. Here are a few small drawings I made of two of the dances.

Together Alone. Ballet Black.copyright Sally McKay

Together Alone choreographer, Jonathon Watkins. Music Alex Baranowski

Storyville. Ballet Black. copyright Sally McKay

Storyville. Ballet Black. copyright Sally McKay

Storyville Left and above: Storyville, choreographer Christopher Hampson, music Kurt Weill

Also danced but not drawn: Running Silent, choreographer Jonathon Goddart and Captured with choreography by Martin Lawrence.

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Richard Alston Dance Company

March 9th, 2012

29th February

Richard Alston Dance Company performed 3 works at Sadler’s Wells 29th February and 1st March. Richard Alston Dance Company is part of The Place, also the home of a fabulous dance Theatre and London Contemporary Dance School.

I drew the Richard Alston Dance Company when they performed in the Saatchi Gallery last year.

Roughcut

Roughcut choreographed by Richard Alston, music by Steve Reich

Lie of The Land. Richard Alston

Lie of The Land choreographed by Martin Lawrence, responding to Ned Rorem’s String Quartet No. 4

A Ceremony of Carols. Richard Alston

A Ceremony of Carols, choreography Richard Alston, Music Benjamin Britten, sung by Canterbury Cathedral Choir

Three dances all entirely different. New company dancer, James Pett, modelled for a life size sculpture commission I had early last year, wonderful to watch him dancing in Sadler’s Wells in the Richard Alston Company. Alston says of Roughcut “a dance about vitality” which is exactly how it feels to watch it. I felt very tired, almost didn’t get to the theatre, only down to my sensible lovely daughter telling me to go and that I would feel better to draw dance and watch. So right – by the end of Roughcut I was smiling and energized.

Even more so in Martin Lawrence’s work Lie of the Land, fabulous.

The final dance A Ceremony of Carols, accompanied by by Canterbury Cathedral Choristers with their angelic treble voices and Camilla Pay on the harp felt mystical and powerful.

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English National Ballet at Tate Britain

March 6th, 2012

Exhibition Picasso & Modern British Art opened at Tate Britain on 15th February. The exhibition explores Picasso’s connections with Britain, not only do you see work by Picasso but paintings by British artists for example Francis Bacon, Henry Moore, Graham Sutherland and David Hockney, demonstrating the influence Picasso’s work had on them.

English National Ballet took up residence at Tate Britain for a week. A raised stage was placed in the Duveen gallery, each day began with morning class on the stage followed by rehearsals and discussions, culminating in performances on Friday of 3 new commissions inspired by Picasso’s collaborations with the Ballets Russes.

I joined the dancers to draw them in class and rehearsal.

English National Ballet. class

English National Ballet. class

Morning class

English National Ballet. rehearsal English National Ballet. rehearsal

English National Ballet. rehearsal

English National Ballet. rehearsal

Rehearsals 

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ENO presents The Death of Klinghoffer

March 2nd, 2012

28th February

On the 10th February I spent a wonderful day at 3 Mills Studios drawing an ENO rehearsal for The Death of Klinghoffer. On the 28th February I watched the performance at The London Coliseum. These are a few small drawings I made from my seat high up in the balcony.

The Death of Klinghoffer

The Death of Klinghoffer

The Death of Klinghoffer

The Death of Klinghoffer  During the rehearsal I concentrated on drawing the dancers, choreographed by Arthur Pita and drawing conductor Baldur Brönnimann. At the performance the conductor was out of my view and the dancers felt distanced. I loved the long shadows cast across the stage giving a sense of heat and sunlight. This week I start an oil painting inspired by my drawings.

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Diving World Cup

February 29th, 2012

Tuesday 21st February

I was deeply disappointed not to get tickets for any of the Olympic events. I told my 3 (teenage) kids they could each chose 1 sport to apply for tickets to, my theory was out 4 events we should manage to get tickets to one race, but no, not a thing. We live in Greenwich on the doorstep to the events, but unable to participate as audience. However, all was not lost, I managed to get tickets for us to see the Fina Visa Diving World Cup. Fabulous… in the new Olympic Aquatics Centre in Stratford we were able to watch the Women’s 10m Platform Diving and I took my sketch book.

Dive 1. London Prepares  Dive 2. London Prepares

Warm up off the spring boards 

Olympic Pool  Dive 3. London Prepares

10m diving platform                          GB Monique Gladding diving

All the diving was amazing. Chen Ruolin of China won with 405.25.

Swimming is important in my family, both as a sport and the activity that melds us together when everything feels muddled and wrong. When the kids return from being away, I know that one of them will say ‘lets go swimming’ and as we swim the world starts to feel right again, for all of us. They are much faster than me, the younger 2 swim competitively in our local swimming club, my 15 year old is so fast, sometimes people stop swimming and stare, swimming well and swimming fast is very beautiful.

These are just a few of the small sketches of the diving that evening, I will use them to inform a painting to be shown in my forthcoming exhibitions.

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Siobhan Davies Dance at Turner Contemporary

February 29th, 2012

If an uplifting exhibition of Turner’s paintings, the most famous erotic life size sculpture, or beautiful typographic and photographic imagery by Hamish Fulton isn’t enough to lure you to the Turner Contemporary in Margate maybe this will.

Siobhan Davies Dance will perform Rotor at Turner Contemporary 30 March – 1st April. ‘Rotor is an ensemble of performances, sound, installations and artworks created by 9 artists from different backgrounds in response to Davies’ filmed choreography “The Score”.‘

             Rotor. Siobhan Davies Dance  Rotor was first presented at Siobhan Davies Studios in November 2010 where I drew the performance. In 2006 I drew during rehearsals of In Plain Clothes, in 2007 for Two Quartets and The Collection at Victoria Miro Gallery in 2009.

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Candoco Rehearsal with Claire Cunningham

February 25th, 2012

Candoco Dance Company has been commissioned for Unlimited, a project celebrating disability, arts, culture and sport as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Choreographer Claire Cunningham is working with Candoco making a new work for the company of 12 disabled and non-disabled dancers, including dancers invited from Rio de Janeiro and Beijing.

I was invited to join the company to draw the dancers in rehearsal

Candoco rehearsal

The day began with a morning class

Candoco rehearsal

Candoco rehearsal

Claire immediately creates a sharing and sensitive atmosphere by asking everyone in the studio to speak in turn for 1 minute about anything they want, the only limitation is that the words spoken most go no further than that room. Many of the 1 minutes are filled with very personal heart felt words, I find I talk very fast tripping over my words, so much I want to say – how many words can be spoken in 1 minute? At the close I feel light headed was it because I haven’t taken a breath or because I released the words instead of boxing them up inside my head?

CAndoco Rehearsal

The dancers were each given a crutch to work with in the rehearsal 

The first performance will be at Trinity Laban on 29th February

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Turner Contemporary. Margate

February 22nd, 2012

Recently I went to the South East’s stunning new art gallery Turner Contemporary, in Margate, Kent. The building, designed by Stirling Prize Winner David Chipperfield Architects, opened in April 2011. Turner Contemporary has been the vision of Director Victoria Pomery over the last 10 years. In 2002 I was invited to an exhibition and discussion about the ideas and plans for the gallery, held in Droit House on the waterfront, I was completely bowled over by Victoria’s belief and vision for a gallery in Margate, still at that time in the very early planning stage.

Turner and the Elements is an immensely uplifting exhibition of 88 of Turner’s watercolours and paintings. The following room, the work of Hamish Fulton who has made walking the basis of his practice, shows photographs, sketches and massive very stylish typographic based work directly on the walls.

Margate

Misty view over the sea from the gallery cafe, serving delicious food

The Kiss The Kiss (alternate view)

Rodin’s The Kiss

Rodin’s lifesize marble sculpture of an embracing couple, The Kiss, dominates (in a good way) the entrance hall, with the backdrop of the sea behind.

There is an impressive education programme of events, workshops and projects.

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