On Wednesday evening 14th July Hofesh Shechter Company performed Political Mother to a packed auditorium at Sadlers Wells. I was there with my sketch book drawing in the dark. (See my blog for May 28th to see my drawings and read my review of the company at Brighton Concert Hall.
During the Danes Hill School Arts Week, I joined year 6 to lead a 3D workshop. The theme, suggested in advance by art teacher Louise Hight was “Carnival”. We had discussed the idea of Chinese style “Dragons” that could be made and used by the class in a dance to be performed. I discussed the timing with the group – we had to complete them within the school day. I explained that they would have to work fast and be very focussed to achieve this.
After initial discussion the children split into 4 groups in the art room and designed their Dragons using oil pastels on large sheets of paper.
We moved outside and impressively following their designs the year 6’s used withies to construct the ‘skeleton’ of the dragon. (Withies are long flexible willow twigs, for example see Willow Man by Serena de la Hey, in Somerset.)
The structure was then covered with white tissue and PVA glue.
The coloured tissue was the last addition, still following the initial drawings.
We were running out of time but the year 6’s kept focussed and worked very hard completing the dragons by the end of the day with enough time and energy to try them out.
The stage is in darkness; a single spot reveals a lone samurai soldier committing hara-kiri. The image is so unexpected; I feel the scary sensation of being sucked inside a video-game. As he slumps forward, a politician comes in to view gesticulating wildly and ranting nonsensically from a balcony high above us.
As two men dance, four drummers are lit up playing a fierce and powerful rhythm. Adding to the scary surreal video-game dimension, they are also dressed in Samurai costume and their faces obliterated by darkness.
When I drew the dancers during rehearsals I saw beautiful emotionally charged fragments; to watch and draw these intricate rhythmic fragments joined, together with massive powerful and at times lyrical music, dynamic lighting and costumes the dance took on a whole new meaning. The dancers dance collectively, supportively in a group, but in contrast there are moments of such deep isolation and emotional pain of individuals that I feel overwhelming sadness and the breath catches in my throat. Certainly a sense of the futility of war comes across.
Suddenly on the balcony, above the action of the dancers, five foot-stamping, hair-swaying electric guitarists added to the shock effect by playing at full volume and I am catapulted back to the present day to a gig or music festival. The altered rhythm and atmosphere is reflected in the movement and mood of the dancers.
This jumping between time frames; the intense energy emanating from both the dancers and the musicians; the speedy switches of emotion and the fantastic geometric contrasts of light and shadow are all familiar territory to teenagers. I hope they will be in the audience at Sadler’s Wells in July to appreciate it.
At the premier at the close of the show there was a standing ovation, I cannot believe that it will anything less at any other venue.
The Hofesh Shechter Dance Company will be at The Concert Hall, Brighton on Thursday and Friday to Premier their new dance Political Mother as part of Brighton Festival. In July the company will be dancing at Sadler’s Wells.
Political Mother, rehearsal
“I was impressed with how Sally is able to capture, not only the movements, but also the atmosphere of my work” Hofesh Shechter.
In June over 20 of my framed drawings will be exhibited at The Union Club, Greek Street, Soho by GV Art, London.
Heart
During 2nd Floor Studios first Open Studios weekend there was a continuous flow of interested visitors through the two buildings and a vibrant atmosphere. My studio was constantly busy, the next Open Studios will be in the Autumn, if you would like to be on my mailing list for this and other exhibitions please contact me via my web site.
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Captured like a Firefly in Jam Jar
Last night was the Private View for the Open Studios at 2nd Floor Studios, where I have my studio overlooking the river. A photographer from the local paper, the News Shopper took some shots of me and my most recent painting: Captured Like A Firefly in a Jam-Jar and also my sketch books. One sketch book in particular attracted a lot of attention last night, of New Adventures Swan Lake, drawn last Autumn, it was this sketch book that inspired the above painting, the title came from writer and friend Karen Fielding when describing my drawings.
Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake
On Saturday and Sunday the Studios will be open from 11.00 – 5.00. My studio is 17 Unit 0, I will be there on both days.
On Thursday my son Max and I were invited to the press night for Desert Boy, the result of a collaboration between director/musician, Felix Cross and writer, Mojisola Adebayo at The Albany, Deptford. The play begins in Deptford (a few miles from where we live) with teenager Soldier Boy, on the threshold of life and death with a knife in his belly. A stranger appears to him and takes him and us on a journey, back 300 years to his home in the Sahara, a slave ship, America to pick cotton, and onwards. Throughout the play we are returned to Soldier Boy’s life story in South London.
The play is a wonderful, absorbing and very moving fusion of physical theatre, a fascinating and poignant story and fabulous music, ranging from rapping to beautiful a cappella singing that made my heart surge. The humor felt relevant, making both my son and I laugh.
Desert Boy at The Albany
Several weeks ago in Brighton, I drew during rehearsals of Hofesh Shechters’ Political Mother. It was wonderful to draw this company again. Last Autumn I joined them to draw during the early research of this dance. There is something deeply primeval about the choreography. I watched and drew bodies moving in unison, each dancer completely engaged in their own movement. I drew spirals and twists; rounded backs with heads bent submissively to the earth or arched backs with heads thrown up as if attempting unsuccessfully to break free from some unseen force deep within the earth. The rehearsal music was a background hum with a pulse, reminding me of the rhythmic beat of a universal heart.
Hofesh Shechter Dance Company, rehearsals for Political Mother in March 2010
On Friday choreographer Frauke Requardt and director Daniel Kramer’s dance-theatre portrait of composer Mussorgsky was performed at Sadler’s Wells. The nightmare of a man’s chaotic troubled life increasingly fueled by vodka, unfolds through memories that take the audience on a harrowing journey back to his childhood and his ultimate self destruction follows.
Over the last few years I have drawn some of the dancers when they danced with the Cholmondeleys and Featherstonehaughs and they were as fabulous in this production as they were then. The choreography is beautiful and strong and I admit to willing the acting to hurry so I could see and draw more movement.
Pictures from an Exhibition, Sadler’s Wells, 23/4/2010