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Cathy Marston,
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While other choreographers perhaps waxed and waned Cathy always seemed to deliver a goodie for Dance Bites. Having danced and choreographed in Europe for much of the 1990's she returned home in the summer of 2000 and, charming woman that she is, agreed to write a diary for us with hardly any arm twisting whatsoever!
Link to previous column.
Link to later column.
I feel distinctly cross-eyed sitting in front of my laptop writing this. I've been throwing copious amounts of choreography at fifty children today having had three performances around the East of England this week, topped off with a few rehearsals at the Opera House, the London Studio Centre and other places. Well, I'd love to be sat in front of the TV tonight but Bruce gave me this deadline and there's something about deadlines and me - I hate missing them. Anyway, here's the latest...
Images of Dance
Anyway, the morning I was going to start I had to get the train back from where I'd been performing with Henri Oguike; I was listening to the music and racking my brains for a title, which had been requested (demanded?) even before I'd started the piece. I decided to prod Guy, our lighting designer for some ideas - he's quite good at word play and can sometimes show sparks of intelligence (!!). I told him about the idea - such that it was, and showed him my costume pic. His reaction was 'Ophelia's Wake.' Now I think this was thoroughly intended as a joke, but me being me didn't get it straight away and actually liked the idea; not the title particularly but the thought of basing my choreography on the characters of Ophelia and Hamlet, ie. many Ophelias and four Hamlets. So that's what happened. I grilled him on all the things he could remember about the play (having studied it at A-level I wasn't completely in the dark), phoned my sister who's always great for on-the-spot-literary analysis, got myself to the Studio Centre and started the piece. Now I've finished it - or at least I've made all the steps. I'm at the fun stage of playing and with this group it is a lot of fun. As the students are having a similar training to that which I had (albeit considerably more relaxed at the LSC than the RB) I feel I can relate to them and their dancing needs more than dancers with contemporary training who bring up different questions for me. Whilst keeping a classical base to the vocabulary I'm using, I'm trying to open their minds to other ways that their ballet technique can be used. I'd like them to discover new territory with me in a similar way that I was broadened by other dancers/choreographers with whom I worked in the first few years of my professional life. It's very rewarding for me because most of the dancers are very hungry for anything you give them; predominantly they need to find a security in the foreign movements so that they can perform them with the same commitment that they can a straightforward pirouette or jete. I'm also emphasizing activation of the body; trying to be clear about where a movement is initiated from - how the strong use of a particular set of muscles or the release of another set affects the quality of the motion. As you can see - this is a learning experience for me too as I'm starting to define my style with increasing detail. I've been very lucky to have great support from the staff of Images; Maggie Barbieri has been lovely - and very open to what I want to do. Kevin Richmond, my assistant, has been a fantastic support - talking through choreographic dilemmas, encouraging me to go off on one and spout out all number of peculiar images and see which idea hits home.
Constant Lambert, London Children's Ballet, Henri Oguike... On the 8th/9th April I'll be having another new creation performed in the Clore Studio Upstairs. I'd tell you all to come but unfortunately (or not I suppose!) it's already sold out. The evening is celebrating the life and work of Constant Lambert. Four of us are making new works - Will Tuckett, Matthew Hawkins, Chris Hampson and myself. Actually Chris and I are seeing each other a fair bit as we're both at the ROH and creating for Images! My piece for the Lambert evening is for Tamara Roja and Brian Maloney and set to 'Trois Pieces Negre Pour lesTouches Blanches.' The London Children's Ballet is progressing; I'm steadily producing the required five minutes every Sunday and Michael Crookes is steadily making it look nice! Tickets are on sale by the way and as it apparently sells out every year I'd advise early booking. (Peacock Theatre, 17th-20th May) Yesterday we had the last performance with the Henri Oguike Dance Company for the spring. It all went very well - lots of interest for next season I think. Now we've got a break and will come together again for London performances in June when we'll open the new Stratford Circus Theatre.
I think that's all... Hampy and I did mean to write a diary together this month and tell you all the funny moments we've experienced with Images and the Lambert evening. Haven't had time to get together for the evening though so I'll leave the jokes to him!
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Photograph by Clare Park