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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 last summer (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
Marston diary index This month seems to have gone by in a flash; probably because I was late writing last month’s diary, there seems to be little of any substance to report since the last time I wrote. Not that I've had a moment to breathe really - we've had an intensive period of touring with the Henri Oguike Dance Company. It's great to see how the company has developed since I joined just over a year ago; not only in the work but also in the audiences it's attracting. We seem to be bringing in more people each time, particularly to cities we've been to before. It's a good learning experience for me - both as a dancer and a choreographer; it's good to see how small scale touring operates in the UK, and I'm being tempted more and more to think about how a small tour for my own work could become a reality. Looking out for men - as ever! Talking of my own work, the three pieces that will be my preoccupation until May are coming along slowly but surely... I've spent quite a bit of time at Central School of Ballet working on my ‘mini’ 'Pride and Prejudice' for them. It is going quite well and is making me laugh at least; the only problem is we're short of a boy...when I conceived the ballet with composer, Carl Davis, there were four boys in the Third Year. Now because of injuries, illness and so on I've been reduced to two, and it doesn't look like changing. This means that while I've got a wonderful Darcy - yes, I think Colin Firth has found as good a match as any, short of Jonny Cope! - and very sweet Bingley, I have no nasty Wickham on whom to create. Problematic indeed! Anyway, the staff at Central are desperately searching for a boy so if you know someone around 19-24 who's at the end of their training or feels they'd like a bit more with some performance and creative experience, tell them to get in touch! Work with Royal and the ADI Well, I'm getting on pretty well with my piece for the ‘Outside In’ evening in February. Creating for the RBC dancers in their free time is always difficult as you can rarely bring all the cast together at once, and when you can - late in the evenings - everyone is pretty exhausted. Having said that, they are great and I find myself able to push my movement vocabulary even further this year, as we know each other better from ‘Cohabitants’ last year. Jenny and Ricardo constantly astonish me by how fast they can move - and I mean really move! It just makes me smile and grow all excited - which, in turn, makes them excited, and then we're all happy! I haven't really started choreographing my 'Go-Between' ballet yet, although I did work with Gillie Revie, who will play Marion, and Kevin Richmond, who will be the 'mature' Leo, for a couple for sessions. More often, I've been meeting with the composer, Philip Chambon, to work on the score together. What's hard about the piece is finding a vocabulary - musically and choreographically, which will encompass the storytelling aspect, hint at the period of 1900, and yet remain within my style of work. The way I imagine it is similar to that sort of interior design where you find period furniture or decoration placed within a very stark, modern space. I've been talking and planning with my lighting designer, Simon Bennisson, already, trying to create an environment of light that will suit this world of memory that the characters inhabit. Rather than the beautiful Norfolk countryside where the novel is based, my ballet will take place in the dark musty attic where the sixty-year-old Leo's painful memories are triggered and seep into the forefront of his brain. Or perhaps the attic is inside his head, and the characters are there, faded and ignored, as discarded petals losing their colour in the back of his mind. Anyway - we're working on it! Philip Mosley, the manager of 'Cohabitants' - the evening in
Henri Oguike Dance Company
As a last note, I just want to remind you to reserve your tickets for the Henri Oguike Dance Company performances at the new Stratford Circus Theatre on December 6th and 7th. We had shows last week at the Laban Centre that sold out completely, and as I've been frustrated at not being able to get tickets for several performances of other companies recently, I can only assume that the dance audiences are growing! Well, maybe this is wishful thinking, but still, come and see the show!
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