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Cathy Marston
Arts Labs.... ...and 24 hour ballet... | |||||||
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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 It’s really quite hard thinking back to August now - so many things are cluttering my mind from the last two days - and also it’s rather depressing to think that all that sunshine has gone for another year (it’s chucking it down outside as I write this...) Still, I’ll look back through my filofax and see if that jogs my memory... The Performing Arts Lab for Dance (PAL) Definitely one of the highlights of my summer. For the last three years, this ten-day seminar has been hosted in Kent at an organic farm called Bore Place. Converted to a "artist’s pad", it has facilities to host conferences and labs not only for choreographers, but for musicians, film makers, architects, writers: all sorts really. I went on the course for dance as a performer, for it was supposed to be ‘performer-led’, however, the meaning of this term itself was certainly open to interpretation. Twelve performers in total, there were also three choreographers, musicians/composers and film/video makers. Unlike other workshops I’ve participated in, there was no pre-ordained structure for the ten days. Initially we rotated groups so that everyone worked with everyone else on daily investigations, but for the most part, we were able to arrange the day’s schedule as we saw fit. Without going into the long debates that occurred (which would be another article entirely) I can tell you that I spent most of my time working on two projects, the first, led by choreographer, Wendy Houston. I was intrigued to work with Wendy because her background - physical theatre, primarily with DV8 - is one that excites me, but in which I have very little experience. Indeed, we didn’t do an enormous amount of choreographed movement at all, but instead worked closely with improvisation, text and video. I can’t describe what resulted, but Wendy’s method of entering into the studio space with what seemed like very loose ideas - usually revolving around some game or other - simply amazed me. By the end of the day, I knew that something very special had happened: Wendy had achieved wonderful ways of expressing ideas implicit within the themes I often discussed, but her means and metaphors were such that would never have occurred to me before. And yet, I think the greatest part of the LAB for me was working with David Hinton (film director) Sianed Jones (composer) and Anna Williams (dancer of Ricochet) on a short DVD film. The character of Ophelia still haunting me (from choreographing ‘rosemary for remembrance’ for Images of Dance) I was inspired by the setting around a small water pond near the farm. I told David, Sianed and Anna about my idea of making a film there one evening - not expecting that they’d actually want to realise it... The next day, however, they were keen to have a go, so in every spare minute of the day we trekked up a hill to shoot more footage. It was a privilege to be able to work with such an experienced director as David in this informal way. I think this is the strong point of seminars such as PAL; they throw artists with different skills together and allow them to brew over a short period. In the last three days, David and I were up until three in the morning editing the film on video software: something with which neither of us had much experience, but that other participants taught us to use. We finished the two-minute movie at 4am on the last night and had a ‘showing’ there and then! I was really proud - and I think the others (who thought we were a bit mad to have been doing it) were really impressed too! I feel like I’ve come away from the LAB with new experiences and friends, but also new skills and a new passion. I’d love to do more work with film - and I’d love to get the software to edit my own videos. Quite how these things will be possible in the "real world" I don’t know, but I feel like I’ve had a fantastic introduction. Holiday Just for the record I’d like to say that yes - I did stop working for all of a week! I spent most of it horizontal, with waves of the Med lapping at my feet, in Tunisia with my sister. It was so nice - just to stop moving, sleep and read. I got through seven books in seven days (I’d taken five which were, I admit, possibly work related, but as I got though them so fast, I treated myself to two tacky spy thrillers at the end!) And then dancing again... As soon as I returned, it was back to dancing, in my second year at the Henri Oguike Dance Company. We’ve now had five weeks of rehearsals making a new piece that we’ll premiere next spring. Last week we started touring with a programme of ballets from our spring 2001 tour which are still going strong. We’ve already performed in Guilford and Bury St Edmunds, but have thirteen more shows before Christmas including four in London at the Laban Centre and the new Stratford Circus Theatre. For a list of dates and details go to my new web site, as shown below. Three new ballets in twenty-four hours! I need a manager (anyone know one?!) Somehow, I managed to schedule the first rehearsals of three new ballets I’m creating into a period of twenty-four hours...that was yesterday and the day before; tomorrow I’ve got calls for all three! In a way it’s wonderful, as I’ve spent the last few weeks dancing and writing funding applications, (another reason I need a manager - so that I can actually sleep!), so it was just a joy to go into the studio and be creative again (or perhaps creative and ‘in charge’ is what I should say!). Just a bit much on the mind though... a great test of multi-tasking! I’ll be talking about my new projects more in the next few months but just so you know what’s going on... I’m making a mini-ballet of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, for Central Ballet, in collaboration with the composer Carl Davis. With a long-term view to make a full-length ballet, we are making a study for the moment, with a twenty-minute extract based on this highly intricate novel. I’m also working on two pieces that will be performed at the Clore Studio in February and May 2002. The first will be part of the ‘Outside-In’ evening. It’s a twelve-minute abstract work to the music of the Australian composer, Carl Vine. The cast is five wonderful dancers of the Royal Ballet. The second work will be more substantial: a half-hour piece based on L. P. Hartley’s The Go Between, with a commissioned score by Philip Chambon (composer of Christopher Bruce’s ‘Swansong’) and danced by five members of the Royal Ballet, with special guest, Kevin Richmond. (Without wishing to take advantage of this forum I’d just like to add that I’m still in need of funding for this project; Philip Mosley, co-ordinator of the Royal Ballet, is on to it, but financial assistance or help of any kind, would be hugely appreciated!) And on that note, I think I’ll finish for this month... But before you go offline, please check out my new web site. A friend from Switzerland made it, Clare Noble, an ex-dancer, who has since moved back to London to become a graphic designer. This is her first web page, and I think it’s very classy: so, if you ever want someone to make you one, I would highly recommend her!
PS: Just remembered that the piece I created for the Northern Youth dance Company has now had it’s premiered and is touring the North-East, off and on, until April... further details on my web page.
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