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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 Oh dear - I'm covering three months in one entry…poor show really on my part! I'll try and make some good excuses though … I can't decide whether I should relate things chronologically or not; probably not as it all becomes entwined anyway. English National Ballet! Well, my big piece of news is that I've been commissioned to create a twenty-minute work for the English National Ballet's mid-scale tour in April. I'm really excited about this; partly because it will be the first time I've worked with ENB who are looking fantastic at the moment, and also because Matz asked specifically for something off-pointe and leaning towards the contemporary side of ballet - definitely my cup of tea. The worrying part is that I'll only have two weeks to create the piece. This is tight even for my standards - and I think I can be pretty fast - but I felt it was a challenge that I couldn't turn down. Leaving the Henri Oguike Dance Company… Taking this commission has had repercussions for my other activities; I had to resign from the Henri Oguike Dance Company after we finished our Autumn tour, as performances in the Spring would have clashed with the intensive creative time at ENB. I'm sad about this, especially as I really don't feel like stopping dancing completely yet, but I have no trouble in saying that to choreograph is my priority and this wasn't a chance I could refuse. Besides which, I hope there will be other small projects in which I will take part as a performer…one of which I may be able to talk about next month if it comes off. Developing pride… I've now finished choreographing Pride and Prejudice - First Impressions for Central Ballet. It took longer than expected because of a sad shortage of boys: unfortunately for me - although great for the boy concerned - my Wickham, who was ill for a long time at the beginning of my rehearsal period, was promptly snapped up by Northern Ballet Theatre as soon as he had recovered! Pinching Second Years and giving them as early taster of the performance company have now solved this problem. Yesterday, we managed our first run-through after Carl Davis kindly changed the 'big booms' at the end of the finale to fit in with my steps - I just had to get a big lift in before Darcy is left stranded - no, we don't' cover the whole story - and it simply wouldn't fit! Outside In I definitely feel that I've spent more time 'in' the Opera House than 'out' of it during the last few weeks! In January, Ross Stretton hosted a week-long thinktank entitled Spacecraft led by his ex-colleague Janet Karin. I was one of a group of four choreographers, four stage designers and three lighting designers who were encouraged to come up with loads of hugely wacky and imaginative - not to mention costly - concepts for ballets. The point was not to be restricted by usual practicalities. I enjoyed this element - particularly collaborating with the other artists - although I did go away thinking that I wish I knew when in my career I might ever be able to 'do' as big as I'd been thinking! More on the topic of Outside In though; have you booked yet? If not, please do - and quickly, before it sells out! If you haven't been following, Outside In is an evening of new work by five independent choreographers - Fin Walker, Kenneth Tharp, Ben Wright, Lisa Torun and myself - for Royal Ballet dancers. It'll be performed in the Clore Studio Upstairs on the 18/19/20/22 February. My piece is an abstract one to Carl Vine's Inner World for live cello accompanied by electronic score - performed by international soloist Matthew Barley. My choreography is called Strung With Tension. I make a point of saying this because Jenny Tattersall who has curated and organised the evening joked to me the other night that as she was on the phone to Simon Magill in the Press Department of the ROH telling him the title, he had laughed, saying 'Oh - as in water?!' 'Yes' she says - laughing at the joke…. I didn't get it and told her so. Then she says 'He meant as in water retention!' Oh dear. It then transpires that a press release had gone out calling my new creation Strung Retention which is what she swears - although she's wrong! - I said! Cohabitants I'm not going to talk about this piece much this month as I think Kevin (Richmond) gave a good account of activities last month - despite this new-found and not appreciated nickname 'Cazza'! We've not worked
So, before you go offline - go to the ROH website and book tickets for Outside In! Hopefully I'll see you there - probably before my next diary entry gets written! | ||||||||
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