Mark Baldwin
Mark will be adding to his blog posts over the coming weeks and months.
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Going back on the road
Posted by: Gillian Langley on 18 January 2010
Getting ready to go back on the road and it will be good to see those lovely dancers climb back into their pods (you'll know what I mean when you see the work) and again take on the piece that is The Comedy Of Change.
Rambert's excellent head of Learning and Participation, Joce Giles, is racking up those important workshops which let everyone into the process and ideas behind the work. The whole thing is still the most amazing learning curve for me; I'm still surprised that we share over 40% of our genes with a cabbage - it also makes me laugh and I always enjoy that. As I write this, a TV programme about our relationship with viruses is finishing, more interesting facts about life on earth and our part in all of this.
Sue Davies, the British choreographer, is re-staging a new work for the company: The Art Of Touch, a very emotional work set to delightful harpsichord music. What I love about the piece is the way she asks the dancers to use their bodies quite different from anything else in our repertoire. There is a disciplined release from deep inside which allows the dancers to move with speed and expansion whilst fully engaging the back. It's great to see the looks on their faces as they twig to it.
Since my last blog (sorry about the gap) our two rehearsal directors have been away and are now back....yay! And, I've made two appearances on So You Think You Can Dance; it was a less nerve racking experience to do the Choreography Camp than the first live show, which aired 9 January. My couple, Chloe and Gavin, got through to the next round shess! and phew! This is the first time I believe that Contemporary Dance has been shown on prime time TV which I have to say I'm quite proud of. It's been an interesting time as I swung from the contemporary music of Julian Anderson (The Comedy of Change) to working with the song Why composed by Annie Lennox, hey but this is the Yin and Yang of being a choreographer in today's world.
I feel lucky that Rambert has such a strong relationship with music and that I have acquired the ability to take on many different composers. Right now I'm happy to sit back in the theatres and watch The Comedy Of Change unfold with it's striking comments on the sounds of nature, shrieking birds, Disney-like sound effects, falling timbres, tintinnabulations (love this word) thwacks (yes thwacks). Jon Goddard's swiftness and bird impressions, Eryck Brahmania's soft jumps, Pieter Symond's commanding female presence, Antonette Dayrit's low gliding swiftness, Kirill Burlov's muscular assurance - the building of Kader Attia's effigy.
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