(5 / 5)
During the beginning sequence of this dance piece we saw a tranquil essence of her head carrying a basket. Ffion resembles traditional class, depicting strong and dignified ethnic women. Ffion walks eloquently at ease whilst balancing flawlessly from afar in the dark, gradually getting closer to the moonlit spotlight, elegantly lifting the basket from her head into her arms to hold, scattering what looked like red petals on to the ground to surround her; simultaneously singing aloud ‘wade in the water’.
She was dressed in a white colonial dress, which had a petticoat style, made out of light fabrics consisting of cotton and silk. Ffion dressed in this way conveyed a representation of her ancient character, an ancestor, whose generation would later become an inhabitant of a colony.
She sang in mid-range Soprano, however suddenly her tone of voice swiftly transitioned into trembling unsettling sound effects with heavy gushing, gasp noises. This calm character had now presented emotions of pain, worry, hurt, neglect and sorrow. Her stability, balance and movement were now operating in opposition to her original energy. Her speed, direction of her body exhibited a perceived sense of disturbia in her characterisation leading her body to begin to twist and turn, push and pull, dive and duck, bend and crease as well as crawl and sweep up everything that had fallen out of her basket and lost with no hope of accumulating anything back. She slowly gave up and climbed into her basket whilst looking around her with a sense of burden and struck of darkness and curse upon her.
FFion Campbell-Davies in Womb Paves Way, (c) Carole Edrich 2018
Elimination of the torture identified in this woman spiritually came to an end once Ffion stepped out of the basket positioning her body directly to face the eyes of the audience, where we see she had more to say then give. Her soft radiant voice emotionally connecting, stemmed from her strong introductory to her family’s history, background and effects of colonialism. Ffion presented a strong autobiography of her conscious state of mind on her ancestry, with what it conveyed to her being a female on the rope to self-discovery, identity and self-expression. She then took us through an emotional journey, radiating a translucent spiritual longing for connectivity through the expression of dance, her choice of movement is daring, thrilling and resonating as the flexibility of her limbs leads her to strip down to comfortability, taking off her heap-wrap, undoing her braids so that she could caress her hair, she then subtly took of the top layer of her dress to be more free and sensual with her creativity, freedom and openness to the acknowledgment of her body.
Ffion’s sensory of movement is breathtakingly subjective and rational, deeper into her connectivity to her ancestry and acceptance of her women-identity and culture; she submits uplifting, rooted, tribal movements symbolising an unchained, happy and charismatic attitude to her individuality and regenerated mind-set. Ffion’s increased energy and fluidity from her feet travelled through to her arms projecting aspiration, hope, structure, purpose and gratitude.
A heartfelt, passionate, sincere, genuine, deep and fulfilling story told through dance, compelling music and storytelling. Conveying a fusion of emotion and reaching a place of acceptance in your skin and being; as well as having obedience to the fruits of your sprit in order to receive enlightenment, self-love, value and happiness of your nature.
Tanica Psalmist