Celebrating 200 years since the publication of Mary Shelley’s masterpiece; Cascade breathes new life into a story that has become so much more to us than its 19th Century origins. Visceral and engaging, Cascade’s production brings to the stage all the potency, drama and tragic inevitability that has made the original novel beloved of generation after generation.
We all know Frankenstein; the tale of the monster made of and by man. A cautionary tale, a creation story, an outsider story…a love story. This November, a new Frankenstein is born as a company of six performers and two musicians bring to life Artistic Director Phil Williams’ compelling new adaptation of the ultimate gothic fantasy.
Live music will continue to play a pivotal role in the Company’s work with original composition and performance by Jak Poore (Theatr na nÓg, David Walliams’“Gangster Granny” & “Awful Auntie”) and Ben Parsons (Cherry Ghost, Arctic Monkeys, BBC and Sky TV). Set and costume will come from Paul Shriek (Ballet Boyz, WNO, NDCWales). Cascade Dance Theatre brings its latest creation FRANKENSTEIN, to the touring circuit in Autumn 2018.
This exciting new production delves into the dark world created 200 years ago by Mary Shelley. Artistic Director Phil Williams returns after his successful tour in Autumn 2016, heading a team of international collaborators in a bicentennial celebration of Shelley’s gothic masterpiece.
Every performance of Frankenstein will feature open captioning for D/deaf, deafened and hard of hearing audience members.
FRANKENSTEIN TOUR DATES 2018
1st Nov Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea.
6th Nov Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth
9th Nov Ffwrnes, Llanelli
10th Nov Torch Theatre, Milford Haven
13th Nov Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon
17th Nov Blackwood Miners Institute, Blackwood
20th Nov Borough Theatre, Abergavenny
23rd Nov Neuadd Dwyfor, Pwllheli
24th Nov Galeri, Caernarfon
29th 30th Nov and 1st Dec Chapter, Cardiff
Theatr Dawns Cascade mewn cyd-gynhyrchiad â Chanolfan y Celfyddydau Taliesin
yn cyflwyno
Frankenstein
“It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils…”
I ddathlu dauganmlwyddiant cyhoeddi campwaith Mary Shelley, mae Cascade yn cyfleu agweddau newydd ar hanes sy’n golygu mwy o lawer inni heddiw na chwedl wreiddiol y 19eg ganrig.
Mae cynhyrchiad angerddol nwydus Cascade yn ail-greu’n rymus ddramatig ar lwyfan ddatblygiad anochel anffawd sydd wedi sicrhau lle i’r nofel wreiddiol yn ein calonnau, genhedlaeth ar ôl cenhedlaeth.
Rydym i gyd yn gyfarwydd â stori Frankenstein, anghenfil a grëwyd o ddyn, o waith dyn. Chwedl rybuddiol, hanes creadigaeth, stori am ddieithryn… stori serch.
Ym mis Tachwedd fe gaiff Frankenstein newydd ei eni wrth i gwmni o bum perfformiwr a dau gerddor anadlu bywyd i mewn i addasiad cymhellgar y Cyfarwyddwr Artistig Phil Williams o’r ffantasi gothig benigamp hon.
Cefnogir gan Gyngor Celfyddydau Cymru, Llywodraeth Cymru a’r Loteri Genedlaethol, gyda chefnogaeth ychwanegol gan Ganolfan y Celfyddydau Aberystwyth, Tŷ Cerdd a Creu Cymru.
I got myself a taste of the Trocks last week, and I ached for more.
Probably not as much as they ache after performing 2 different shows over the course of 2 weeks.
You would think – doing comical ballet dressed as women would become old hat – but boy, are you wrong.
This time around, we had different ballets – from Les Syphides, Tchaikovsky Pas De Deux to Napoli Pas De Six, Raymonda’s Wedding and a revisit to The Dying Swan.
Each performance different to the last, there is no repeat of the routine – both comedy and dance and the stand out performers are not the same as last time, taking the lead with their characters and their foibles.
What can be congratulated by them as performers, is that no one is on stage and forgetting where they are. They are engaged, the are paying attention, and in their own subtle ways being involved and hilarious in their ‘hammed’ reactions as much as those we are ‘meant’ to be paying attention to.
Again, the ballet aspects are brilliant, perfection and stunning to watch. Their transformation and changes between the female and male characters invoke typical and traditional ballet. But they still have their own characters – the slightly dumb male lead, distracted by everything and anything in Les Syphides to the beautiful and slightly egotistical bride in Raymonda’s Wedding.
We have a repeat performance of the Dying Swan, but with a different dancer, they have taken their own take – the basic choreography is the same, but their character is different and so we are still easily engaged and laughing at different jokes.
Again, I really enjoyed Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo and felt as if I was seeing an old friend, but with new and side splitting stories.
The 51st annual Bromyard Folk Festival recently took place and I spent a delightful afternoon at one of Britain’s major showcases of home-based talent in this perennial music genre.
Performing at this year’s festival were headlining artistes such as Oysterband, The Young ‘Uns and the guy I was fortunate to catch, Chris Wood.
The Festival site is located about a quarter of a mile outside the attractive Black and White styled buildings of the Herefordshire market town of Bromyard. Only being 90 minutes drive from South-East Wales, makes it easy accessible. The town itself holds many fringe events such as bands playing in the pubs and Morris Dancers performing in the Town Square. The overall effect is quintessentially English, and, even on a murky drizzly September afternoon was sufficiently edifying for even the writer’s Welsh gaze.
At the field where the paid part of the Festival is located, there is a veritable cornucopia of activities that welcome the attendee.
The main acts are housed on the Wye Valley Brewery stage, housed inside a large marquee. This is where I watched the superb songwriter/musician, Chris Wood.
Self-taught on the guitar and violin, he is inspired by the traditional dance music of France and Quebec. What impressed me most was his witty and clever lyrics, presented with a clarity of vocal annunciation that hammer home the song’s message, but in a quiet easygoing manner. It isn’t too difficult to understand why he has been twice awarded the BBC Folk Singer of the Year. He has collaborated with Billy Bragg,and Martin and Eliza Carthy and other folk-world luminaries and recently supported Joan Armatrading, not that, (in his own words), she requires any support. And if, in the unlikely occurrence that his musical career flounders, he could make a decent living as a stand-up comic such is his highly amusing delivery.
You also have a large bar marquee where acts perform and an outdoor stage, where I witnessed the prancing antics of a Morris Dancing troupe. There are also a number of related trade stalls and food vendors, a children’s play area and competitive events are held during the Festival’s four days.
I found there to be a highly convivial atmosphere present between the organisers and festival-goers. Free car parking is provided in an adjacent field.
Already the 2019 dates are set for 5th-8th September 2019 and tickets will be available early next year. I am already looking forward to it!
The sensory of the dancers’ movements projected an aura of an overwhelming system, which conveyed power and pain from the three dancers’ bodies. Uniquely taking eyes through a figurative journey, as their bodies effortlessly would vigorously flop and rise, their fluidity hypnotised, leaving you mesmerised to the depths of how political distress affects the mental and emotional state.
The music was upbeat. In beat we witnessed a fusion of dance styles such as krumping, popping, electro funk gliding to the counts within the music flow that went to the rhythm of 1,2,3,4 but automatically speeded up to their heartbeats chanting 2,4,6,8. This soon boomed to a higher frequency as they began spinning, breakdancing and exploiting various other hip hop movements, perfectly synchronised to the music produced by Michael Asante.
The three dancers were all dressed in white, visually moving our brains due to the expressions of strain and their reactions of torment in vain. Their clothing interestingly had straps, tied down to their chests. You could feel the dancers’ hearts race, pumping to the counts of 10, 20, 30, and 40. The repetitive moves majestically synced. Projecting moves of life and power whilst they embraced an emotional energy, triggered by a world we all know so well.
The second half brought even more intensity to the stage. A batch of five guys enchanted moves of ill health, in an oppressive nature. Their violence embodied was evidently from a segregated culture. Hope was their supply, their influence was their leader, precautions were their discipline, and the misguided was their teacher. These five guys were full of anger and despair, soon joined with the three dancers seen at the start, who slid along the floor. The dancers’ resonated hurt from colonisation, mixed in with an identity crisis leaving one of the main dancers fatally hurt; as if he had been wounded, portraying weakness, no vacant strength in his strive to fight.
When he was solitary on stage, the lights were flooded with a sparkly white, glossy effect with smoke filtered across the stage. The dancer during his solo dance act was regenerating, embodying martial art movements as a sign of him strengthening and empowering.
A scarlet cloth was draped around this dancer, which instinctively held a connection to culture. We saw that what was lost had been restored. As the dancers re-joined him they all effectively started tribal dancing. Incorporated into the dance moves were light bouncing, embracing, smiling, culture, architecture of hearts rejoicing, as their bodies bounced like tigers. It became an expression of unity and life between the past and present of home manifested through hip hop dancing.
The artistic designs on stage, blossomed the audience with amazement as masks were slowly hanging down on set, the room went dark revealing these masks to now have vibrant, glowing colours which brilliantly had the same facial patterns duplicated on to the dancers faces. The luminance radiated from their trousers, bursting colours of blue, with a reddish, orange tint.
The music consisted of heavy, deep drums and heartfelt string instruments. The ambience was uplifting as it radiated emotions of tranquillity, hope, victory and a full tribe of life. Each dancer individually performed a solo as themselves, which conveyed their known identity. The colours from the projection resembled a sunset in the background displaying colours that were warm and exotic. The artistic designer wonderfully exhibited streams of a liquid gold sunset display as they danced like it was their last time. Full of energy, fire and enjoyment, zero stopping involved.
The final dance moves had huge arm swinging incorporated, with big feet stomps and jumps symbolising freedom and happiness. In slow motion as the music began to fade and the magical sunset went down we saw the elegancy of them walking off into sunset together, representing strong unity within their community, who were born to survive.
While I enjoy a good ballet, Les Ballet Trockadero de Monte Carlo, or ‘Trocks’ as they are affectionately known as, are a triumph.
Ballet is beautiful, but Ballet can be ever so serious.
The Trocks take snippets from real ballets, such as Swan Lake and Trovatiara and present them in a humorous way – playing off the fears of ballet dancers and the mistakes that could happen, and in put their own slapstick amongst truly beautiful dance and technicality.
The Trocks are all male, dressed, colloquially, in ‘drag’ but still play both male and female parts with absolute brilliance – switching from serious ballet to comedy, they are nothing but awe-inspiring and engrossing.
The set is like any ballet – the costumes as opulent as any ballet and their beauty is beyond words. You feel that it should be wrong to laugh, but they somehow mix it so well that you laugh but also really appreciate their talent, stamina and grace. And gosh, they know the right time to pause, the right faces to pull and how to work us audience members.
I would suggest if you are new to ballet, to first see the Trocks – they are a lovely introduction to dance where it does not feel too serious, you are left time to appreciate the quality of dance, but also to relax into a comical and fun evening.
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo is also visiting the Wales Millennium Centre at the beginning of October – Do. Not. Miss. Them!
A note on Joon Dance’s Tongues: This performance was shown as work in progress, the result of a period of research and development. It is a collaboration between Joon Dance, spoken word artist Rufus Mufas and young people in the community.
Tongues is coming in on a swell of excellent work for and with young people in Wales. Theatre Iolo’s excellent Platfform initiative is nurturing artists to make engaging, demanding work for and with young people, such as Tin Shed Theatre’s Boxes and 2016 by Paul Jenkins and Tracey Harris. Even National Theatre Wales is getting in on the act with We’re Still Here making great use of a community cast, including several young people, given strong moments within professional production to connect with an audience and have their voices hear. The UK as a whole is really seeing a shift in how we make and present work for young audiences, with growing recognition that they deserve as dynamic and diverse program of work as older audiences, and that by nurturing the next generation of young creatives we can ensure this program of work continues to be made in the future.
Billed as “A public performance on the Friday at 6.30pm to showcase the piece of work developed through the week.” Tongues was the culmination of a week’s work with young people from the community around Chapter, for them to,
“Find your voice this summer with TONGUES. Ever wanted to speak out about what’s important to you? Like dancing or interested in performing? Together we will create a dance and spoken-word performance unique to you and your community.”
Its ambition is to fit neatly in to this growing landscape of diverse, young people led work. I feel this is important. Tongues is big ideas and big promises.
Tongues also opens with a promise to the audience. Well. A promise and a provocation. Upon being seated we are asked what “Canton is”. Our answers are written down and posted on the wall at the back. All the while bodies slowly writhe on stage like pupae waiting for the performance to begin. Before the show starts we are told our voices matter, that we are as much a part of this as the performers.
Tongues is ultimately a promise to give voice to its young people and its audience.
It’s a promise it breaks.
The performance, to be absurdly reductive, consisted of three halves (try working that one out, ha!). Live dance, spoken word and live sound mixing using audio captured from around Canton.
The opening number involved the young people dancing across the stage, with the most infectious, magnetic smiles I’d seen in a long time. Loving performance, loving being there, I was utterly delighted to be spending the next hour in their company. Even more so when they picked up the mic and started expressing their truths about the world.
What a tragedy to see them spend the majority of the performance sat at the back of the stage as the adults performed for them, spoke for them and made music for them.
What a missed opportunity to have three exciting live mediums, built on passion and emotion, to be performed in such a monotone and belaboured manner, and to not have the mediums play together and enhance the expression of each. I so desperately wanted them to react to each other, to find a voice together. I also had a particular note for whoever performed the majority of spoken word – they held the mic too close to their mouth making it difficult to understand, and the lack of variation in delivery made it hard to focus on what was being said. If the words came from young people let them speak!
And how great would it have been if our answers to “Canton is” had been included in the piece instead of involving us at the start only to be ignored for the rest of the performance.
The adults performing the work have worked hard and take great joy in what they do, and are clearly incredibly proud of the potential of the work.
It just needs to decide whether it is work for and by young people, in which case they need to be front and centre, or whether to use young people’s experiences as provocations for professional artists to create work around. A great deal of what I said can be addressed simply by changing how the work is framed to the audience.
I see great potential in this work and would love to see a more developed version, one that embraces its liveness and the unrefined, magnetic joy and passion of the young people on which it has built its foundation. Please do not take their voices away.
Unfortunately, The work is just not there yet. It is however an excellent, and exciting concept, one that is using mediums that resonate with young people in ways that traditional theatre doesn’t, so I am incredibly hopeful that the work will become something important and vital.
Six dance artists from five different countries – including Wales’ Eddie Ladd – will be at Chapter, Cardiff this September for the second of a series of international residencies, developing new cross-border work based on the theme of transformation with iCoDaCo (International Contemporary Dance Collective).
Local communities are invited to share in this unique and experimental creative process with a series of free interactive events at Chapter from 11-15 September, including a children’s workshop and an open sharing of the work in progress, while global audiences will follow the contemporary dance collective’s progress online.
iCoDaCo is a two-year project that selects world-class international dance artists to create and tour a collaborative full-length production together (rather than a collection of individual pieces), developing the work across each of the artists’ home countries.
Following their first residency in Hong Kong this August, the six iCoDaCo 2018-2020 dance artists from Hong Kong, Hungary, Poland, Sweden and Wales will be in Cardiff this September for a 2-week residency to further develop their work. The Cardiff residency is being hosted by Welsh company Gwyn Emberton Dance, who are supporting the project internationally as a partner organisation of iCoDaCo, with Gwyn as a member of the creative team.
Gwyn Emberton
in Cardiff, the iCoDaCo artists will be exploring physical, spatial, political and psychological transformations in modern society, while also demonstrating the early stages of their creative process to the public, regardless of dance knowledge or experience, through a series of free interactive events at Chapter.
On Tuesday 11 September, there is an open coffee morning with free coffee and pastries to welcome the iCoDaCo artists with an opportunity to share stories, thoughts and ideas around the theme of transformation. Throughout the week, local dancers and physical performers are welcome to join the artists in their morning classes and experience a range of teaching approaches (Tuesday 11, Thursday 13 & Friday 14 September).
Children aged 8-12 can try a free contemporary dance workshop on Saturday 15 September, hosted by Gwyn Emberton Dance and led by renowned Welsh performer and iCoDaCo artist, Eddie Ladd with the other dance artists from Sweden, Hungary and Poland. And on Friday 14 September, the iCoDaCo collective will publicly share their work in progress followed by an informal Q & A session – which will both be streamed live online – connecting audiences in Wales with international followers.
Eddie Ladd
As part of the European Commission’s Creative Europe Programme, with additional support in Wales from Arts Council of Wales and Chapter, the project promotes values such as diversity, tolerance and communality while creating a fresh contemporary dance piece that is influenced by the eclectic artistic and personal heritage of each artist in the collective.
iCoDaCo artist Lee Brummer from Sweden reflects on the group’s first residency in Hong Kong:
“It feels incredible to be in a room with these inspiring individuals, each with a strong, powerful and enchanting world. I’m enjoying the journey between each of these worlds and the open invitation for them to visit mine. I’m looking forward to reconnecting with everyone at our second residency in Wales and seeing how the piece transforms and learning from the wealth of the collective.”
Lee Brummer
the residency in Cardiff, the iCoDaCo collective will regroup in Sweden, Hungary and then Poland, culminating in the premiere of TRANSFORMATION (working title) this November at BalletOFFFestival by Kraków Choreographic Centre. TRANSFORMATION will then tour throughout 2019 to Sweden (March), Hungary and Poland (April), Hong Kong (July), Edinburgh Festival Fringe (August) and Wales in Autumn 2019.
Audiences can follow the progress of TRANSFORMATION on the iCoDaCo blog at icodaco.com and watch live the sharings via facebook.com/icodaco.
For more information on the free iCoDaCo events at Chapter this 11-15 September and to book a space for the open classes, coffee morning, kids workshop and the sharing – visit chapter.org
Ransack Dance are about to tour their production ‘ Murmur’ Checkout this interview with Sarah Rogers, Artistic Director of Ransack Dance from last year. The 2019 tour dates are below.
The Director of Get the Chance, Guy O’Donnell recently met with Sarah Rogers, Artistic Director of Ransack Dance, they discussed her background, thoughts on the arts in Wales and her new production ‘Murmur’, taking place on Fri 14th Sept at Memo Arts Centre, Barry.
Hi Sarah great to meet you, can you give our readers some background information on yourself please?
Hi I am a South Wales based dance artist, currently running my own dance company based in Pontypridd called Ransack Dance Company which I set up in 2013. Our work always involves live dance, music and film, and I choreograph and direct the work as the Artistic Director of the company, working collaboratively with the artists in each discipline. We are also Affiliate Company to Artis Community, working to support and develop their dance pathways provision in RCT and Merthyr. Alongside my work with Ransack and Artis, I also work as a freelance choreographer and dance teacher and am currently a Dance Ambassador for National Dance Company Wales.
So what got you interested in performance and the arts?
I’d love to tell you about an amazing theatre show that inspired me years ago but I must admit I don’t think this is the case as I didn’t really go to the theatre much as a child, but my pathway was definitely through a love to move and dance…… I trained as a gymnast from an early age, and I think my way into the arts is that I became more and more fascinated by the choreography of the floor routines opposed to the acrobatic elements, so I started choreographing my own and the other gymnasts routines at the club. My parents then cottoned onto the fact I may like to dance and I was very lucky as they were really supportive and so they started to take me to the theatre. I think the musical Cats stands out as one of the first shows that I saw and that inspired me as a child (weird as I’m really not into musicals now!). When I got older I joined a local street dance and break dance group which was led by Tamsin Fitzgerald (now Director of 2Faced Dance) so I was very lucky to have her as a teacher.
Tamsin Fitzgerald, Director of 2Faced Dance.
She pointed me in the right direction of what contemporary companies to go and see, so I started to watch more contemporary dance theatre work and loved it! And she also suggested I go to my local dance school to take more formal lessons in styles such as ballet, and from there I went onto study at Laban, and have never looked back!
Your company Ransack is presenting a new production called Murmur at Barry Memo on Friday 14 September 2018 at 7:30pm. The production is advertised as “Telling two unique short stories in a surge of risk taking athletic contemporary dance, crashing live music and breath taking film images.” It sounds very exciting! Can you tell us more?
‘Murmur’ is a double bill involving our work ‘Momenta’ and ‘Broken Arrows.’ We have been building the work through various R&D phases over the past three years, one of which included sharing an earlier version of Momenta at the Memo last November. We are excited now to go back to the Memo and share the finished work and perform ‘Broken Arrows’ which we have never performed at the venue before.
https://vimeo.com/285362800
Each work has live dance, music and film. The performers take the audience through a series of scenarios, dancing under feathers falling from the sky, jumping over drum kits, dancing at live gigs and fighting their way through storms! The first piece ‘Momenta’ is based on a television interview (from the 1973 Dick Cavett Show) with Marlon Brando in which he describes ‘We act every day to save our lives,’ so we explore this notion of acting as a survival mechanism and question in the piece-when are we truly authentic?
The second work ‘Broken Arrows’ is essentially a love story, and we reveal the memories of the protagonist character ‘The girl in red’, with some audiences seeing the work as presenting the theme of a love triangle and other seeing a more sinister side to the story.
https://vimeo.com/249021626
There’s another element to the production as we’re creating an immersive feel with our second work with performances from Motion Control Dance and University of South Wales intertwined to bring the work to life and immerse the audience in the action! We are also collaborating with a live band-‘Best Supporting Actors’ who will play live with the Ransack musicians in one of the works and also play in the interval and offer a free gig following the performance.
As you mention the production will be followed by a live gig from the band ‘Best Supporting Actors,’ Its unusual two mix these two artforms together why have you chosen to programme them together?
It’s funny you say that as I think live music and dance is the most natural combination in the world!…Our work always involves live music, so by collaborating with the band we are trying to take this element to the next level. I think the initial idea came about as one of our scenes in ‘Broken Arrows’ is set at a music gig….so I wanted to actually have a full live band playing to bring this scene into reality, so the performers and the audience could actually be at a gig rather than recreating this somehow with just two musicians. There’s also another idea behind the collaboration however, as I’m really keen to create a full ‘night out’ experience for the audience, so that they can stay after the dance elements of the production, listen to some live music and have a drink so that we can challenge what the idea of going to see a dance show is. The performers will also be at the gig with the audience (turning into audience themselves!) and so I’m also hoping that this merges the idea of performers vs audience as two separate groups and allows the audience to get to know the performers and talk to them in a really relaxed environment (rather than a formal post show discussion for example).
Contemporary Dance can be thought of as an elitist art form, as a young Wales based dancer what work do you think needs to be done to support new audiences?
I think the majority of new audience come from outreach work, and working with young people to introduce them to dance…..This is a tough one as ultimately I think a lot of this issue comes down to what finding is available to allow dance companies to offer their outreach work for free or a reasonable and accessible price. Through my work with Artis Community in RCT, I see the challenge first hand of taking dance provision out of cities such as Cardiff.
Participation numbers are lower (at the moment!) travel sometimes becomes an issue as areas are more spread out, and there are more areas of deprivation in which organisations simply can not charge a lot (or anything) for dance classes if we want all young people to be able to access them.
I think there’s another side to this too however, which is really thinking about what new audiences to dance need. A lot of them want to be able to ‘understand’ the work, which we all know that the response from someone in the dance world (including myself!) would be ‘but there is nothing to understand ….and you can take what you want from it’. But I’m finding out more and more that even though we can preach this it won’t change how some audiences think. So I think it’s finding a way to share the process of work more and share what work is about before the audience sees it. This is already happening through lots of companies opening up their rehearsals and using social media more to share the process behind making the works, so I think just developing this and growing this idea in different ways would be great. I also think including other art forms helps, and this is part of the reason that with Ransack we include film and music as some audiences may relate to these art forms more than the dance at first and be able to use this as ‘a way in’ to the dance elements.
Get the Chance works to support a diverse range of members of the public to access cultural provision. Access for diverse citizens is a key priority for a range of arts funders and organisations Are you aware of any barriers to equality and diversity for either Welsh or Wales based artists/creatives?
I think the main barrier is economic. There are very few schools that offer a dance G.C.S.E or A Level for example with young people then having to pay for extra-curricular provision in dance at dance schools which often charge a lot for their classes, and some families simply can not afford this. There’s then also issues over funding for organisations and companies to be able to offer their dance provision for an accessible price so that people from all backgrounds can access their provision.
There are a range of organisations supporting Welsh and Wales based artists and creatives, I wonder if you feel the current support network and career opportunities feel ‘healthy’ to you?
Part of the reason I moved back to Wales is that I do feel like there is a really supportive arts network here, particularly in dance. It’s great that there are now professional dance classes available through Groundwork Pro too.
I would say that I think there could be more support for emerging choreographers however and emerging companies. One of my reactions to this was to set up the Arrive Dance Platform for emerging choreographers with Ransack and share our theatre space when we have R&D with other artists so they can platform their work and get feedback. I think however that perhaps some of the bigger companies and organisations could support this area a bit more, particularly with the loss of Wales Dance Platform a few years ago.
If you were able to fund an area of the arts in Wales what would this be and why?
That’s such a hard question to answer! I think that all areas of the arts from community practice, to youth provision to professional production work and in all art forms support and feed into one another so I couldn’t pick just one! I think where the arts can thrive is when each area supports each other and all artists and organisations collaborate and work together.
What excites you about the arts in Wales?
I think there’s a really exciting feel in Wales that art forms merge from one to another. There’s lots of multi-media/multi-art form work happening. In my dance world I’ve seen this more and more through actors working with dancers and vice versa and this is one of the reasons my work is merging more and more into physical theatre, involving speech in our work (after having collaborated with Theatre Director Angharad Lee). Although I love the arts scene in Cardiff, it’s also exciting to see more and more artists coming out of the capital city and setting up their own networks and connections, and to see how these areas are evolving culturally because of this. This is one of the reasons that this year I have decided to base Ransack in Pontypridd, and with the new theatre and training spaces opening here at the YMCA next year, there have been lots of artists interested in working in this area, and there’s been lots of interesting and creative planning meetings and conversations happening that I’ve been involved in, so it’s exciting that we can start a new network and way of working together in the area.
What was the last really great thing that you experienced that you would like to share with our readers?
There’s a couple I think that stand out in my mind from recently….I’ve seen a couple of great shows lately, one was out of Wales in London at Sadlers Wells-Hofesh Shechter’s ‘Grande Finale,’ which I would recommend.
Again the mixture of live dance and music in this show really inspires me.
In Wales, most recently I have seen National Theatre Wales’ ‘English,’ which I loved as it really closed the gap between the audience and the performer and the way that the show instigated a conversation between the two was really clever and something I’d like to take into my own work. Oh and it was a little while ago but their production ‘We’re Still Here’ also really inspired me, particularly the way the community stories and people from the community were integrated into the performance.
It may seem a little incongruous to have a review about the Welsh National Eisteddfod in English, but, I’m afraid that my best endeavours, (strike that – my lack of endeavour) fifty years ago, meant that I just managed to avoid being unclassified for my O’Level Welsh language examination.
In fact, I think the last time that I attended an Eisteddfod, I was actually taking part in it! I came third, (out of three) in the piano competition. I recall the adjudicator, a Mrs Ogwen Thomas if my nightmarish memory serves me correctly,, summed up my playing by saying that it took her a while to recognise the piece I was playing. So, there ended my budding concert recital career!
Being Welsh, you are always aware, when being out of your native country, of being The Other. Having lived two-thirds of my life to date outside of Wales, I have exploited that, both to my advantage and disadvantage. So, I looked forward to attending the Welsh National Eisteddfod, which, this year is being held at and around the WMC in Cardiff, with great anticipation.
I was also a little apprehensive due to my concern about missing out on most of the activities, due to my lack of understanding Welsh.
My fears were allayed due to the presence of a desk in the foyer, that has free instant translators into English. However, this only works in The Pavilion, (Donald Gordon Theatre), but as all the major action occurs here, this is not a huge problem. And the instant translation works well.
In the three hours I sat here, I watched a huge diversity of competitions – vocal, recitation, instrument duo, instrument solo and dance. Of course, music transcends the difficulties of language, so I found this to be the most enjoyable events.
The talent on display was, at times, breathtaking. In the instrumental duo, I watched two cute little ten year old girl harpists in competition against two Royal College of Music student duos – twice their age! Naturally, they came third, but to be pitted against two highly accomplished duos from the RCM, and not be embarrassed, is an outstanding achievement – especially as one of the girls lives in Lampeter and the other in Cardiff, making practicing together a little awkward.
In the Blue Ribband event for under 16’s events, I saw four wonderful young musicians. Naturally I was drawn to the pianist, a twelve year old girl from Pontyclun, who played Scarlatti and then Bartok. Two vastly different pieces, and her maturity not only in technique, but also expression was awe-inspiring. A brilliant alto saxophonist, and a cellist who again played contrasting pieces, together with a talented trombonist completed the finalists. At the time of writing, I do not know who won this competition, but it was certainly going to be a tough decision by the team of adjudicators.
Monologues are translated into Welsh as well, so you can understand fully what is being said.
Added to all this, there are a number of other venues to visit, both inside and outside the venue.
There are a vast number of stalls present again, providing a real festive environment.
I took a look at the Welsh Books Council stall, and despite my intention not to add to my already burgeoning book collection, I came away with “The Hill of Dreams” by Welsh author Arthur Machen. The opening line goes, “There was a glow in the sky as if great furnace doors were opened”. Well, I can equate the glow to the Eisteddfod and the doors blown wide open, are those to my Welsh soul.
I invite you to rekindle your sense of Welsh identity, because, one thing that is clearly apparent is that the future of our culture is in assured hands.
Tickets, (remarkably good value for money), can be obtained at
I’m never quite sure what we are trying to say when it comes to our use of the internet.
And I’m none the wiser after this performance.
We dance around the issues of data-sharing and personal exposure. We dally with each other’s lives and throw our own out there into web-space without thought for the consequences.
We trip the light fantastic with our innermost secrets reluctantly and willingly bared.
This is elegant, cautious, a ripple of ideas from dancer to dancer. We give and we take, we argue and hide. We watch the interplay of give and take played out as always with beauty, story and perfect timing.
We watch two reluctant lovers forced together by circumstance and unavoidable magnetism progress into companionable partnership.
This philosophic performance makes me think: do we have a choice?
Clever, thoughtful, poetic.
All photography by Sian Trenberth, Panopitcon by Tim Volleman, Set & Costume: Sophie Wheelan, Lighting: Jose Tevar , Sound Design: Benjamin Smith, Composer: Trailand Elzorth. Dancers: Elena Sgarbi & Oliver Chapman
Un
Some people just make you wish you could be someone else, have someone else’s gifts – maybe just for a day.
This is clean, smart, strong. She stands confidently alone and accepts the challenges life brings.
I am agog at the power in this dance, this dancer. She is utterly beautiful and complete.
‘Un’ by Kat Collings , Set & Costume: Megumi Okazaki, Lighting: Jose Tevar , Sound Design: Benjamin Smith , Composer: Sylvia Villa , Dancer: Julia Reider
Ecrit
To my left is a choreographer and dancer and she says of this: they fly!
And fly they do.
This piece is the reason to follow this dance company, to follow dance, to sit here in the dark and let the lights and the simplicityof the stage capture you, to let the music touch you and the movements of the dancers feed your soul.
The love in this dance makes me cry. This feels as if it has been born perfect, perfection born of two imperfect creatures in a story of passion and pain.
“Truth is, so great, that I wouldn’t like to speak, or sleep, or listen, or love. To feel myself trapped, with no fear of blood, outside time and magic, within your own fear, and your great anguish, and within the very beating of your heart. All this madness, if I asked it of you, I know, in your silence, there would be only confusion. I ask you for violence, in the nonsense, and you, you give me grace, your light and your warmth. I’d like to paint you, but there are no colors, because there are so many, in my confusion, the tangible form of my great love. ” Diego Riviera
I see this piece again and again behind closed eyes and relive it best I can.
To my right, the costumier says, however many times I see this it will not be enough. I agree.
‘Ecrit’ by Nikita Goile, Set & Costume: Erty Huang, Lighting: Jose Tevar , Sound Design: Benjamin Smith , Composer: Florencia Alen Dancers: Nikita Goile & Cyril Durand-Gasselin
Why Are People Clapping
Because they are having fun!
Slapping, clapping, rollicking dance as a lively contrast to the soul-searching we have enjoyed before.
I find this hard on my ears and squint back at the stage, recoiling slightly at the noise. It is such a shock! The rhythm of life beats and the audience laughs and we pull faces back at the dancers’comic turns.
This feels like an exercise, an exploration – a start to something this extraordinary company of dancers will see through in its own way and I very much look forward to seeing it too.
‘Why Are People Clapping?’ by Ed Myhill,Set & Costume: Elin Steele, Lighting: Jose Tevar, Sound Design: Benjamin Smith , Dancers: Julia Reider, Kat Collings, Tim Volleman, Elena Sgarbi & Oliver Chapman
A wonderful series of pieces – I left exhausted and elated.
#altroutes18
alt-ROUTES
7 – 9 June 2018
Seen: 8 June
National Dance Company Wales
Dance & Design from Cardiff’s emerging artists
Dance House, Wales Millennium Centre
Panopticon
Choreographer – Tim Volleman
Dancers – oliver Chapman & Elena Sgarbi
Un
Choreographer – Kat collings
Dancer – Julia Reider
Ecrit
Choreographer – Nikita Goile
Dancers – Nikita goile & Cyril surand-gasselin
Why Are People Clapping
Choreographer – Ed Myhill
Dancers – Julia Reider, Kat Collings, Tim Volleman elenaSgarbi, Oliver Chapman
Helen Joy
Creating opportunities for a diverse range of people to experience and respond to sport, arts, culture and live events. / Lleisiau amrywiol o Gymru yn ymateb i'r celfyddydau a digwyddiadau byw
(4 / 5)
(4.5 / 5)
