Lumiere Digiitale Auditions

Not too long ago Lumiere Digitale had the pleasure of holding auditions for interdisciplinary physical performers for it's new show at the old crown courts in Bristol, UK.

An exciting production combining digital arts with live performance in an unusual building.

We were absolutely innundated with applications for potential collaborators for this project with over 100 applications from talented circus artists and dancers from accross the UK and Europe.

I was faced with the difficult task of whittling these applications down to a select 25, to be invited to attend the audition day with us, at The Island Dancespace.

We then had to half this group again at lunchtime to continue working with around 14 performers into the afternoon. we still haven't finalised casting for this production but we have managed to shortlist to a final 12, with approximately 8 slots available in the production for extreemly talented dancer/ circus artists.

We had a simply fabulous day with everyone and were literally blown away by the talent. It has and is a very difficult process for us to select the final company for our 2013 production but we are very excited about it.

I have added a selection of images from the day, photography by Tilly May

For more information on the Lumiere Digitale project please visit our website at

www.ldigitale.com

Thanks for reading x

Sight: Unseen - work in progress

Testing Ground

Experiments in Dance

 

 

Full Tilt were excited to perform at Circomedia’s beautiful church building on portland square as part of the Testing Ground.

Testing Ground is a platform for work in progress or newly developed experiments in dance. Testing Ground is supported by Theatre Bristol and Circomedia and creates an opportunity for artists to show new work as well as receive valuable feedback from industry peers and professionals.

As part of their research for the Lumiere Digitale at the Old Courts project, Full Tilt presented an experimental aerial dance work, using a human counterweight system that exploited a substantial size difference between two performers to dramatic effect. An experiment in physics, it combined the technical challenges this presented with the improvisational and narrative possibilities that it offered. A duet of opposites, dichotomies, and contradictions that explored what happens when two poles meet in the middle (or not): the hybrid, liminal spaces between equilibrium or collision in the vulnerability of vertical space.

Using stimulus from Dante's paradiso Dr Jess Allen and I created a ten minuite duet for the platform. To create the work we used stimulus from Dante's Paradiso,  contact improvisation, and explored the possibilities presented by our unusual equipment.

Here are some Images of the piece by  Tilly May

Full Tilt are currently experimenting with new vocabulary, concepts and possibilities as part of the creative process for Lumiere Digitale's new show at the old courts

FLOW

  Multi Story Water

 

 

This September I had the pleasure of working with my good friend and long time dance partner Dr Jess Allen on a site specific project in Eastville both underneath the M32 motorway and next to the river Frome.

Multi story Water was an interactive project involving local people in a creative conversation about the river and our relationship with it – using storytelling, games, site based performance, and walking tours.

A series of weekend events took place in and around the M32 Motorway during September 2012, these events culminated in a Site -Based performance extravaganza.

The audience were led in promenade style from the Eastville roundabout underneath the roaring motorway and to where the underpass meets the River Frome. Along the way they watched 9 site specific performances from local community groups that had been created on site using narrative  drawn from true stories, gathered from local residents.

the show, named FLOW involved over 180 performers, including two groups of little one's 'the rainbows' and 'the beavers', two contemporary youth dance companies, 'Rise' and 'Kinesis', star Sweedish circus artist, Linn Broden, a choir, and the students from Bristol's Fda in Dance Theatre and Performance.

The River Frome has many stories to tell. As it flows through Eastville, it runs past homes and businesses, a school, under the motorway, and finally through sluice gates – where it disappears underground on its way to the city centre. The river connects different parts of the community, but do you feel connected to it?

Full Tilt were comissioned to produce a site based piece of aerial dance for the project. We worked closely with a group of local aerialists, teaching them new skills in harness based aerial dance. With them we then  devised a 20 minute vertical performance for the supporting pillars that hold up the motorway. We had to create this in a studio, so chose a nice wall at Circomedia for our pretend pillar experience.

Creating choreography for the pillars under M32

Hannah working on the wall at Circomedia

We also worked closely with a group of students from Bristol's Fda in Dance Theatre Performace, The course is led by dance artist Julia Thorneycroft, is based at the Bristol Dance Centre, and is a University of Plymouth and City of Bristol College collaboration.

Dancers Rehearsing onsite before the show.

The day came together really well. We started at 6am, myself and the riggers, Max Morely and Ben Osbourne, rigged the truss and equipment for the show, whist Dr Jess took the rest of the team for a quick run and warm up before rehearsing all the ground based material. We then united and rehearsed the show a few times before it was time to perform it. Then derig and packing away of everything, just as night time fell. Not bad at all for a days work!


The show was well attended, the audience behaved themselves, and we all had a good time. Jess and I were thrilled as it was the first time that many of the performers involved in the show had met or been in the space at together. And everything ran fairly smoothly :)

Rigging with the boys

A place to dangle

Counterweight Duet

The End

Carnesky's Tarot Drome

Carnesky's Tarot Drome

@ Old Vic Tunnels

During August and September of 2012 I went to London to join the cast of Carnesky's Tarot Drome

The Show was performed at London's avant garde performance venue the Old Vic Tunnels over a ten night consecutive run.

Carnesky's Tarot Drome was devised by 15 of London's hottest performers including hula hooping extraordinaire Chi Chi Revolver Performance artiste Rhyannon Styles Burlesque performer Vicky Butterfly and choreographer and live artist H Plewis to name only a few of the talented cast that made up the show.

Tarot Drome was directed by show-woman Marisa Carnesky, who has been making performance work for over twenty years. She is best known for Carnesky’s Ghost Train, a large scale arthouse theme park ride with live performers, now permanently sited in Blackpool. Her solo shows include Jewess Tattooess, and City of Women, and previous collaborations include the Olivier Award-winning C’est Duckie.

 "The tarot works. No-one really knows why. The cards you pick at random act as a reflection of your innermost hopes and fears, reveal old wounds and historical personalities, and speak of unknown futures."

What if you could meet the cards in the flesh? Would you dare peek behind the veil of the High Priestess? Frolic with the Fool or come toe-to-toe with the Devil? Have you ever wanted to dissolve the barrier between the conscious and the unconscious and see what lies on the other side?

The first part of the show saw the audience free to roam around the extraordinary tunnels underneath Waterloo station, which provided the setting for this unique piece of promenade theatre. As the audience moved around the space they met and interacted with several or the major arcana of the tarot personified through abstract performance art and ritual.

Personalised tarot card, created from my likeness.

I played the card of Temperance during the show using a meter squared human sized fish tank to create a durational piece of performance improvisation. I loved working with the tank and felt like it continuously offered me new ways of moving and interacting with it's cold and hard surfaces. Each night of the performance during my 40 min improvisation i would discover new things, It was lucky that i enjoyed working on it so much as it was very enduring for the body and I spent the best part of the run collecting bruises.

Here are some pictures from my work in the tank.

Images are by talented Sarah Ainslie, the fantastic Sin Bozkurt and the wonderful John Bland

The second part of the show took the form of a spectacular roller skating finale with a twist, choreographed by H Plewis to a bespoke live soundtrack from Rasp Thorne and the Briars The show was starlight express meets eyes wide shut, a mixture of entertaining skating routines, avant garde performance art, roller derby madness, and ritualistic story telling.

So, that's all on Tarot Drome, you can read about devising and rehearsals on my earlier blog post here

Thanks for reading x