Flying Fun

Well for the last few days i have been indulging in some 'flying fun' with the accomplished aerial trainer Mike Wright. Amongst other fun flying skills, we have been working on the petite volant, AKA mini flying, which is pretty much the same principals as flying trapeze only with a smaller rig, where instead of a net we use crash mats for safe landings. Flying of any sort is a thrilling experience and i cannot even begin to describe the amount of enjoyment and pleasure i feel when i am participating in such activities.

Mike Wright is a full time aerial tutor at Circomedia, Bristol's centre for contemporary circus and physical theatre, where i began my circus training in 2004. Circomedia is one of the UKs leading institutions for the study of circus arts and my time there was instrumental in setting me on the career trajectory which i am still following today. To find out more about circomedia see HERE where incidentally you will stumble upon an image of me on the homepage, dangling in the air, with my legs spread, in some purple tartain trousers.

Circomedia was one of several centres where i trained in performance and circus theatre (back in the day) and it is very much due to the comforting support of Mike Wright that i got anywhere at all within that particular institution. He was a great inspiration and his loving and gentle teaching method (a mixture of cajouling and compliments ) led me to all the various flighty experiences i have encountered over the subsequent years since my training. So it goes without saying, that it has been a pleasure being under his instruction once again.

More importantly, Mike also runs Above and Beyond, the only grande volant (big flying) troupe in the UK, which has been running for over 15 years, and engages some of the countries toughest aerial artists. Performing all around the UK and internationally at festivals and events, Above and Beyond's aerial shows truely are a demonstration skill and hardwork, combined with incredible performance capabilitis. To find out more about Above and Beyond, and to see some of the artists in action, see HERE

So here is Mike, the gloriously camp purveyor of all circus wisdoms!

And here he is again, in action, during his days of travelling the globe as part of a flying trapeze troupe, as i said before gloriously camp!

Wow!!! what a dude...

And here is a little clip of me working on a layout to catch on the petit volant, the next thing will be to master the return, that means getting back from the catcher to the platform where i started.

Here are some pictures from our session, strating with Niels, he was the guy responsible for catching us, one after the other...again and again and again.

Niels

Me working on my Handstand

various configurations

Our safety belts, all lined up and ready to go.

Shveta and Seamus hanging out on the Cradle

And lastly here is a little video of the girls workin out their abs!

Lumiere Digitale at Pervaisive Media studios

Lumiere Digitale are delighted to have been awarded an artists residency at the Pervaisive Media Studio at the watershed, Bristol, where we will be based for the next few months.

We are being supported by the studio to develop some new technology for our debut show, which will take place in a secret Bristol location this autumn. We are also excited about the potential of collaborating with some of the other residents in the creation of the event, which will include a digital art gallery, visual art displays, and live theatre, circus, and dance performance.

‘The PM Studio is an initiative to bring together creative practice and technological innovation to produce the content, applications and experiences of the future.’

  Find out more about the PM Studio HERE 

I co-produce Lumiere Digitale sharing the creative and administrative responsibilities with top cabaret artist and producer/performer Keda Breeze.
 Find out more about Keda  HERE

We are a Bristol based company, which deals specifically with the use of digital and visual art forms within contemporary circus, dance and physical theatre.

We are a collaboration inspired event; we aim to draw together artists of different disciplines into the creation of a visually inspired theatre. The emphasis is on working together to challenge the boundaries of form, pushing the arts to advance through exploring interdisciplinary performance, by creating immersive environments and events.

The work aims to under-go an in-depth exploration of the integration of video arts, projection mapping and tracking with electronic sound-scapes, visuals and live performance art.

Lumiere Digitale was created as a response to the ongoing developments that digital art forms have made in the last twenty years. Live visual/digital art is a booming industry being invested into and developed far quicker than other entertainment forms.  For performing arts to be current and relevant they need to harness these digital trends.

for more information on Lumiere Digitale please see our website at www.lumieredigitale.co.uk 

Windmill girls for new BBC drama 'best of men'

On Wednesday I had the pleasure of featuring as a 1940's windmill girl in a new BBC special which is being created to accompany the para-olympics during the olympic games this summer. The Drama 'Best of Men has been written by Lucy Gannon (The Children, Soldier Soldier, Bramwell) and is starring Eddie Marsdon and Rob Brydon.

Best Of Men is the remarkable and uplifting true story of the birth of the Paralympic Games and its visionary creator Dr Ludwig Guttmann.

Eddie Marsan plays Dr Guttmann; an inspirational doctor who transforms the lives of his patients and staff. Rejecting the general view that paralysis was a terminal condition, Guttmann threw out the old care regime and brought in a new philosophy - to get all his patients to live full and useful lives.

It is to that end thats the legendary windmill girls are invited to perform at the hospital in order to cheer up it's occupants!

The Windmill girls were born out of the windmill theatre in London during the early 1940's The Windmill Theatre, later The Windmill International, was a variety and revue theatre in Great Windmill Street. That was famous for its nude tableaux vivants.

Find out more about the BBC's Best of Men HERE
Find out more about the windmill girls HERE

So here are the original windmill girls busy filming for the BBC,

 And here we are getting ready to can can for the cameras 70 years later!

After a 7am start and several hours in hair and make-up we were each transformed with curly up-do's into the gorgeous windmill girls.