- Two pots of Lapsang and the tranquility of this Sunday morning; the perfect setting in which to reflect on last nights live streaming event by Rambert 2 of the work- 'Note to Self.' I feel compelled to write a blog entry as a reminder of the event. Simultaneously I am frustrated. I cannot find the words to describe what I felt in the moment. But if I am going to write I need to find some words, so I interview myself:
Q - What was the most basic emotion you felt?
A - Relief; a work of art, experienced in a new way, where a company had invested time and resource to explore ways of creating and performing that responded to the challenges of the last 18 months.
Q - What has resonated with you?
A - This was a live performance that was streamed into my sitting, and the piece began in the sitting room of the central character (not that this consciously crossed my mind at the time).
Q - What were you most aware of as you were watching?
A - That I didn't need to think. As it unfolded it made sense, but I had no idea what sense it made, and that didn't matter. I didn't want to try and make sense of it. It wasn't a narrative, but had narrative qualities. It was immersive.
A - I was super aware, on a subliminal level, of making connections between the fiction I had been reading that morning (the first fiction I have read in over 18 months) and my journey over the last 18 months.
Q - Did the piece remind you of anything you have seen previously?
A - Perhaps because I had heard an interview that morning with a woman who talked about Leigh Bowrey, I was reminded of the Michael Clarke piece 'I am curious orange' which I had seen at Sadlers Wells in 1988.
Q - How did it remind you of 'I am curious orange?'
A - I think it is more about what William Forsythe has talked about in regard to his preference in watching pieces that make you work - but in a way those sorts of pieces actually do the work for you, because there are so many rich layers intrinsic to the piece that it is a work of art. Thus you can let go, allow the piece to live in the space and be in the moment. And that happens with so few pieces, so you remember the ones where that does happen. And the Forsythe reference makes me think of 'A quiet evening of dance' ...
Q - What made you book to see this piece?
A - a sort of hunch that was bound up in... missing going to Sadlers Wells... feeling like I had lost touch with Rambert over the last few years... research in relation to young talent... I was interested in experiencing the medium of delivery, and encouraging my students to see/experience new works emerging from the challenges of the last 18 months.
Q - What are you aware of that you are taking away from the performance?
A - The physicality of the brain, memory, experience, decisions, a life that is lived, to be brave, to explore, of equality, diversity and inclusion - we are a rich and diverse world...a piece like this isn't for everyone, but it is for somebody, and those somebodies are as important as anybody else.
A - The piece seemed the perfect length. The dancers extraordinary in sort of being ordinary...I am trying to unpack that as I say it...I was completely aware of the dancers having amazing physical capability, but the crafting and performance of the dance content was such that it all came across as natural, intrinsic, true... it didn't distract.
Q - Did you have a favourite section?
A - No it was a whole, although visually what I saw as the inside the brain section, does stand out a little but I am not sure if that is also to do with the use of set and the camera - and then as I write that I reminded of the lampshade and traveling to the inside of the lampshade... and then the spider plants and the spider across the lift, and .... hmmmmm there is a lot...
Q - Is there anything else you want to add?
A - Something that only occurred to me this morning is that whilst I was having a profound experience watching a dance work being streamed live to my TV, the next season of fake tan and sequins in the form of Strictly was unfolding on a mainstream T.V. channel. There is no judgement in this, it is simply an observation. If I were give the opportunity to take part in Strictly I would absolutely take up the offer...
https://rambert.org.uk/homestudio/content/book-now-note-self-rambert2-benoit-swan-pouffer
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