Week 5: with Ian Spink

Ian Spink and I met in 1978, shortly after he moved to the UK from Australia. He was dancing in the English National Opera production of Brecht/Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins, choreographed by Richard Alston. I was in London for the summer, teaching and performing at the Laban Centre. Subsequently, our paths crossed on numerous occasions, and we have worked together a few times. He created ZARaBandA for me in 2006. In 2007 we worked on his video/dance project 26 Solos. I asked him to make one section of Here, There and Everywhere; he was available and, due to circumstance, his week happened to fall at the end of "other choreographers'" time. The schedule for the entire project turned out to be perfect. Ian also somehow managed to stick to the original plan that everyone make a 5-minute piece. The result is, I believe, startling and evocative.

Monday

Ian Spink

Ian knows me longer than any of the others in the project. The solo he made references my love of Scotland, as well as a sense of "home" and place. The process of building this short piece was mysterious in some ways, and also absolutely direct. The evening before we began work in the studio, because I wanted to pique Ian's imagination, I mentioned that, thus far, no one had used the piece of fabric that carries the costume elements for Matthew's contribution. From that starting point, Ian asked me for what places in Scotland I had been. He then selected a few and asked me to imagine that the cloth, which we put on the table used in Frank's part of the solo, was a map of Scotland, and I had to find the places on this map. We decided to ask Frank to record the place names, so that we would hear a Scot, and not an Australian or an American accent. Then, Ian asked me if I had ever made bread; I said yes; so, kneading became part of the piece. At one point, he asked me to climb onto the table and lift the cloth to cover myself, then get off the table and continue to manipulate the cloth until it was a very small bundle, then place the bundle on the floor. From all of these simple actions, I felt a very powerful piece forming. And, we had made almost five minutes! The challenge then started: how slowly and smoothly could I perform this movement?
Bill and Ian had done a residency at The Shed, and named their newly-founded company after the road that is next to the studio: Airfield (http://airfieldarts.org.uk/about.html#.UdSbGVO9yNw). Bill had been recording the sounds of the trash compressors across the street before Ian arrived, thinking he might want to use these sounds for his contribution to Here, There and Everywhere, as was the case. Transducers also appeared! (but, they won't be used in this piece...)

Tuesday

In the morning, after I warmed up we continued to work on the quality of the movement, and find a coordination with the music Bill had generated. Almost seven minutes!
Next, we all - Ian, Frank, Bill and myself - wanted to look at running orders for all five solos, plus my responses. Mathematically, there are 120 possible orders of the five solos. Bill and I had a lengthy conversation Monday evening about ways to tie everything together. Projections would not be possible at Dance Base. What about televisions? I wasn't convinced they would fit in with the dance and dancing I had. What about doing something with the audience members' cell phones? Bill thought that could be interesting, but gimmicky (also, we both questioned the relevance to the work as a whole). I had recorded bus rides in Edinburgh, and from Dingwall to Inverness, and the train from Edinburgh to Inverness, and wanted to use some of the sounds; we also had a recording of Steinvor telling a story in Icelandic. By this time, I had decided that, rather than making a response piece for each choreographer, I would do three. I could do a sort of prelude, rearranging furniture and props as though I had just moved into a new home. This potentially will make placing the furniture and other objects for some of the solos look less like we need stage hands we don't have. Then, using the recording of Steinvor, I could combine my response to her and Matthew. Finally, there would be a response to the three weeks - and three choreographers - at The Shed.
We did two running orders on Tuesday. They were okay, but neither struck me as ideal (if there is such a thing!). I was pleased to have danced everything twice, but was certainly tired! We went back to the apartment, and Ian cooked a delicious dinner. More conversation followed. I went to bed early, still pondering what all of this could be.

Bill, Frank and Ian - tired after I had danced  
Here, There and Everywhere a second time

Wednesday

Two more runs, two more orders. The second one feels the best, and I need to make two (short) choreographic responses. I like the furniture/prop pre-set at the beginning, and Bill will make a montage of my travel recordings. Ian found another piece of fabric and drew a map of Scotland on it.

Ian and the map of Scotland

Tomorrow, we will continue our work individually before running the piece as it now is and then doing a showing at the end of the day. That will give us Friday to look at any changes before heading back to Edinburgh and three more days of work at Dance Base, before the performance on the 11th.
I am tired, but very satisfied, all around.