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Watch This space!

Choreographers and architects are both concerned with creating shapes in space. But just how different are their motivations and visions? And what can they learn from each other?

Dance UK, in collaboration with the Royal Institute of British Architects, tackle these issues through this lively symposium. Speakers include choreographers Carol Brown, Siobhan Davies and Frédéric Flamand and architects Sarah Wigglesworth and John Lyall.

For more information and to register for your FREE place call Jeanette Siddall at Dance UK on 020 7228 4990

Mon 28 Oct 4.30pm - 6.30pm
ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL
(Level 5): CHELSFIELD ROOM
FREE

WATCH THIS SPACE, OR LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION!
By Donald Hutera

Defining Space, a talk co-hosted by Dance UK, Dance Umbrella and RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) will examine the myriad possibilities and meeting-points between choreography and architecture. (28 Oct, Royal Festival Hall: Chelsfield Room - call Dance UK on 020 7228 4990 for further details). The event dovetails nicely with such Umbrella performances as Metapolis, Deborah Colker’s Casa, Carol Brown’s Nerve (see next issue) and Shobana Jeyasingh’s as-yet-untitled production at Greenwich Dance Agency (24 - 25 October). In the words of GDA director Brendan Keaney, Jeyasingh is “so articulate about what she doesn’t even know yet.” He’s keen to emphasise how well Jeyasingh’s project fits in with his venue’s aims. “At GDA we try to provide an alternative canvas for dance artists. We also try to be that bit of Dance Umbrella that provides audiences with another way of looking.” Past Dance Umbrella/GDA successes include striking collaborations with Wayne McGregor and Carol Brown. Having Jeyasingh this year is, in Keaney’s view, “like a gift!”.

Jeyasingh, speaking in May, is indeed savvy about what she hopes to do. “The original idea started off about location. Dancers aren’t specific to the location, but the location is now specific to the idea.” Which is? “You’re not outdone by distance any more, except when making a dance. In any given year, one or two of my dancers are not in Britain. To try to get the company together, I’m completely defeated by geography.” This is where GDA comes in.

Jeyasingh is talking about having at least one of her long-distance dancers present at the performance via live webcast from a rooftop in Bangalore. She’s also thinking about using the venue’s balcony, with its romantic art deco curves, in an unusual and ideally not-too-precarious way. “It’s such an amazing space,” she enthuses, “and they’re such generous people to work with. Greenwich itself seems to embody an incredible palimpsest of history and images. I’m interested in the similar history of a person or persons.”

What a fantastic topic!!! The symposium sounds really interesting! Stuart, are you planning to attend? would love to hear more about the topics mentioned above. It would be interesting to hear how various dance artists feel about the above questions vs. how the audience members feel their experience is shaped through shapes in space, architecture etc. Of course, the dancers, choreographers etc. are dealing with the issue on a different level but nevertheless...

<small>[ 09-09-2002, 08:57: Message edited by: Misa_danseuse ]</small>

Yes it does look interesting and is the latest in an annual series devised by the excellent DanceUK. We will certainly try to have someone there Misa and report on the discussions.

A reminder that this takes place tomorrow, Monday and details above.

If you have booked and now can't go, do let Dance UK know as there is a waiting list for places.

<small>[ 10-27-2002, 13:27: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

Watch this Space
produced by Suzanne Walker

The Symposium Reported by Sian Kendall, General Manager at Dance UK

Following on from our last ‘Space’ issue, Dance UK, in collaboration with Dance Umbrella and the Royal Institute of British Architecture, hosted the Watch this Space symposium on the 28 October at the Royal Festival Hall. The aim was to provide a meeting point for dance and architecture to explore the relationship between the two disciplines.

John Lyall, Managing Director of John Lyall Architects, chaired the event drawing on his successful collaborative experiences with Rosemary Butcher. The international cast of speakers were Frédérick Flamand, Artistic Director of Charleroi Danses, Carol Brown, Choreographer, Performer, Writer and Teacher, Siobhan Davies, Artistic Director and Choreographer and Sarah Wigglesworth, Architect. With 150 attendees and a long waiting list of eager participants, the evening was welcomed with much interest and anticipation.

As well as looking at a number of specific building projects for dance, the speakers also drew on their individual experiences to discuss the more favourable constructs and limitations of dance spaces, how the architect and dance artist work together and the battle between abstraction and figurative.

Frédérick Flamand took us on a journey through his process of experimentation with dance and space, recalling the first time he understood architecture as being, ‘everything that’s happening between the skin of a human person and the skin of another human person’. Carol Brown began by looking at the history of space, discussing the assumed normative types, i.e. the traditional ‘theatre’ and the empty black box. Referencing two of her pieces, Nerve and Tower of Touch, Carol focused on her work in the traditional boundaries of space whilst also contesting these same assumptions.

It was great to have both Siobhan Davies and Sarah Wigglesworth with us to present, first hand, how their collaboration works. Siobhan Davies talked about the clash between being abstract and figurative, questioning why, ‘when one deals with abstract ideas of space, time and dynamic are all the places we end up with very clean, clear uncluttered spaces.’ Sarah Wigglesworth spoke of her understanding of architecture as being defined by the social interaction within it. The emphasis therefore, lay on the difficulty in creating a space for dance that is both inspirational and also an empty vessel capable of being inhabited and defined by exterior influences.

After such an array of speakers the floor was buzzing with echoed discussions as everyone talked through the evenings presentations. The discussion to follow was considerably enriched with contributions from Malcolm Fraser, architect of Dance Base in Edinburgh and Mark Foley, author of ‘Dance Spaces’. Questions were asked about whether we can still look at the conventional black box as a good model for dance or whether this is primarily used to meet the economical need to do well at the box office. Communication was also analysed, establishing how this can work through drawings, models and video.

The evening was suitably concluded with a final thought from Mark Foley who left us questioning the order of this collaborative process:

‘I think it’s the question of the chicken and the egg, of whether you create the architecture space first before the choreography can really engage with the environment or whether the choreographer is working and the architect just becomes a prop to that space’

This article will appear in the next issue of Dance UK News and for for full notes on Watch this Space please see www.danceuk.org (from late March, 2003)