Travelling Light gets its first sharing on Canadian soil as part of FemFest 2011: Staging Inspiration. The festival runs from 17th till 24th September in support of theatre and performance made by women and I will be performing  an hours worth extracts and ideas thus far developed. Its an exciting time.
Click to read the Travelling Light in Canada blog so far.

Security- the Woman Show in the Shizuoka Theatre Festival 2010. Making history. The first UK show EVER to be performed at this prestigious theatre fest.

Honoured.

Shot and edited by  Abi Idowu and Safir, young film makers for  The Albany in Deptford

Everyone came in ready with a zingy energy to create and we began with a jam session in which the theme tune for the night came about. Thanks to a freestyle from our emerging spoken word artist Raphael Blake. “Intimacy- we’re getting into it!”

From this point the  exploration of the theme began. Many people spoke about how hard they found it talking about intimacy- just where to start -  but as we progressed  using rhythm exercises, word games breaking off into duos and experimenting with hot-seating, people found rhythmic and lyrical ways  to take themselves out of their comfort zones using their craft to explore the theme. Freestyle also meant there were no rules or set etiquette for how artists spoke about it.

One exercise involved a duo between a poet and a musician. Some really intimate work came through this exercise and also inspired us to look at how we could make creative use of the Albany performance space. What was exciting was observing poets and musicians dotted around the building and the Albany garden adding a vibrancy of the building with the sparks of creativity around them.  Talking, experimenting, blitzing the possibilities.

Jason Yarde not only brought his numerous saxphones but brought sampling gadgets galore and was tweaking this and blipping that and the journey of intimacy into the future was under way. Ben on bass had a very calm grounding effect to the session. Cheryl on drums stepped in at the last minute and brought a solid yet feminine feel to the sessions.

Kelly and Matt had a couple of technical issues with the lighting  as the film drew needed more light to do their job but with negotiation  a happy medium was finally met. By the end of each day, everyone had a good idea of what they would be performing on the day.

When it came to the tech and dress run everyone was on tender hooks a little, feeling the pressure of the conflict of the show being structured and free at the same time but then as the day progressed it became clear that the faith in the free flow energy of  “conversating” (if that’s word) using our art forms and the new language devised form the fusion of our art forms would bring the whole performance to life.

CONVERSATIONS @ THE ALBNAY: 24TH SEPT '09

THE NEXT CONVERSATIONS PROJECT: TO INTIMACY AND BEYOND

Its been in the making for the last 5 months. The great thing about To Intimacy is the investment that everyone involved has dedicated so much to make it a blinding event.

The technical team at the Albany have been on board form the top and have a fantastic lighting, stage and sound design. So big thanks to Fiona, Ben and Dave.

Sophie Brady is the right lung of the project. As the producer of To Intimacy her input has been priceless as her belief in the project in its entirety. Sophie has embraced the projects big picture objective and of the possibilities for participants who want to explore their creativity through “Conversations”.
Today we had a tech meeting and everyone is starting to feel the excitement of the night. It’s going to be special….

©V:iD (or seevid) is a umbrella company that produces projects that have unique structural format. Where a lot of productions are ‘show and product led’, all the projects ©V:iD creates are participatory work centered. The variation is that all the projects are ‘pioneered’ by a touring show but has participatory work at its core and driving force. The show promote the activism of the educationary work.

The Mission Statement

“To distil our experiences, histories and dreams – those that exist within the family,
the community, the neighbourhood – into stories that refresh the community spirit using music, spoken word and visuals.”

Dictionary definitions of  CONVERSATIONS

Oxford English
To Converse

ORIGIN: originally in the sense to live among,

be familiar with from Latin conversari: ‘keep company with’.

Websters
To keep company; to hold intimate
intercourse; to commune

American heritage
To engage in a spoken exchange of thoughts, ideas and feelings, to talk