PREVIEWS MAYFEST
mm:- Rite stuff
llailed in the Mayfest programme as a rival to Trisha Brown and Laurie Anderson, Canadian Marie Ghouinard built her reputation over a fifteen-year solo career. It has only been in the last two years that she has made the transition to group work. ‘Somehow it took me all those years to master the way I choreograph,’ she says, ‘and to understand howl can transmit or transfer it to others’ bodies.’
Ghouinard is bringing that most famous of dance originals, The Rite of Spring, to Mayfest. ‘ln Le Sacre I am concerned with solo dancers as part of a group,’ she says, explaining that although The Rite of Spring usually stresses the ritualistic, ensemble movement that goes alongside ancient spring sacrifice, when she started listening to the music that was not what it communicated to her.
‘For me the pulse of the music, the real story inside the music, comes from a molecular level: the act of creation at the beginning of life in this universe rather than at the springtime. I don’t feel male or female, but something that is an urge, that is very deep inside each particle of the universe.’ Ghouinard’s enthusiasm for her work is infectious: ‘I found so much pleasure in using the music first - it’s a gift.’
Ghouinard is clearly a director in the European Theatre mould, as well as a choreographer; her working methods both start and end with her company.
Marie Ghouinard: making connections
‘The dancers are the tools, the medium,’ she says. ‘I work with their muscles and minds right there in the studio.’ She concerns herself with everything that is happening on stage and is passionate about performance, devising exercises to train her dancers in stage presence. ‘Sometimes people only absorb light into their eyes instead of letting light out or emitting it. It’s really on a subtle level.’
Chouinard is still not used to watching her own movement from the outside and this comes across charmingly. ‘Often I see my dancers and they are very beautiful, but this is by accident because what I am concentrating on is the inner connection and then, look how it comes out! It makes me very happy.’ (Tamsin Grainger)
The Rite of Spring, Mitchell Theatre, Thurs 19-Fri 29 May
ama- Love talk
Didy Veldman and Guilherme Botelho
llidy Veldman and Guilherme Botelho are Swiss dancers and choreographers who are bringing their company to Glasgow to perform En Manque. They have taken that tried-and-tested theme of love as their subject matter, particularly the way people communicate their feelings and
needs. ‘Our search is for clarity, in
order to touch an audience on an emotional level,’ says Veldman. Veldman and Botelho became fascinated by the intricate ways in which human beings behave. ‘Lots of actions we take are not for our own pleasure but because we want other people to love us,’ Veldman explains. He believes that we all tend to develop convoluted methods that we
think will get us the love we deserve, : but that ironically take us further 1 away from the truth. Their research
involved them reading Eric Frohm’s The Art of Making Love, and undergoing long-distance market research in Glasgow.
Specially prepared questions like, ‘Do you love yourself?’, ‘Are you aggressive?’, and ‘Do you demand a
a day of discussion of culture, identity and politics
a different
Saturday 14 May, Ramshorn Drama Centre, 98 Ingram Street, 61
£12 organisations. £8 average waged. £5 low waged. £3 unwaged (proof of status). Tickets from the Candlenggs Ticket Centre (041) 227 551 i
For details see The list. Mayfest programme or the programme
lot of attention?’ were sent by them to
We got feedback from people of different social levels who we wouldn’t otherwise have had contact with - football fans, teachers, people of 80 and of eight-years-old.’
Then the company set improvisation exercises for each other and sat back to find out how this complex subject could be communicated with honesty. ‘Does this movement say what the dancer intended? Is my reading of it the same as yours?’ they asked. ‘When we all say, “Ah! This is it!” then we’ve found something that is clear,’ Veldman laughs. It’s a lengthy way of working but one which earns this company rave reviews from the press. (Tamsin Grainger)
En Manque, CGA, Fri ZMat 21 May
5 the CCA in Glasgow. ‘It was wonderful.
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