As I watched Lea’s piece Starving Dingoes I felt as though I was transported to the early days of human existence.
Here were the thoughts and ponderings which emerged from witnessing this fascinating piece at the Place on Saturday night.
Who are we beneath the façade we have created as societies?
What are our primitive desires and feelings?
How does disease manifest and can we truly fight it of with the healthy cells in our bodies?
The feeling of fighting a disease was strong throughout.
The way in which this theme was explored was so powerful and the ways the dancers committed to the emotions at each stage of the piece struck me deeply.
I was particularly interested in how a certain crawling movement was adapted in a way that made the beautiful disabled dancer the more powerful force to be able to execute that movement.
I felt at times uncomfortable as though lost in a repetitive cycle and this reminded me of the discomfort from OCD.
It felt like connecting to the deepest parts of self which we do not want to confront
The sand seemed so integral and I found my eyes drawn to the patterns of the sand and how the dancers were creating them through their movements.
The choice of score was equally interesting and I wonder Lea if I could ask what was the inspiration for using the La Traviata pieces?
A most impactful piece which leaves a lasting memory within me.
<3 on the road to Brighton for it! Will reply as soon as I've landed back :) <3
ReplyDeleteHi Ann! Thanks a lot for your words and yes - the piece is intended to feel unconforable, confronting, tender, revulsing, weird, funny.. this strange line between wanting to see more and wanting to leave the room.. I am fascinated / interested in the friction/tension between our corporeal and spiritual lives. One is immortal (or could be) and one is terribly mortal, fragile, has an expiry date on. Somehow, notions of sacrifice and thus rite were important in this work; I wanted a sound track that was earthy, bassy, heavy, close to the ground, repetitive, hypnotic but also uncomfortable -> which could represent our corporeal/down to earth life / and airy, light, grandiose. Opera had this for me. Add to this qualitative the fact that opera is very stylised and thus artificial, it is a musical 'wannabe' of lyricism and big emotions.. So we started to explore with operas in the rehearsal room. La Traviata kept coming back. I loved the music itself, the story too which echoed to the theme of the piece: our consciousness of mortality. Violetta is condemned, she will die and knows it (she is sick). Then, La Traviata means 'the fallen woman' but also 'the astray' or 'the woman who goes astray' and to me.. this group on stage goes astray. they are wandering creatures, lost, starving for both celestial and actual food........
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Amazing. All this really shone through. Fascinating piece.
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