Gravity & Levity

A week into working with Charlotte and things are going really well… I’ve been working with Jenny on some great stuff (or ‘Becky’ as Charlotte refers to her, she thinks that they might have met in a previous life!). We’ve been trying out all sorts of lifts and ideas some of which rely on the harness and some don’t. It truly is a fascinating process, one of constant give and take, one where things have to be worked out very methodically, bit by bit. I don’t think Charlotte is used to working this slowly but it's good fun trying to keep up with her. It feels like it’s been quite awhile since we’ve had an opportunity to dance intensely like this. It's not easy but I’m really enjoying it!

When running things we have to be so precise with everything we do, if not, the consequences can be dire; at the end of Monday’s rehearsal I managed to, let's say… ‘bump’ Jenny on the nose, with my knee! It made an awful sound (like punching a bag of kettle chips), I could only assume the worst and felt so awful. ‘Bumps’ and accidents happen a lot when you’re working, however it’s horrible when you’re the one causing the ‘mishap’- it's awful! After the initial panic and icing, the general consensus was that it probably wasn’t broken. Charlotte decided that it was best for us to finish the day there so that Jenny could get it checked out whilst Vanessa and Lindsey trouped on and climbed up and around the long scaffold polls for the rest of the evening.

Today was hugely productive. The conversations considering the set seemed to be heading toward reasonable agreements. This left us to get on with making, and it felt like we were making some really interesting work… at any rate some good sketches of a couple of phrases, material is really starting to feel like its take a bit of form! As usual the consideration remains, that everything can still change (or Shift).

After a gruelling couple of days working on a duet with Jenny (assisted by Vanessa) we're really starting to find our way. Jenny has been great and has imparted some essential knowledge from her experience spent in the aerial dance game. She has an especially difficult role in the duet that we perform together as she is in a harness for all of it and is generally up in the air holding some contorted angle or spinning around upside-down. Looks fab though!

Charlotte has been a great energy as well you could imagine. Her advice for me during rehearsals from a technical point of view has been invaluable. She knows exactly what’s going on all the time and is extremely astute in pointing out any problems, and then quickly finds a way to resolve them, or in my case ‘soften’ and open up in the chest (relax dem’ shoulders! - Male dancer mantra).

It’s been a very rewarding process in that sense; I’ve been lucky enough to learn a lot of new skills from a lot of different people and now we’re working on the aspect of the work that I most enjoy. Winning all round really! Muscles are starting to ache a little now, which I quite like the feel of, and I’m sleeping exceptionally well on the train to and from London (which is what I’m going to do now I think). Basically it's all great and I can’t wait till tomorrow!