I thought i would do away with the rather rudimentary "news" section and get back up to speed with the blogging scenario. Updating this website is very much a process of trial and error. Although i am learning reasonably fast i still haven't worked out why the site looks completely different on a pc than it does on my mac? Well apart from internet tweaking here's what has been going down in the world of R2M.
Following a stressful, but successful showing of Watch iT! at East London Dance alongside Sebastien & Honji (check them out at sebastienramirez.com) and london's Birdgang, R2M embarked on a month long residency at the studios of denmark's Cantabile 2. The result was the beginnings of a new solo/duet project entitled SQUISH. More details to follow. Once the Danish Krones had run out it was time to head to the much cheaper climate of the artists anonymous city of Berlin. A week was spent in the company of Venezuelan maestro David Zambrano at the Schwelle7 Studios. Many thanks to Tian, Cora, Sina, Ana, The Greek and the rest of the multi-national crew who are all now very adept at quick changes between countless dance styles.
R2M remains in Europe until mid-may for training, investigating, making connections and seeing as much work as possible including the Tanz Offensive festival in Leipzig...i'm sooooo europe!!
aye i know it's been a wee while since i've been on the updating vibe so but things have been busy. The tour is now in full swing and we are on the road...in fact, we're on the sea and the road. I'm now writing this from small cafe (probably a converted barn) in Lerwick, Shetland. It's quite intriguing to be here after growing up in the orkney isles as i never once visited these neighboring islands further north. Hopefully i'll get a bit of time to explore in between spreading the gospel of dance to the youth of Lerwick and figuring out how the show will work in the "economical" space of the Garrison Theatre...one loves a challenge. So how did we (the 3 T's - trusty technicians Mr Coyle and Sweeten also go by the same moniker as myself...although for Mr Coyle it fits in the middle) get here?....I'll tell you.
Picture this - check out some snaps taken by Maria Falconer@MacRobert Theatre HERE
Tues 5th Oct - shoot over to BBC Scotland for a quick radio interview on the Culture Cafe show to promote the forthcoming show for the Dance Live festival in Aberdeen (dancelive). I took some pics on my phone which i'll have to upload later but you might still be able to listen in to my words of wisdom at about 35mins in....The Culture Cafe (05/10/2010)
Wed 6th Oct - First show goes up in the Arches. The space, as well as the tech facilities, is significantly reduced compared to the MacRobert (it was quite a luxury to to production and open up in that space). However, the show begin well...but unfortunately a misplaced portable TV sees me dig deep and pull out my best improvisational/mime skills for the best part of 7 mins. An experience i hope never to repeat...but as they say s*** happens! onwards and upwards.....
Thurs 7th Oct - I muster the energy to do class with company chameleon (company chameleon) who are in residence at Dance Base and get some useful feedback on both pieces. Apparently i covered the occurrence of a missing portable TV very well as no one was none the wiser. Then it's time for a stretch and a sauna before heading through to glasgow for round 2. The show runs smoothly with everything in it's place and ended up being probably one of the best runs so far. Some cousins had made the effort to come down and support so after a coke and a brief catch up in the Arches bar it was adios glasgow...hola Aberdeen.
Grahame admires his handy work!
The tunnel of love...
Changing room essentials
Fri 8th - En route to Aberdeen, we receive the first review of the tour...and yes in this case you can believe what you read in the papers....herald review
Sat 9th - begin to get to grips with our show at the Lemon Tree. I think i have discovered a routine to get me in the right condition for evening performances...all i need is some berocca, pasta, a massage ball and a sauna (where possible)...i also crank up the heating in the changing to the max, no doubt adding to my carbon footprint. The lemon tree offers a pretty good space for the show and i have to make sure i use it. The show goes down well. The audience laugh in the right places and i hit my turns for once. There's an opening party for the Dance Live festival taking place afterwards...but i need food. Whenever i've performed in Aberdeen i always mean to go to this japanese restaurant called Yatai for a post show meal. Trouble is i've always been too late. So i hit up it's neighbour, a turkish spot called Nargile. I'm quite impressed at how i'm able to polish off several helpings of pitta bread, humous, spicy sausage, chicken kebab, rice and salad...mother would be proud.
The first installment of the Room 2 Manoeuvre headed stationary
People always said my character lacked depth...
in situ, in aberdeen
Sun 10th - before we shoot off to sunny Shetland, I've been asked to drop some knowledge for the local young dancers...so that's exactly what i do at the City Moves studios. We proceed to make a short performance about their weekend activities. It goes down well and i didn't even have to break a sweat for a change.
Aberdeens youth get the Tony Thrills treatment
It's time to cast off and set sail for Shetland. i should be used to boat rides. i've had to do them all my life. but somehow i've never quite developed sturdy sea legs. Regardless, the 14hr journey is pretty smooth and comfortable and i had a good number of movies on the old mac book to keep me busy...even though most were in French somehow??
It actually says "Wench Only"?
Cabin fever
nous sommes bien arrivee...
Today's tune is as follows...just stick with it for the chorus folks.
It seems that marketing manager Tricia Munoz has been going above and beyond the call of duty and organised a number of PR stunts to spread the good word of R2M....here's just a couple pieces of labouring fruit...
So...it's been a wee while since the last update...the reason being that the show went up last Sat 2nd Oct and it's been good but also mad stress up til then. We had 3 days teching the show at the Macrobert, which i think is something of a luxury considering where R2M is at as a company so i'm most grateful for the time to get things right. It was most definitely needed. I remember plotting lights and cues for Watch iT! back in the 2009 fringe and desperately trying to fit it all into 4hrs. Having a day and a half didn't seem to make too much of a difference as the show has grown in an equal manner as the stakes have gone up. But everything got done and only because I'm surrounded by a good team taking care of tech, management and mentoring. The animation by Peter Doris (nexus digital media) was the final piece of the puzzle. This was quickly re-mastered by Lewis at cagoule productions then couriered over by tour manager Vicky Rutherford...talk about degrees of separation.
surely this lot ought to be working...?
deep in conversation...
setting up shop at MacRobert
The show seemed to go down well with the MacRobert audience and now it's game on for the Arches on the 6th and 7th. Still a few tweaks to be made with the HOB suit and the final animation but things are looking in good shape for the rest of the tour....here we have Peter from Nexus tightening up the animation...it's all about the polygons apparently.
well...not much to report right now other than i feel like an empty human vessel drained of all energy due to molecular movement near grinding to a halt. It is definitely crunch time. We have been concentrating on the glue that holds the show together. This is in an effort to ensure that the work is not simply carried by the neat tricks and technology...and colour coordinated furniture. However, a royal presence meant that we had to vacate the studio and relocate to the dungeon-esque tramway 4 space. The whole building had been taken over by a frenetic energy, and the odd passerby in our temporary work space lead to calling it a day a little earlier than usual. I decided to resign myself to looking forward to a quiet non-alcoholic beer and veg pie and chips in bar mono. But alas, the kitchen had closed early and a band was sound checking on stage. It was definitely time to say cheerio glasgow for today. Home late once again and in need of wholesome nourishment and free wifi, I hit spoon cafe...which finally hit the spot
I think the money i saved on taxi rides today, i spent on my dinner...oh well
Today's tune sums it up...
And this was yesterday's tune. I don't quite know how Paul Weller managed to get into my head but all of a sudden all the brit pop memories came back...when i used to believe i could play guitar and wearing flares was cool once more.
I swear, at this rate computers will not be taking over the universe…or at the very least Macbooks won’t be leading the charge. I have been wallowing in a quagmire of video editing, downloading, trimming, matching, copying, pasting, reversing, cross dissolving, saving, losing, getting stuck and ultimately losing my rag! What is it about computers that make them act so illogically sometimes, while being vindictive? Sounds almost human in fact. I found myself returning to a dark place of despair today as I decided to tweak some of the video footage in the show. I had been dreading this moment but knew it was unavoidable. I spent about as much time watching spinning discs as I did actually making changes. All this to a soundtrack of indescribable and undesirable mechanical noise aberrations, emanating from my over-heating laptop. So what should have taken a couple of hours, took the whole day instead. However….it’s done and I have reconciled with my laptop (but will sidetrack to the mac store tomorrow on the way to work…I hope my laptop doesn’t read this…)
The final week of rehearsals has arrived, and so has the set for Watch iT! The amount of props seems to have grown exponentially…but they look pretty coooool. Taking centre stage in this respect has to be the covering for the armchair. I have Jane Foxall to thank for this. I was reluctant to spend time finding an altogether new chair as I had become accustomed to how the original one feels. At £12 from a bric-a-brac shop it turned out to be a good investment. Now if the chair and the cover survive the tour it may end up as a centre-piece in my gaff. As the set has been getting some fine tuning so has the content of the show. I continue to work with my creatively choreographic warming up mentor Chris Devaney as we try to discover how to open up, let go but not lose it…all at the same time. All in all, i’m very happy with the direction the work is taking. 4 more days left to crack it...
since when did this become about interior design...?
...and we did a bit of warming up to this today. I think you'll find the picture is quite apt.
