Thursday 28 July 2011

A response to Visual Language workshop

Visual Language and the Performer workshop, directed by Jacky Lansley.

A few days have passed since the workshop and learnings and findings have resonated and settled in my body and mind. The process of digesting everything expands beyond the day. Working with different artists: dancing together feels exciting and a time to discover something new about each other. I love the electric space that exists between two people on the edge of the known and the unknown; finding out, following our intuition and feeling the way.

Materials and objects spark the imagination and tell stories of their own, either held in the palms of hands, placed face to face, or placed in space relative to us.

Each story carries its thoughts and emotions to the viewer and there is space to respond in the moment. The effect of these moments linger for a while after the initial impact and cause ripples of ideas to tap into and choose the inspirations we like to form new ideas for future research and performances.

Working with a visual stimulus: What does this say to you? How do you read this image\language?

We interpret impulses and responses in our minds and bodies and form a physical landscape embracing the emotional, visual performance. The tools we have learned to use and intuition come hand in hand - it's really about your own experience inside the worlds we created. You’re feeding back to yourself, and the questions and findings seep through the practice like little impulses or sparks that appear and move you forward into unexpected and surprising places.

When we finish a workshop or class with Jacky, we always reflect on what has happened and things that come up for us and it is surprising the leaps you can take without even being aware that there was a barrier there at all. Integrating aspects of the work, the voice, body and other stimuli, from the very beginning through to the end, and out into life and practice, it’s a wonderful feeling to achieve something that came so naturally and organically, and is enjoyable as part of the process. In reaching out into unknown places we all support each other in our individual and collective journeys. We arrive at fascinating places, and each arrival feels as new and exciting as the last.

Katie Keeble, June 2011

Who Became Those

Jacky Lansley & Fergus Early - Who Became Those from Matt's Gallery on Vimeo.

Jacky Lansley & Fergus Early are part of ninety collaborators that have been commissioned by Matt's Gallery, London, to contribute a film to TAPS: Improvisations with Paul Burwell.

"In this short film, Jacky Lansley and Fergus Early celebrate the experiences they shared with Paul of working and performing in Butler’s Wharf in the late 1970s. Locations range from a trendy riverside cafe below the once derelict ’B Block’ which housed Paul’s studio and Lafone Street where X6 Dance Space, founded by Jacky and Fergus with others, was situated. Paul’s drumming accompanies a dance that inhabits the shoes of the past with the feet of the present"

Paul Burwell was infamous for his exuberant fusions of fine-art installation, percussion and explosive performance. He was a staunch advocate of, and passionate participant in, all forms of experimental art. TAPS: Improvisations with Paul Burwell, realised by Anne Bean, Robin Klassnik and Richard Wilson embodies his prolific practice.

Wednesday 27 July 2011

HELLO AGAIN

There has been a gap in my postings but I am back watch this space!