This week our R&P meeting took us again to the Festival Hall, this time just Hannah and I were able to make it, as Vanessa was away on an orchestral residency as part of her year in the Southbank Sinfonia. 

Projecting back, this has been a great week for MOC! First up was a mime double bill, as we attended two London Mime Festival events, in what was it’s final week. On Wednesday, we went to see Hans de Hieri by Zimmerman and de Perrot, at the Barbican Theatre, which was amazing (see brief musing on the performance below)! 

Then, on Friday we went to watch the much hyped Gandidi Juggler’s perform their latest show, Smashed, which was inspired by the lengendary choreographer Pina Bausch. The show opened with nine performers juggling with apples, on a stage bare of props except for nine chairs, giving no hint of what was to come! The hilarious, and rather bizarre show, displayed some really impressive, and unexpected juggling moves, a particularly unusual one being juggling whilst smacking a man’s naked bottom! The show did become quite repetitive, as even with their expert skill, there is only so much you can do with an apple! Then, about fifteen minutes before the end, crockery, which had been at the back out of sight, was neatly arranged on stage, and we anticipated some dare devil juggling would follow. We could not have been more wrong, the reason for the title was revealed, as everything was smashed to pieces, and the performers went bezeurk, among comments they shouted “juggling at the Royal Opera House, pretentious rubbish!” It was so unexpected, and so funny! The show then ended with the jugglers then stuffing as much apple as possible into their mouths! It was definitely unlike anything I have seen before! Here’s a short clip of the show, and a review from the guardian. 

http://vimeo.com/51011132
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2012/jan/19/smashed-review

Prior to the show on Friday, we had a very exciting rehearsal with Niamph, the inspiring movement specialist and theatre performer we are working with. We have been discussing possible avenues for collaboration, and the qualities which movement and music share. Niamph introduced us to laban language, which in brief is the result of the work of Rudolph von Laban, to document all forms of human physical movement. Laban created eight ‘effort qualities’, representing the natural movements of human daily life; wringing, slashing, punching, gliding, floating, flicking, dabbing, and pressing. In our rehearsal, Niamph taught us how to move for each of these, and we attempted to copy her, which was very funny, they are much harder to do than she made them look! We then experimented with how the emotional state we felt performing each quality affected our musical style whilst playing. After the meeting we came away excited about exploring this further, and we will be blogging about how the collaborative process develops.

Back to the meeting, and first on this week’s agenda were funding opportunities. As many of you are I’m sure very aware, funding applications take a long time to do, so we are highlighting deadlines now, and delegating tasks. In our first session with our MBF business mentor Julia Payne, she highlighted the importance of delegating tasks to succesfully run a business, playing on the strenghts of each member, and as we have started to imput this more, we are realising how valuable the stategy is.

We ended by looking through a few potential performance opportunities, and making a note of people to contact. There are always exciting things going on in London, you just need to spend a bit of time researching where they are.

Next week we will be having our R&P meeting on the run, as we head up to the Purcell School for our first rehearsal with the young composers preparing for our performance at the Saatchi Gallery in March. Other highlights are a return visit to Oakleigh School in North London, to run our second improvisatory workshop through the Live Music Now scheme, and our next rehearsal with Niamph, so keep following to hear how it all goes.

One last note, our Platform 33/Non Classical performance with Emma has moved back to Thursday 4th April, due to unforseen circumstances, so put that in your diaries. We can also now reveal that the venue is The Macbeth in Hoxton. 

MOC x

Mime Time - part 2

We can’t recommend Hans de Hieri by Zimmermann & de Perrot highly enough! In the director’s note, they describe the show as “…building on the insight that humans are surprisingly similar when it comes to basic needs and desires. Does life often seem to fail simply because we, as individuals, try so hard to be unique and different?”

The five cast members approach this question, by way of a number of hilarious characters who live within the world of a revolving house! The 80 minute show keeps you transfixed as they dance across the stage, perform amazing acrobatic feats, amuse with puppetry, and make you laugh out loud as they humourise characters we are all familiar with. We especially liked the gospel preacher! 

On the side lines is a DJ, dressed the part in full tuxedo, who keeps the music flowing and even mixes the audience sounds.
Here’s a link to the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvgSXM7pYNA&feature=player_embedded
It’s on until tomorrow at the Barbican Theatre…so go and see it if you can!

For today’s R&P meeting we returned to our favourite haunt, the Royal Festival Hall of the South Bank Centre. This is such a great space to meet, an amazing artistic hub, with regular free live performances going on, and a changing gallery of contemporary art on display. Whenever I’m there (which is pretty often actually), I’m reminded of why I really love being an artist in London!

We’ve have had a great week, attending Platform 33’s birthday party (see our blog below), going to watch ‘Harlekin’ by Devero as part of the London Mime Festival (see Vanessa’s review below), and starting work on out next collaboration with physical theatre artist Emma Miller, with whom we’ll be performing at Platform 33 on the 6th March. It’s great to be collaborating and creating again!

Our first brainstorming session with Emma was so exciting, and pretty hilarious too, and some great ideas came out of the session which we look forward to expanding. Before Christmas our compositional mentor Errolyn Wallen set us the challenge of creating a signature jingle to sum up our instrument to a martian! Definitely one of the best tasks I’ve ever been set! We have decided to expand and improvise on these in our next rehearsal with Emma, and see if any musical ideas come out that could be incorporated into our performance.

Back to today, and up first on the agenda was further planning for our appearance at the Music Education Expo in March(www.musiceducationexpo.co.uk), including the organising of a giant MOC banner, TV screens to play a showreel of us in action, and the printing of loads of publicity flyers! It’s quite a task, but we’re looking forward to having our first MOC stall!

We’re really keen to apply to do a creative residency, allowing us some dedicated time to explore and develop new compositional avenues, and potentially also work on a new collaboration. Dartington is somewhere we are particularly keen to spend our residency, an exciting place with art and music everywhere, encouraging creativity at every turn. This week we plan to investigate potential spaces that could accommodate us, and possible dates that they and we are available.

Looking ahead and MOC are getting out and about this week! We’re off to two more London Mime Festival events, ‘Hans was Heiri’ by Zimmermann & de Perrot on Wednesday at the Barbican, and Gandini’s ‘Smashed’ on Friday at The Linbury Studio of the Royal Opera House. We’ve also got our first improvising session with movement specialist and theatre performer Niamh McKernan, so lots to report on next Monday!

Thank you Platform 33 for hosting a fabulous birthday party last night, we had such a great time! For those of you not able to make it, here’s a little bit about the what you missed!
The venue for the festivities was The Nursery, Arch 61, an intimate warehouse-style building, hidden in the deepest depths of Southwark, under the railway line, and the low rumble of the trains added to the cool urban feel of the space.

The night began with the Internationally acclaimed recorder ensemble Consortium 5, who are signed to NonClassical and released their debut album, Tangled Pipes, with them in 2010. I never knew the recorder family was so big, and included such bizarre looking relatives! In their 20 minute set they expertly performed repertoire from across the genres, and I particularly enjoyed ‘Screech’ by Kerry Andrew, exploring different bird sounds, the first movement is especially cool.

Next up were the brilliant London Brass Dectet, a tour de force of brass players from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, performing a taster of the repertoire for this ensemble, from Jim Parker to Richard Wagner.

And then for something completely different, in came the Capoeira Performers! Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art, inspired by dance, acrobatics, fighting and games, and the troupe gave a dazzling display, cartwheeling across the stage, and dancing beautifully choreographed fights. Their set ended with some amazing salsa dancing, followed by the chance for us all to get up and have a go!

Just time to grab a mulled wine before the next act, Thrales, London’s premier rapper sword dance group! The group filled the room with an explosion of energy, accompanied by a firey folk-recorder player, which made tapping your feet along to the beat irresistible. 

The final act of the night were Mayibuye, a traditional South African township funk band, and their lively performance was the perfect way to get the party goers in the spirit for some dancing into the early hours with Dj’s Gabriel Prokofiev, Nwando Ebizie and Ciaran Mayes.

Platform 33 promise to ‘showcase the most incredible artists from completely different genres’, and they definitely lived up to it last night. Follow them on facebook/via their website, to make sure you don’t miss out on attending their next event! See you there!

MOC x

http://platform33.co.uk 

Last night saw the first of our selected London International Festival of Mime events – spent in the Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House in the company of Derevo – a group of mime, dance and theatre artists.

I specifically wanted to see this performance as it seemed to have a seriousness to it that I have not found in other mime performances I have been to yet. It was also possible to meet the performer after which was of course another incentive to go on this night.

The performance itself was thoroughly gripping and if sometimes swinging violently between moments of hilarity and darkness this added to the tension. The music was powerful as a thread which connected the fragments of mime, theatre and dance together and developed alongside the performance cleverly.

The most interesting part of the night for me was the Q&A session. I was intrigued to see Anton Adassinski; the man behind the ideas out of character and hear anything he would share. But it also got me thinking - How much as performers should we give away about our processes and the inspiration/concepts behind what we do?

Adassinski explained that the work grew out of initial improvisation sessions and that he felt that the work was never completely finished; there were always things being adapted right up until the performance. I could relate to this as it is representative of our work too.

However, it was quite clear and understandable that Adassinski was uncomfortable being asked to explain verbally his take on Harlekin, (the central character in the show), as this would have undermined the integrity of the performance. I felt he was right to keep some things under wraps. After all, some things are best left unsaid and the best responses are spontaneous and should be personal to the individual.

Vanessa x

In March, MOC will be performing at an exciting event organised by Platform 33, in collaboration with classical club-night Nonclassical. More about our performance to come as we go behind the scenes on our rehearsals, but in the meantime Platform 33 are hosting another very exciting event, their 1st Birthday Party! 

Platform 33 has been going for just over a year, and is run by director Chloe Booker, whose mission is ‘to provide a way for people to discover and explore different art forms, by using unconventional venues and putting the most diverse artists side by side. ‘

The event is this Saturday 19th January, 8pm at Arch 61, between London Bridge and Waterloo, and already has 6 acts confirmed with over 40 performers involved!

Tickets can be brought in advance from their Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/events/319659571481235/ or on the door. 
http://platform33.co.uk/

Hope to see you there! MOC x

This week it was the turn of the Battersea Arts Centre, somewhere I have wanted to check out ever since I moved to Wandsworth last year, but simply haven’t found the time, you know how it is! BAC is a very quirky place indeed, housed in an old town hall, it has a very artsy and bohemian charm about it. The cafe is a great space, with very affordable tea and coffee, and just as we were packing up from our session to wander around, a band were setting up, and make a note that this is great venue for an intimate gig. 

Over our coffee today we discussed what needs to be done regarding our exciting appearance at Rhinegold’s Music Education Expo in March (www.musiceducationexpo.co.uk), more about that to follow. We also diarised future rehearsal dates for both our Saatchi performance and our upcoming Platform 33/Non-Classical collaboration with Emma Miller. Our first rehearsal with Emma is on Saturday, and prior to this we have given ourselves the task to each bring along one stimulus to brainstorm, leading us to a starting point for the work. For our Saatchi performance on the other hand, our commission will take inspiration from art work in the current exhibition. 

Although there isn’t a gallery as such at Battersea Arts Centre, the whole place is a bit like an installation, from the carpeted chairs to the neon sign encouraging the viewer to ‘Start A Revolution’. It has an air of the unfinished about it, and this adds to the character. With their mission to ‘reinvent theatre’ it’s a theatrical hub, and we will definitely be returning to check out some of the events.

Have a good week! MOC x

Today I decided to visit the Barbican centre to see the current installation Curve which I have heard great things about. When faced with a two hour wait I decided to postpone my visit! Instead I popped in to the British Museum; as a Londoner who had never set foot inside the place a trip was well overdue! Alongside Egyptian mummies and old relics that are so historically interesting I inadvertantly stumbled upon the clocks and watches room. Wow - what a treat! And to be there as all the clocks struck 2pm was completely aweinspiring! All the different chimes and bells created an cocophpony like nothing I had heard - definitely worth a trip. Walking in to the Great Court - the largest covered square in Europe is breathtaking too!
The Curve will have to wait for another day - watch this space!
Vanessa x

MOC are just beginning rehearsals for our next collaboration with physical theatre artist Emma Miller (check out our website for more about her work), and to fire up our imaginations we’ve been checking out some of the big names in mime. We are therefore really excited that the London International Mime Festival is back, and it starts this week! Follow our lead and get your tickets early, as rumour has it the shows sell out in a flash!
http://mimelondon.com/

Every Monday we catch up over a coffee to reflect on events of the past 7 days, plan our ‘to do’ lists for the upcoming week, and to have a general brainstorming session with our business caps on! As 2012 drew to a close, we compiled a long list of venues across London that we want to check out, and as most of these have a cafe attached, we made it a New Year’s resolution to rendezvous at a different venue each week. We will be filling you in on where we end up and the topics on our agenda each week in ‘Reflections and Projections’. To mark the first edition of R&P, you get a bonus 2for1, as I’ll be filling you in on the last two meetings, getting you up to speed with our January plans and escapades so far!
Last week we chose the Saatchi Gallery, and the Pret opposite (the coffee shop was a tad too pricey). We will be performing at the Saatchi in a collaboration with The Purcell School young composers, and wanted to get a feel for the space prior to rehearsals, so took a wander round before discussing ideas and plans for the project over a brew. The Saatchi is such a great space, a series of high-ceilinged white-washed rooms, flooded with light (see below). There is a minimal feel to the gallery, allowing the viewer to stand and reflect on the artwork without intimidation. This is a very contemporary gallery, and so you really do need time to take in the art on display. I particularly liked that there was no description on the walls about what you are seeing, sometimes I feel this detracts from the art, which is often meant to stand alone and be freely interpreted (although a description can be found in the gallery guide purchased from the box office, should you need a bit of guidance).