REFLECTIONS ON SPIRALARTS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SESSION 7.9.24
Members:
Dancers – Bryony Williams, Dave Home, Liz Allerston, Celia Mendizabal, Harshil Chauhan
Singers – David Phelops, Rosalie Warner
Pianist – Marc Verter
Film – Ruby Gadsby
Members/contributors who could not be there:
Cressida and James, Miu, Miriam, Alexandra, Ann, Jo, Bibi
This event was an open evening inviting people to see how we work, join in where appropriate and
give their feedback.
It was held and hosted at Open Ealing Arts Centre
The overall title is ‘Enchantment’
Warm Up
After a short introduction to the company, we began the evening in our usual way with a movement
and vocal warm up/preparation and invited members of the audience to join us.
Trees
We began by showing our opening piece ‘Trees’, the movement is inspired by a Kata with some
dance input. It is choreographed with areas of improvisation.
The music was improvised by Marc on the piano, and we read a poem, inspired by Trees, by a
member of the group who was not there, Bibi.
We followed this with a version of the Linden Tree folk song, sung by Rosalie with the dancers
forming a descriptive backdrop to the song. This movement was choreographed to the song.
For the next song ‘Trees’ by Fiona Lander, sung by David Phelops and Rosalie, we asked the
audience to join in the folk dance style choreography, which they did with enthusiasm
This section, particularly the opening, got very good feedback with people finding it ‘magical’.
There was a suggestion to add some interrelationship between the trees in the first section, as they
do indeed ‘talk’ to each other.
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The Moon
Elizabeth read her own poem about the Moon, sitting on a chair, which she embellished with
movement and gesture. Some of us created a soundscape to it with Tibetan bowls and vocals.
Ruby showed a film she took of a group piece sung by Cressida Lindsay, music composed by
James Lindsay, inspired by the poem The Waning Moon by P B Shelley. A powerful piece
highlighting Bibi.
Marc had chosen the Schubert song ‘An Den Mond’ “Beloved Moon’
Marc played the piano with Rosalie singing on one side of him and Elizabeth dancing on the other
side with a white cloth representing the moon.
Everyone found these three pieces emotionally powerful.
We felt we could work more on the relationship between the pianist, singer and dancer, finding
more points of connection between them. There is also another song in this series that could also
be developed.
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The Sea
Ruby showed some film footage of a few of us who went to Hastings and tried some choreography
on the sea shore, also some improvisation with movement and Tibetan bowls.
Ruby had filmed some beautiful footage of the different ways the sea moves which we showed as
a film.
One of the company, Miu, currently in Japan, had composed a piece of music on piano for the Sea
section, apparently while she watched a film of a tsunami! By chance it went perfectly with the film
and was really beautiful.
Finally we played the film and the music and asked Celia and Harshil to improvise a dance which
they did to perfection.
We finished with ‘The Harbour Song’ sung by David and the singers, a peaceful ending bringing
everyone together to the harbour, after the storms (yet to be created) This is not yet finished and
needs some work. It could also include some audience participation, both dance and singing.
This whole section is a work in progress. We want to incorporate the choreography we did by the
seashore then create a sea storm with improvised music, voice and dance out of which appear the
Sirens and their enchantment…..
In the feedback we asked audience members how they felt the sea film worked best – on its own,
with music or with music and dance. Interestingly they said they liked the build up, ie all the levels
and found the whole piece mesmerising and very moving.
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There was no doubting the plethora of creative talent and expertise on display in each art form, it
was truly exceptional.
After the event Open Ealing had very kindly laid on some food and drinks, which was very much
appreciated.
All around the room were animated conversations inspired by the evening and no one was in a
hurry to leave!
Two musicians who were there asked if they could compose a piece of music for us, if we could
give them a theme, which is a gift to us.
From our point of view we require funding to be able to work together more often so that we can
refine our work, currently we meet once a month with extra sessions in natural environments.
We also need funding to be able to pay each artist, they are all professional, also to buy costumes
and to pay someone to help with promotion.
Part of the purpose of the evening was to create a promotional film, and we need the funding to
pay the film artist for this, and develop this relationship further.
www.spiralarts.org.uk
Contact: bryony.williams1@gmail.com
SPIRALARTS in Open Ealing Arts Centre Sunday 25th August 2024
Bryony, Dave, David Phelops, Celia, Kane
WARM UP;
Music – Bobby Darin
Usual warm up, releasing exercises, stretching and opening exercises
Spiral explorations
CHOREOGRAPHIC RESUME
Forest and ‘kata’
We worked on the whole ‘Tree’ Section from the opening, using music played by James and Cressida recorded outside in forest last year.
We went through the ‘Kata’ in detail.
Linden Tree
Using recorded music we worked on this incorporating Kane as the main ‘Linden Tree’ as a strong still presence in the background.
We went through all the original movements, and related them to Kane where appropriate.
Trees
We decided this could be an audience participation piece at the end of the section.
Folk style circle dancing, forming a backdrop behind piano halfway through, giving centre stage to singers.
We decided we could use this whole section as a good demonstration of our work, with film footage and including Bibi’s poem.
The audience will be invited to join in last piece.
The Sea
We decided to show this piece as a ‘work in progress’, maybe members of audience could join in some of the choreo and also improvisation?
Miu who cannot be with us as she is in Japan is composing a piece of Seascape music including a big, dramatic storm….
Harbour Song
We worked a bit on this – dancers lying on floor (after Sirens) David and two singers come forward and gently lift dancers from floor (the way they touch body initiates initial movements. Come up slowly, initially a bit bemused, then led forward to front centre stage, form soft group around ‘harbour’ (could be Bibi??) Group humming to song.
Film footage throughout this piece
CLOSE DOWN
Dave gave a quiet close down.
Some discussion as to arrangements for R and D day on 7th September – use Eventbrite for people to book tickets, set up event page on Facebook
Costumes – white? So film can be projected on?
Off to Cafe Zee
SPIRALARTS in Open Ealing Arts Centre Sunday 28th July 2024
Dave H, David P, Celia, Rosalie, Kane and Bryony
INTRODUCTION:
Introducing Kane to the group, and the group to Kane, as it was his first time joining us (he last worked with us approx 18 years ago!)
WARM UP
Music – Buena Vista Social Club
Bryony led the warm up – general movement – then everyone shared some spiral moves.
THE SEA
Music – Satie ‘Je Te Veux’ Pascal Roge
We worked on the choreography for the Sea Dance, a piece of group choreography
Then we improvised in pairs, a form of ‘Kumite’/pairwork’ inspired by the movement of the waves
Clashing and retreating from each other, over and under, swirling around each other…..
The piece finishes coming back to a reprise of the original choreography.
We discussed this dance leading into a more dramatic and ‘dark’ section led by the ‘Sirens’ – 2 or 3 singers using their enchantment to bewitch those who come near. There could be a strong duet here between a siren and a dancer?
By the end all dancers lying lifeless on the floor.
THE HARBOUR SONG
Led by David P, sung by David and Rosalie – after a couple of verses the singers touch the prone dancers who slowly come to life, adjusting to new, peaceful atmosphere. Some slow walks around, then singers lead dancers forward to ‘Harbour’ (Bibi could be involved here with a chair dance?) The group finish by lifting their arms on in breath, lower on out breath, lift again and join together…..
CLOSE DOWN
Rosalie led us in a very beautiful quiet meditation, inspired by a Tree, as if we were circled around the tree, gently aware of all aspects of the tree, and moving arms through the shape from roots, through the trunk to branches and back down.
Then off to Cafe Zee!
Another beautiful session, focused and creative.
SPIRALARTS in Pitzhanger Park – 2.6.24
Dave, Bryony, Miu and Miriam
A small group, but a really lovely sunny day and an inspiring session, as usual!
WARM UP – I led a freeing and opening warm up, we then shared various movement ideas,
including some Japanese spiral movements from Miu and some movements focused around the
face and eyes from Miriam.
TREE DANCE – we explored the idea of favourite trees with words and movements:
Bryony – Birch
Dave – Oak
Miriam
Miu – Olive
CHOREOGRAPHY – we then went over all the choreography for the opening of our repertoire,
Tree dance, Kata and Linden Tree. It looked very beautiful and powerful in the open air and
sunshine.
CLOSE DOWN
Dave led a gentle close down
TEA AND CAKES – with Miu and Jo!
SPIRALARTS SESSION IN NATURE – 5.5.24
Bryony, Dave, David Phelops, Cressida and James, (Ella and Sam), Celia, Miu, Bea, Michaela
Venue: THE ANKERWYCKE YEW (over 2,000 years old) AND OLD PRIORY
We are aiming to have regular sessions working in Nature to inspire and energise our work.
WARM UP/PREPARATION
We all met by the ancient Yew, an amazing old tree, huge, with a strong atmosphere around it. It is very sculptural with a full girth and spreading branches, full of twist and turns, deep colours, representing wisdom of a long and ancient witness to history.
We gathered in a circle in front of the tree, David P led us in some breath and vocal work and we all led some freeform vocals!
I began the physical warm up, focusing on grounding, the relationship between roots, trunk and branches and spiral moves that seemed very appropriate. Each member of the group then led their own choice of movement and we all followed.
We decided to move as other people were wanting to come and see and admire the old tree.
THE PRIORY
An old site with just a few walls of different heights, shapes and nooks and crannies. Everyone melded into part of the wall of their choice, slowly, through improvisation, emerging from the wall and moving as they felt. James improvised on Cello, sitting into a corner of the wall. Cressida improvised on violin sitting on a higher ledge.
It was beautiful. Celia thought it would be good to develop some solo dances of dancers emerging from the nooks in the wall……I agreed, we should develop this another time.
TREES
We walked further into the woodland and found a clearing. We decided to work on the ‘Trees’ song David had brought to the previous session. James, Cressida and Miu fixed the music to a tree and played, David led the singing and the rest of us formed a semi circle creating some instant folksy group choreography while singing. Great!
We attracted some attention from a dog and his owner, the dog liked the singing and joined in, but was scared of the open standing cello case, Cress ‘killed’ it by lying it down and all was well!
I wonder how we could use both versions of this song from the previous week and this one in natural surroundings, maybe one version on film, the other live….?
CLOSE DOWN
We walked back to the Ankerwycke Tree and formed a circle again. I led some quiet movement – Ten Shu – from Heaven to Earth and vice versa. I added Thich Nhat Hanh’s words to each movement:
“In/Out, Deep/Slow’ Calm/Ease, Smile/Release, Present Moment/Perfect or Wonderful Moment.
Some of us then gathered at the Staines Brewery for a drink, chat and there happened to be some very good live jazz playing!
Thank you to Celia for suggesting this beautiful place, we aim to go back and do some more sessions there, possibly on a week day when there are fewer people around.
Bryony
SPIRALARTS SESSION AT OPEN EALING – 28.4.24
Attending:
Miu, Rosalie, David Phelops, Dave H, Pam Chase
THEMES – Consolidating Opening ‘Trees’ section, Developing ‘Sea’, Choreographing ‘Singing in the Rain’ suitable for audience
Each session there is a different creative alchemy, depending who is there and which arts are represented. This was a very focused and productive session, full of creativity and arts fusion.
As always we began with a warm up/preparation, this session was inspired by the Tango music of The Romano Viazzani Ensemble, which we had seen live the previous week on recommendation from David P. A regular warm up including some of our Spiral moves, shared by everyone.
TREES/FOREST
We went over the opening of our repertoire, focusing the individual movements with three or four words and teaching and remembering the moves for the ‘Kata’, also incorporating Bibi’s poem. We used the music recorded on our trip to the forest near Cressida and James in the autumn, when we did this piece in the natural environment with live music from them.
We then worked on The Linden Tree, featuring Rosalie singing, while we settled and refined the choreography for the background group.
TRANSITION
Miu played piano (solo piano , no movement) as a transition to:
‘TREES’ Music by Fiona Lander, words by Walter De La Mare
A more uplifting and beautiful song David P brought in –
David sang while Miu played piano and Rosalie joined in the singing – very beautiful
An idea that the group could again form as silent trees like the opening forest, during this song with 2 dancers as children chasing each other and playing in the forest.
SINGING IN THE RAIN
A popular song everyone knows, I felt would be good as an audience participation piece, both singing and dancing. I taught the choreography initially on chairs, leading to free form on the instrumental passage, coming back to the chairs at the end.
CLOSE DOWN
We finished by repeating some of the warm up stretches and spiral moves to the Tango music, which David P filmed to show his friend who runs the group.
The session felt very good, we are beginning to consolidate a wealth of material.
Finally off to Cafe Zee for tea, coffee, cake and chat!
Bryony
SPIRALARTS SESSION AT OPEN EALING 17.3.24
Bryony. Dave. Liz. David Phelops. Marc. Miriam. Ruby. Miu.
THEME 1 – WATER/THE SEA
THEME 2 – INTEGRATION OF MUSICIANS IN THE ACTION
Ruby was filming.
Another inspiring session.
We began with a warm up/preparation as usual to open up physically and integrate as a group. We
focused on ‘fluidity’ in preparation for working on our ‘seascape’ – everyone contributed their own
moves. I then taught some movement motifs that could be used later in the piece.
We worked with the idea of Sea starting small and building, following the music (Miu improvising
on piano) We placed the piano in centre of room with the group interconnected behind the piano,
facing the pianist and softly following her moves around the piano. The music built and on a strong
chord the group broke away from each other, moving individually but working with the motifs we
explored in the warm up.
We felt it would be a good idea too have David P as Poseidon, possibly with a drum as a still point
amidst all the movement. Maybe behind on a higher level?
I think this piece could do with some group choreography to balance the improvisation.
We allowed time to discussion
We finished again with David P and Singing In the Rain, developing what we did the previous time
and all learning and joining in the singing and dancing, this time introducing an umbrella!
We all agreed this could be a good audience participation piece.
We finished with a close down and went to the cafe to start structuring the whole idea for
performance and integration with film.
Bryony Williams
Group Session Sunday 11th February 2024, 1-4 pm
Open Ealing Arts Centre
Marc, Dave, Miriam, Sarah, Jo, Miu, Bryony
Theme 1: Water
Theme 2: Integration of the musicians into the action
Another unique and lovely session, the creative alchemy between these artists never ceases to surprise, energise and amaze. There is a real joy and freedom in working creatively and collaboratively.
As always we began with a physical warm up with everyone joining in, led by Bryony, based around the movement and qualities of water. We worked with fluidity, turbulence and stillness, exploring waves and spirals. Each person in the group added their own ‘water’ movement.
We also did some mirroring exercises, reflecting each others movement.
Again no vocal warm up, as no one to lead it.
Marc then played a piece of Ravel to us, a boat on the ocean. First we listened then improvised freely and individually to embody the music.
We then formed a linked group, joining little fingers, behind him and mirrored the movement of the pianist as he played.
Miu then took over at the piano and improvised to a general theme of a trickle of water building into a river, into an ocean….
The group formed a line behind her putting hands on the shoulders of the person in front, the first person had their hands on Miu’s shoulders and followed her movement, which was reflected through the line. A music led experiment, which worked well, but we thought there needed to be more shape and stillness incorporated in the group movement to contrast the fluidity.
There was some discussion as to how it felt for the musicians to have the music embodied in this way so close to them.
The group then repeated the exercise linked by only one arm, which gave more freedom of movement, but was less connected and less effective.
After a break, Miu produced a little hand held keyboard, with a tube and mouthpiece, a fascinating and unusual instrument which she played beautifully while we improvised movement to It.
Jo then followed playing a recorder, becoming a pied piper with everyone following her.
Finally we changed the mood and began choreographing the song ‘Singing in the Rain’, some light relief which everyone enjoyed. We began posed in chairs around the room and used the chairs as our dancing partners, sharing some fun choreography. Ultimately we hope it will be sung live by David with an umbrella in his arm, a choreographed piece that could be used for audience participation.
We finished with a quiet ‘close down’ led by Dave.
It is an important part of the way we work to ensure a good preparation at the beginning and quiet breath and movement at the end.
Bryony Williams
12.2.2024
Group Meeting Sunday 14th January, 1-4 pm at Open Ealing Arts Centre
Bryony, Dave, Liz, Bibi, David Phelops, Rosalie, Miriam, India
(problems on railways kept others away)
Theme: Lake and Sea – water
Every session we have seems to be a spontaneous adventure, loosely based around a theme, all
depending on the alchemy of those present. Sometimes dance/movement is more prominent,
sometimes music and sometimes singing and poetry.
Each session is a unique and creative experience!
All sessions begin with a movement warm up to engage the bodies and unify the group. This
included the beginning of a dance/kata composed of spiral moves created by members of the
group, a work in progress, integrated by Bryony. No time for vocal warm up this session.
James sent a recording of one of his compositions ‘Dialika’, a river in the desert in Mali (Marimba,
Celeste, Double Bass) a beautiful meditative piece. We worked with Liz and Bryony as a Grecian
style waterfall backdrop of choreographed movement with Tibetan Water Bowls, three others
formed a triangle around us, reflecting our moves, then mirroring each other. Celia, will become
centrepiece of this scenario, but was not there at this session.
Next we worked with Bibi who had written a wonderful poem inspired by the sea, “I watched the
waves….” the rest of the group improvised movement to her words. We decided to leave this
mainly improvised with an agreed shape/structure. Bibi should be the “Luna Lady who plays with the water…”
Finally we changed mood completely and danced and sang to a medley of Swing songs sung
brilliantly by David P, good fun and energetic. We agreed they need to be choreographed (chorus
line?) and could be used for some audience participation. They are a good balance for our
programme.
I am always in awe of the ease of creativity, spontaneity and generosity of everyone in this group, it is heartwarming.
It was great to have India Dillon there for the first time, she is doing a wonderful job building a
following, setting up crowd funding and dealing with social media in the most artistic and creative way. We are grateful.
Bryony Williams
17. 1. 2024