Dear Chair of the Lisa Ullmann Travelling Scholarship Fund,
Please, find enclosed two copies of my report of the project I carried
out during the months of February to April 2005 in
This experience made possible by LUTSF will be unforgettable. I am very
grateful to the Fund for this amazing opportunity.
Ana
“AERIAL
LAB.”
An aerial theatre experience in
How all began…
As a foreword I would like to define what “aerial theatre” means to me.
Aerial theatre is an innovative concept of theatre, pioneered by the
Argentinean Company De La Guarda, (www.delaguarda.com),
this company has been investigating this approach for over a decade. This
technique allows the creation of any Performing Art, (dance, physical theatre,
opera, etc.) while breaking the law of gravity.
Aerial theatre is based on climbing
techniques, the same ropes, special harnesses, safety and control systems are used
to support the performer. Patricia is the director of Laoviah School. I first
met her in London in year 2000. She was then working for De La Guarda which was
successfully performing in London throughout that year. When the tour finished
a group of climbers (including Patricia and Iñaki) and performers created
“Shinjinrui”, an aerial theatre company. For three years I worked with them on
lighting design, stage management and scenography, while training as a dancer.
Although I decided then to focus my creativity and passion on dance, I had
always the curiosity to apply my choreographic and dance skills to aerial
theatre.
From the moment Patricia set up the school two years ago in
Florianopolis, I had been dreaming to go and work with her. She invited me and
my partner Iñaki, (an aerial expert himself) to share some time and knowledge
with her. This was the perfect opportunity to fulfil my long time dream and
widen my artistic vision through an exploration of aerial theatre.
Once there…
We arrived at Florianopolis on a hot afternoon on the 12th of
April and although we didn’t plan it ahead, an unexpected arrangement with
Patricia led us to Buenos Aires.
There we met her 86 years old father Angel, who inspired my initial idea
of “the miracle”. Patricia shared with me her dream of making her disabled
father fly with ropes. We decided then to make it happen.
Wherever I travel I like to check
the local dance schools and try out some classes. In Buenos Aires I took every
possible tango classes. I fell in love with the music, which actually became
the main soundtrack for the project. A male teacher who has been dancing for
over sixty years, taught me the basic tango steps and the secrets of the most
passionate and delicate dance. We were invited to observe an aerial acrobatics
class using harnesses in “Redes” circus school. We met the teacher and
exchanged useful information.
After this inspiring trip, we
went back to Florianopolis and started working on ideas, planning and
scheduling the project. On the first day, I discovered a Capoeira Angola
school. The teacher invited us to a “roda”, kind of capoeira ritual based on
improvisation of dance and music. I was very pleased to make contact with other
dancers and performers and approach the philosophy of this ancestral type of
capoeira by attending their classes twice a week. I imagined those movements
could work very well with ropes and I decided to incorporate capoeira in one of
our pieces, I could already visualize at that stage a tango-capoeira peculiar mix
to become the fruit of our work.
I wanted to ground my research on
the Azorean. This autochthon culture is the heritage from the Portuguese
colonization during the XVIII century. I visited the library and the Drama
university, UDESC, and research about local legends, fairytales and any other
sources that could help me define the aesthetics of the project. What struck me
most was the strong presence of ancestral credence which had survived the
conversion to Catholicism. This fusion of beliefs is still fully alive in the
Brazilian culture. This very peculiarity of the Brazilian tinted my vision of
“the miracle”.
Memories…
“… We had a meeting this morning and wrote down the scheme of work.
Patricia gave us the induction and safety instructions: check of the climber
before starting any aerial work; use of double security; body, space and rope
awareness; clarifying the “warning sign” in case anything goes wrong;
performers and visitors round rules for safety, meals and warm ups advices,
etc.”
“… It is the first class and after the yoga- based warm up, we explore
initial movements: sensing the harness, low-level motion, up-side down and
horizontal stance, circling on the air … Originally, I had in mind to train
everyday, but after three hours session I was feeling the tightness of the
harness and the rope tension imprinted on all the muscles that I knew and the
ones I discovered! I never had this kind
of massive ache all over my body. I quickly understood what Patricia was
suggesting about training three days a week and to adjust energies”
“… Second week. I am leading the warm ups; Patricia has been teaching us
“on rope-movements” like running on the wall, jumps, flies, twists or
suspensions;
Meanwhile my research is specifically concerned with the assessment of
the advantages and limitations of dancing while connected to a rope; what kind
of rope? Dynamic or elastic? What height
from the floor? Which part of the body is the best to be clipped to the rope?
Ways of interaction / contact with other aerialists …
To answer these questions, I
created a dance phrase and explored the same movements over and over; on the
floor; on the wall; at floor level, twenty centimetres and three meters from
the floor; with bungee rope or with “dynamic” climbing rope; clipped from the
hips, from the chest and from the upper back. Through this exploration I
assessed which movements were possible or not, while attached to a rope.
Every evening after being “roped
figures” that sway, spin and drift through the space, we had feedback meetings
and the next day planning. At the end of the day the best way to assess our
progress was to watch the videos of the rehearsals and have a resolute
evaluation of the day. Timing and safety were recurrent issues to talk about.
How “the miracle of Laoviah” was created
Throughout this technical training the idea of “the miracle” was taking
shape. Who was involved, what were the scenes we wanted to shoot, how and when
they were going to be shot. I designed a shooting plan, including aerial system,
costumes, music, storyboard, rehearsal schedule and filming deadlines.
As the artistic director of the
project, I learnt a lot, including management skills. More than ten people were
involved, including children, elderly, disabled, dancers and people who had
never danced before as well as the technicians, all of them connected together
around “that miracle”. The miracle
itself was that Angel did fly, from that moment we started shooting the actual
scenes which would make up the performance:
- the apparition of the Milagrosa
Virgin abseiling down;
- Angel and his wife Delia dancing
a tango as shadows with a wheel chair;
- the most emotional scene was as
angel Laoviah came to help Patricia and send the old couple into the air;
- the wildest scene, entitled the “
indigenous party”, pictures Nico “the clown” juggling on bungee ropes five
meters from the floor while eight other people dance on the air and on the
floor;
- the nostalgic scene where Angel
dreams of his youth and dances an aerial tango with his young wife.
- “the soul of the miracle” is the
scene in which I used as stimuli the most intense emotions flourishing:
Nostalgia, anguish, sadness as well as Angel’s frustration towards his
inability to move. From the technical point of view, this scene also felt
important to me as it relied on a new system of rope control which Iñaki
designed. This involved skilful communication between technician and
performers. From the choreographic point of view this scene was the climax.
Evaluation and Conclusion
On the personal level the whole of the stay will remain an unforgettable
experience. Completing the project, did feel like a miracle to me! However I
realised that many technical requirements, like the structure and rigging
possibilities, the dependence of equipment and technicians and the safety
issues, had to be taken into account for our miracle to happen. I was not only
able to learn new skills in the aerial field, but also gained much confidence
in my choreographic ability to explore movement in ways I could never have
imagined before.
One of the highlights during the
rehearsals was working with this elderly, disabled couple, while choreographing
the shadow tango piece. Watching them work out the steps with their versatile
daughter Patricia, defining the floor pattern, the wheel chair travelling and
helping them remember the steps, were amazing moments. This very moving
experience made me realise how understanding and flexible an artistic director
needs to be.
While working with David, who had
never danced before, I agreed to his suggestion to rehearse with a completely
different music. Techno music was more familiar to him, the old “Malena” tango
wasn’t touching him. It worked! We attained the same result but more quickly
and more pleasantly. As a choreographer I discovered this as a valuable method
of creation.
My expectations to research aerial
dance as well as my ambition to experiment as an artistic director, working
with such a diverse group, were fully covered. Yet, what I learnt on the human
level far outreached the artistic and professional skills I gained.
Allowing people to work, connect and bond in a very harmonious and
integrated way, all focused around my artistic vision was the most rewarding
aspect of the residency.
This project was an exciting
collaboration and built a strong professional and personal relationship between
Patricia and myself. She is now setting up an aerial theatre association and we
are planning another collaboration soon. As I am currently participating in ACT
(International Theatre and Dance Schools festival in Bilbao, Spain), I intend
to make a presentation of the project this week and I will definitely encourage
other fellow artists to apply for the LUTSF funding. Finally, as a suggestion
to future LUTSF awardees, I would fully recommend to be ready to accommodate
the original project to circumstances… life runs with a very different pace in
many places outside the UK!
I would like to thank LUTSF,
Patricia from Laoviah, Iñaki Allorbe, Camille Litalien (HCC Head of Dance Department)
and Mai Nguyen Tri for helping me.