B For Barcelona

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This large letter B is on a rooftop in the Born district of Barcelona. Is it B for Barcelona or is it perhaps B for Born in Barcelona (that old Springsteen classic)? Or maybe it doesn’t stand for either, especially since it’s lying on its back. Maybe it’s B for Brossa, the Catalan poet, playwright and artist Joan Brossa. He liked to play around with letters and it seems to be on the roof of his theatre. We found it when we came looking for Lottie who lives nearby. We met her under the B for Beer. Continue reading “B For Barcelona”

Frames of reference

Sardana

Flamenco dancing was charged with sexual passion and melancholy, with the ‘duende’ of the south – “Nothing could be more antithetical to the Catalan character, or be more damaging to the severity and restraint of our race” (Josep Torras i Bages). Catalans should stick to their traditional ‘sardana’, a dance that expressed the social cooperation of the group, the village – Robert Hughes.

Frames of reference

Polka

Choreographer: Mark Morris.
Composer: Lou Harrison.
Musicians: Mitchell Drury (violin), Adrienne Varner (piano).
Dancers: Megan Bosaw, Ellen Cooper, Julia Cross, Erin Johnson, Deepa Liegel, Jessie Mays,
Rachel Pattens, Elysia Roscoe, Emma Sanford, Caitlin Schafte, Charlotte Smith, Morgan Spencer,
Elise Walker, Alex Wheelwright.

Frames of reference

Cat’s Cradle (6)

Grupo BanRara perform a traditional ribbon maypole dance from Guantanamo, Cuba.
The tradition of maypole dancing in Guantanamo came from Haiti via France where maypole dancing was in style in the 18th century as an art dance. The origins of maypole dancing may have began in ancient Babylon during sex worship and fertility rites.

The men dance around one maypole and the women dance around another until a cat’s cradle is intricately woven between them and the dance becomes more frenzied and the two become one.

Frames of reference

A Wooden Tree

Imagine this song by Ivor Cutler as the musical accompaniment for a group of New York’s finest morris-dancers choreographed by the greatest living creative artist in any art form. Put it together with thirteen more of his songs (including the ever popular Beautiful Cosmos), with dancers dressed as children (Ivor Cutler always seemed a child dressed as an adult) in madcap square dances, shape-shifting and pattern-weaving around the playground, and you’ve got one of the four spectacularly life-enhancing performances by the Mark Morris Dance Group last night at Sadlers Wells. All that was needed for a perfect St Andrew’s day was a curtain call with Mr Morris dressed in a kilt.

Frames of reference

Gnawa Studies

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The 16th Gnawa Festival in Essaouira on Morocco’s Atlantic coast is a largely free four-day celebration of the music of the Gnawa, what is perhaps the oldest trance music in the world, the root note of inner transportation and sufi trance that attracts hundreds of thousands of Moroccans and intrepid international visitors to Essaouira each June, over the weekend of the full moon. Continue reading “Gnawa Studies”

Frames of reference

Sutra

Five years after its first performance I finally got to see Sutra last week at Sadler’s Wells. It was worth waiting for. It’s an intense, concentrated burst of energy. 20 Kung-Fu monks behaving like curious cats in an exuberent exploration of the ins and outs of boxes. It opens with a ‘choreographer’ (down right) describing a moving line by hand over miniature boxes whilst a monk (centre stage) dances the same line over full size boxes. This duality continues throughout the performance, playing with ideas of thought/action, self/other, inner/outer, micro/macro… Continue reading “Sutra”

Frames of reference

Highgate Olympics

Dear Chris,…. France was so hot, too hot to think sometimes. I’m glad you had a good time in Cornwall. And refreshing sounds very nice…. I was in Kenwood on Sunday (19th August) and it was very beautiful. I saw this Olympic scene in an old shop window in Highgate Village…. maybe something for the blog? It used to be an old second hand bookshop but is now in between uses. Hope all’s well at Rowley, best wishes, Chris. Continue reading “Highgate Olympics”

Frames of reference

A Sailor’s Hornpipe

Here’s Kai running the Plymouth Hoe 10 last year. A ten mile run around Plymouth Hoe, the highlight being this jaunty jig as she came by where her niece Molly was waiting to cheer her on. Kai will be running the British 10K London Run on Sunday 8th July and she’s promised a little hornpipe as she crosses the finishing line. See her page on the JustGiving website here.

Frames of reference