Saturday 22nd February
Emilyn Claid will be in-residence in the reading room from 1-3.30pm
2pm- Fergus Early
2.30pm- Jacky Lansley
3pm- Mary Prestidge
4pm- Fergus Early
4.30pm- Jacky Lansley
5.30pm- Mary Prestidge
Please book via Eventbrite
In response to the exhibition X6 Dance Space (1976-80): Liberation Notes, X6 founding members: Emilyn Claid, Fergus Early, Jacky Lansley and Mary Prestidge present an afternoon of new and revisited performance works.
LIBRARY GRAZING
Emilyn Claid
‘I have been writing, immersed in a tumultuous tangle of words.
I would like to share a process of editing. Seeking articulation of gesture and clarity of communication.
There will be cake and carrots’.
3 Gymnopédies
Fergus Early
Music: Gymnopédies (1888), Erik Satie
Fergus Early created 3 Gymnopédies in 1976, at X6 Dance Space. He was familiar with Frederick Ashton’s Monotones (1965) and its silky choreography to Debussy’s lush orchestration of the piece and felt that, though beautiful, it lacked something of the sheer muscularity and doggedness that underlie Satie’s original piano version. The etymology of the title suggests young men dancing naked, leading Early to make the dance a journey from fully clothed to a state of near nakedness. Early says ‘I have performed the piece in every decade since the 70s and it gets harder every time. There is no guarantee that I will successfully navigate its challenges.....’
DANCE OBJECT REVISITED
Jacky Lansley
In this performance Jacky Lansley returns to some of the materials she used in her solo work Dance Object at X6 in 1977, which used a collage of visual image, dance, stand-up and feminist discourse. Using extracts from the original score, she compares the sense of political urgency in the 70’s with now, as we organise around climate change and other oppressions. Lansley says: “The artistic strategy of re-using seems to be a valuable political act, in a world that uses too much.”
It’s coming back to me...
Mary Prestidge
A performance, using light and projection with objects, sound and movement.
‘...forgetting prevents us from being blinded by the infinitely, radiant multiplicity of the atoms of our past that we carry within us’ Jacques Roubaud, The Loop
Extending from her practice which is grounded in improvisation, Mary Prestidge creates performance as a site for exploration and experimentation; expanding her understanding of the human sense and movement in relation to time and space.
Film material: ‘Butlers’ Wharf 1983’ camera: Mary Prestidge, Ann Herdman and Jessica Loeb.
Emilyn Claid is a choreographer, writer, teacher, academic and psychotherapist based in London, UK. She was a co-founder of the X6 Collective, London and a co-editor of New Dance magazine (1976-80). Claid was Artistic Director of Extemporary Dance Theatre, London (1981-1989) and has choreographed for companies including Candoco Dance Company and Phoenix Dance Company. Claid was Director of BA & MA Choreography at Dartington College of Arts (2003-2013). Publications include ‘Yes? No! Maybe… Seductive Ambiguity in Dance Theatre Performance’ (Routledge, 2006). Claid is currently Professor of Choreographic Practices at Roehampton University and has a private practice as a psychotherapist in London.
Fergus Early is dancer, choreographer and director based in London, UK. He is a co-founder of the X6 Collective, London (1976-80); its successor Chisenhale Dance Space, London (1980-) and a co-editor of New Dance magazine (1977-88). Early founded Green Candle Dance Company, London (1984), and continues to serve as Artistic Director. Green Candle Company has been awarded three Digital Dance awards. In 2010 Early was awarded an OBE for services to dance and is an Honorary Doctor of Arts at De Montfort University, Leicester. Publications include ‘The Wise Body’ (Intellect Books, 2011), co-authored with Jacky Lansley.
Jacky Lansley is a choreographer, writer and performance artist based in London, UK. She is a co-founder of the X6 Collective, London (1976-80); its successor Chisenhale Dance Space, London (1980-), a co-editor of New Dance magazine (1977-88) and founder of Dance Research Studio, London (2002 –). Recent performance work includes ‘About Us’, at Modern Art, Oxford (2019), Bluecoat, Liverpool (2018) and Oxford House Theatre, London (2018). Publications include ‘The Wise Body’ (Intellect Books, 2011), co-authored with Fergus Early and ‘Choreographies: Tracing the Materials of an Ephemeral Art Form’ (Intellect Books, 2017). Lansley has been awarded One Dance UK’s Jane Attenborough Award (2018).
Mary Prestidge is an independent dancer based in Liverpool, UK. She was a co-founder of X6 Collective (1976-80); its successor Chisenhale Dance Space (1980-89) and a co-editor of New Dance magazine (1977-1980). Prestidge supported the creation and delivery of the dance programme at the Liverpool Institute for Peforming Arts (LIPA). She was co-organiser of Liverpool International Festival of Dance Improvisation (LIFDI) (1999-2007) and subsequently co-founded LIC studio at Bluecoat, Liverpool, with Liverpool Improvisation Collective (2008-). Prestidge is a former Olympic Gymnast (1968).
For details about access needs please follow the link here or send your inquiries to rachael[at]cellprojects.org
Developed with the generous support of ArtFund, Cockayne & London Community Foundation, Arts Council England and Chisenhale Dance Space.
