Post performance reflections

What a fantastic day I had on Thursday! Thank you so much, all you lovely southeastdance people, for giving me such an amazing opportunity! I can still hardly believe that I was able to perform in front of an audience and receive all those lovely compliments! It's something I'll never forget......
Thank you to all who made it possible - from all those who commissioned the piece, to Sean for the brilliant lighting, to Holly for the wonderful costume, to the staff at The Basement who made us so welcome, to Lauren and Kyla and people whose names I have forgotton for being so encouraging and supportive, but especially to Ginny, who I can't thank enough for bringing out something in me that I scarcely knew I had.
My friends are amazed at what I have been doing - I'm usually quite shy and very reluctant to put myself forward for anything - but everyone I've told about the project have been very enthusiastic - I do hope this will spread to involve many other people - I can't think of a better way to celebrate life!

The night before the performance!

I have been giving myself a talking to after the nerves of the last couple of weeks and am going to really enjoy tomorrow's party!

It was good having the dress rehearsal in The Pit -even though I still struggle to remember all the details - especially where to position myself - sorry Ginny! I should - no will - be OK after going through it again tomorrow afternoon.

I love my costume! It was so wonderful having something specially made for me - another first experience! I am full of admiration for Holly's skills - both creative and practical! Thank you all for treating me to such a luxury!

Going back to the Greyfriars performance - it seems to have created quite a discussion among those who watched, about dance, music, art, performance and related subjects. It certainly provoked a lot of interesting reactions! Everyone has been very positive and supportive, which I do appreciate. Performing in public is something I would never have dreamed of doing before I responded to the postcard invitation from Paddock productions to take part in "Something To Dance About", which was when I first met Ginny. That took a lot of courage to begin with, but was such a brilliant experience, dancing in the skate park in Lewes with a group of people I'd never met before we started rehearsing together.

I was a bit bothered last night because I did not feel as elated as I did after the showing in the Nightingale and can't quite work out why. Perhaps it's nervousness - I'm trying to work out how to deal with things I haven't had to deal with ever before in my life - having always shied away from being noticed or standing out in any way - so I'm going to think positively and just go for it!!!!!!
Fiona

Friday's visit to Greyfriars

Went along with Ginny and Fiona to Greyfriars - and what a fabulous afternoon! Held in the lounge, around 20 people+ turned up to support Fiona...all very enthusiastic to see what she had been working on with Ginny. After tea, cake and a bit of sofa re-arrangement Fiona performed the piece...the feedback from the owners was wonderful - 'I wish i could move my neck the way Fiona moves hers!' 'It was a wonderful thing and has given me a different outlook on dancing' ! One lady even stopped us on the way out to ask when she could buy tickets to see it again! - i think it went down well! Lauren x

Dancing at Greyfriars Court

Comment from Fiona: I have just got home from dancing at Greyfriars Court, where I have worked since 2000. I have indeed been very nervous about showing the dance to people I know well, both staff and owners, so it is a great relief to have it behind me! Ginny first showed some video DVD clips of her previous work as an introduction, and I danced after tea & cake and rearranging the seating in the lounge. I think and hope that most of the owners enjoyed it; several came and said lovely things to me, both about the movements and the emotional content. They did find it interesting, even though some said their only experience of dance was with classical ballet. The Poulenc sonata was absolutely right for the piece.
It is a good feeling to have so much support and encouragement. I did appreciate the support and encouragement of my colleagues. They think I am very brave!
I know there is still a lot of work to do, as I am still finding it difficult to remember all the movements! I just get frustrated with myself, as I have still not arrived at the point where I can be confident that I will not forget what comes next! Especially in the second half of the first section, but I shall work on that bit over the weekend. I hope I'm not grumbling - I have loved every minute of the rehearsals and love working on the dance, trying to remember everything, late at night in my kitchen!

Update so far...

The work on the lone dance piece is progressing; Fiona has been working very hard with a section of the dance that requires a lot of counting; as we all know this can be very taxing, and I feel that I am asking a lot of her to be so precise with the movement and music as it demands much concentration, but, as ever I have a lot of faith in her ability to carry it off as well as she can. I have eventually tracked down the music, in America, and as we speak it is being shipped to me so that I can play it on the vintage record player that we use in the work. The piece is by Poulenc; a French composer, who was greatly inspired by Stravinsky and Debussey, so there is a clear link between the Matisse artwork that inspired the dance and the music used as these artists were all working in France around the same time and influenced each other's work. Last week I started to work on the visual aspect of the piece with costume designer Holly Murray and lighting designer Saun Phillips, both whom are very experienced and able to match the low key, small scale of the dance in as grand a way as possible. Holly and I have been looking at (again) Matisse for ideas on colours and styles to translate into costumes, this is a really exciting part of the work for me as I get to have creative ideas (about clothes, colours and fabrics which I love) and then to hand it over to a talented other to realise... So, watch this space as we hope that it will also look a treat. After looking at Matisse's paintings again I have called the dance "still life with Fiona"; Fiona is of course the dancer in the work, and still life denotes the quality of her performance; which contains a lot of stillness, it draws a link to the idea of a still life subject in painting as well as suggesting that life is still continuing, with Fiona, I hope people get this or a similar meaning from it, and that it evokes a positive image in their minds. Tomorrow we are going to visit the place where Fiona works, Greyfriars sheltered housing in Lewes, we are going to talk about the project and show what we have been doing, I know Fiona is nervous about this; showing it to people she sees every day is nerve racking so good luck Fiona...See you all on the 6th March... I need to go and finish a phrase.

Monday's Showing

Thanks to everyone for coming on Monday - it was fantastic to have the applause! I couldn't sleep that night, I was feeling so high!
It has been such a pleasure working with Ginny, I can't believe how lucky I am! Thank you, Ginny xxx
The dance is still evolving so it's still a challenge, remembering the changes that we were working on on Friday, since the showing on Monday. I'm now looking forward to the next rehearsal on Monday. Perhaps the music issue will have become clearer by then. I've been listening to some of my old records, wondering if any of them might work, but I can't be sure, possibly because they are so familiar.

A comment from Fiona - about the pain to come???? So far all I've suffered is a couple of small bruises on the knees, but I'm very proud of them! Makes me feel like a child again :-) Nothing that a drop of arnica doesn't cure... I feel brilliantly well after the rehearsals, - not just the physical movements, but the creative energy Ginny brings is so uplifting. My difficulties are in the form of wondering if I am going to remember it all. We put together all the sections we have been working on last time, which was rather a strange sensation, in the sense that the whole piece seemed so much shorter than the individual sections... perhaps that is usual, but it's all new to me.YoursFiona Zeyfert

Welcome to the blog for mine and Fiona's work on the Lone dance piece. I don't have a title for the piece yet so its' still "lone dance", work is going well (I think) as something is taking shape that I like, at this stage it is slightly unidentifiable but that is oftern the way when working on a devised piece. I have been encountering two big hurdles this week; one is the music, I'm in conversation with composer Dirk Cambel about making a score for the piece, he and I have worked together in the past with good results. This time I am approaching the music from the point of view of using it as a structuring devise,taking Pina Bausch's use of the BArtok opera in her piece Bluebeard, I am working with the idea that Fiona stops and starts the music which is being played on and old fashioned record player, and this means that the score must be legible over a period inwhich it stops and starts. The main question that has come up is what is the role of the score in creating narrative and how much narrative do I want?.I'm researching different sounds and types of music in order to get to the bottom of this, it seems that this task might have been easier if I had started with the music first - but hey I'm a choreographer!The other question that has been in the back of my mind is how far do I have the right to push Fiona's physicality, I , at some point, may be asking her to do something that is painfull ( I hear an empathetic sigh from all those of you who I have worked with in the past ), and, as she is essentially a voluteer should I change the choreography or pursue the image at her cost.... well I know this will all be worked out to some extent by the 6th of MArch in the mean time I will keep you posted on how it's going...any answers on a post card.yours Virginia Farman

The choregrapher and the performer

South East Dance is delighted to announce that Virginia Farman and her performer Fiona Zeyfert have been selected for the Lone Dances commission 2008.

Virginia Farman
Born in 1965 Virginia (Ginny) studied Fine Art Foundation at Cambridge Polytechnic and went on to study at the Brighton Polytechnic School of Art in 1984. Ginny has an impressive track record of freelance productions and has worked as a dancer, choreographer and director for several years. Virginia is currently a Senior Lecturer in Dance at University College Chichester.

Fiona Zeyfert
Born in Scotland 1954 Fiona studied French and History of Art at St Andrews University. Married in 1977 she moved to Lewes in 1979 and became a mother to three children now aged 21, 24, and 25. Having previously worked as a carer, Fiona is currently Duty Manager for a sheltered housing scheme in Lewes. Fiona is extremely excited about the Lone Dances commission and the prospect of working closely with Virginia.