Drumming Fun

On Wednesday 28th January, we had a treat of spending a whole day with Julie Wright learning the art of West African drumming. We had the oppotunity of trying out the djembe (a skin-covered hand drum that is played with both hands), the dundun (base drums which we played two at a time, with drumsticks) and a wide range of other percussion instruments. We found that drumming is not only wonderful fun, but also develops a sense of rhythm and beat, coordination, and listening skills. We did exercises that involved us learning different drumming phrases that were repeated and blended with other phrases (this required a lot of concentration!)

Here are some photos and a video from the day:

A circle of djembes with various percussion instruments in the centre. There is also a set of dunduns in the bottom left-hand corner.

Drumming together a traditional West African song from Senegal

This is a session we had where one person kept a steady beat on the dunduns, while the rest of us added different improvised sounds using the djembe and other instruments. This exercise required us to listen to each other to keep the overall sound balanced.

Geni e o Zepelin

This is the original song that my show is based on - Geni e o Zepelin by Chico Buarque.

http://www.goear.com/listen.php?v=6ec11cd

Rod Pieces

Here are our upcoming rod puppetry pieces:

"Câme-isole" [Camisole]

by Celia Constantinesco

"Symposimum"

by Kate James-Moore

"A Flor E O Zepelin" [The Flower and the Zeppelin]
by Natalia Vaz



"Nautical but Nice"
by Kay Yasugi




"Wolfsbane"
by Kat Schumacher

'Hatching' Stars in Bradford

On Thursday 22nd January, Kate and Kay performed their Star-themed marionette pieces at the Bradford Playhouse's second 'Hatch' night. 'Hatch' is the theatre's new experimental arts showcase night, with a programme packed with an eclectic variety of performance, film, installation, live art and participatory activity, including:

* A screening of 'Gift of Fire: Nineteen (obscure) frames that changed the world' by US filmmaker Ken Jacobs
* Short films by Lee Canning and Michelle Heighway
* Video installation by Angelo Picozzi and Karl Dallas
* Participatory paper banner project by Jennyanne Smith
* Audio visual performance by Brian Gilson
* Needle felting with textile artist Kate Ryan
* Performative lecture by Simon Warner
* Work in progress dance by Slanjayvah Danza
* Live art boxing by Nicolas Kilby
* Dance Theatre by Victoria Gray and Kip Johnson
* Poetry jazz performance by Nightdiver

There was an unexpectedly large crowd gathered around our marionette shows, and our little puppets were very well received. Here are some photos from the night:

Kate and Caroline setting up Kate's show, "Luni Lou and the Great Escape"


The 'Hatch' Programme

Kate and Kay - feeling very relieved after the show and anticipating celebratory fizzy wine and crisps once arriving back home (which was made possible thanks to a quick drop by Tesco's)

Guardian Review of Faulty Optic show

Fish Clay Perspex
Shunt Vaults, London
3 out of 5

* Lyn Gardner
*
o Lyn Gardner
o The Guardian, Tuesday 20 January 2009
o Article history

Some people wake up and discover that they have turned into a giant beetle; others pop out to the beach one day and end up with a giant fish attached to their heads. So it is in this triptych of loosely connected short pieces from UK puppeteers Faulty Optic, subtitled Incidences of a Quirky Kind. And yes, they are extremely quirky. As is always the case with Faulty Optic, you are plunged into a bizarre micro-world where anything can happen - and what does happen, however strange, seems perfectly normal. It is a tribute to the imaginative and technical flair of the company that you can quickly accept the fact that someone's head can become a beach upon which a fish gets stranded.

1. Fish Clay Perspex
2. by Faulty Optic
3. Shunt Vaults,
4. London

1. Until 24 January
2. Box office:
020-7378 7776
3. Venue website

This is all well and good, although in this instance, the three-part nature of the piece hints at something not yet fully fledged. With the surreal comes a need for clarity in the storytelling that is not always fulfilled here. I found myself marvelling at the invention and enjoying the madness of puppet pottery, cotton-wool waves and scribbled cats that turn into devils - but I'd have liked to know a great deal more about how and why you get trapped in a strait-jacketed world of Perspex. And who are the armless, pointy-footed figures that dance about like Isadora Duncan?

The show is maddest in the Perspex section, and funniest in Clay. But it is most emotionally acute and satisfying in Fish, when a baffled puppet with personality tries to make sense of an apparently senseless world.

Men's corsets??

This is a video i've found on YouTube which shows this man tiding up a corset on himself.. The speed of the first part contrasting with the slow of the second bit.
Movement wise i thought it was interesting.

Women's sensuality : French cabaret song..

This a song called "Les nuits d'une demoiselle" by Colette Renard, a french comedian and singer.
This song speaks about what this "demoiselle" (miss) is doing all nights, and the fact is that she is masturbating. But she's using very poetic and hilarious expressions to say it.
I just like the fact that she is talking very nicely about her own sex, while if we think about, most part of the time we remember ugly and bad words to describe it.
So the way she's assuming her sensuality, her physical power as a woman, please me(probably because it is part of my piece as well).
I'm sorry that is in french, but i can still translate few of them if you want me to!