Making Connections

Yesterday Geordie, Doug, Rhonda and I drove the winding road to Shelburne for a day of outreach. We were greeted by a very lively and willing group of students at Shelburne Regional High School where we rose, fell, rolled, crawled, jumped, turned and overall boogied to Doug and Geordie's fabulous music. One of the best groups of public school students I've ever taught! After some delicious food at the Beandock ('some say the best fish burgers in town') with the lovely Susan Hoover, we arrived at the Osprey Arts Centre - one of my favourite theatres in the province. We were there to help launch their 2012 dance season and give a little preview of our show in preparation for our July 17th performance at the centre.

What a valuable experience this was...


There is something about the theatre and an audience that really reveals and exposes a work. For me the experience was intense on my levels and I am still processing the information. In the small space, framed by black, under the lights,  I really felt the power of Geordie's music. We've been mostly rehearsing in the studio without the musicians, using recordings of the songs, and I didn't fully realise the effect the music would have when played live. It's like working with a light bulb and then standing in front of the sun. The musicians onstage bring a whole other level of energy to the performance. Their presence is both visual, energetic and auditory. And the music at its core is also powerful. We are working with heavy themes - as Geordie reminded us, the word 'Threnody' comes from the Greek words, threnos 'wailing' and oide 'ode'. We are performing laments, which expressed in sound and movement, through the bodies of the performers onstage, has to potential to be powerful. How to direct this power, channel it, shape it to reveal both its strength and its beauty...this is the work we have ahead of us.

Thank you to Rhonda, Doug and Geordie for their fearless performance, to Susan and the Osprey Arts Centre for organising this event and to the audience who shared their thoughts, ideas and experiences with us through the talk back. One of the audience members described his experience of the performance as like peering through a kaleidoscope. I would have to agree.

(In this video: Rhonda Baker, Doug Cameron & Geordie Haley)


Check out the Osprey Arts Centre:
http://ospreyartscentre.com/