Leeds

Hull

Grimsby

Barnsley

Sheffield

Tracing the Traipse

In the past few weeks Tessa, Rocky, Kirsty and myself have been visiting the five locations in Yorkshire, Humberside and North Lincolnshire where we'll be traipsing in 2012. Our intention is to meet local arts officers and practitioners with a view to working with their knowledge of the area and venues where we can perform. Also we've started to collect stories from people in the street, cafes and market places which will provide us with our initial calling on song material during our studio based research and development at the end of this month 'Nov'.

Audition blogs . . .

Ms Ellen Turner

"When turning up to the brightfurnace audition, I was a little apprehensive, as my knowledge of rapper sword dancing was limited to say the least. But the moment I got in the dance studio, the atmosphere was very welcoming and accepting. I knew that my lack of rapper sword knowledge wouldn't be judged harshly. When someone says sword dancing I initially think of Scottish sword dancing and was expecting to have to weave in out of two crossed swords with fancy delicate footwork, so when I saw that the dancing at the audition, my first reaction was of surprise!! Working in a group, and having a strong, fast, masculine and aggressive approach was the last thing I expected. It was definitely more up my street, and I really enjoyed the competitive and arrogant style that was being asked of us. One part of the day which I enjoyed was figuring out the complex group formations at a fast pace. I felt my brain was in overdrive, but when our group figured it out, it was very rewarding. Just as I was getting used to the traditional dance, Harry introduced us to Precious Cleaver and told us more about the tradition of the Betty. A traditional mischievous character who introduced each dancer to stage. This new additional tradition, was an aspect that I would never had expected to happen, but was pleasantly surprised to enjoy, the Betty character and their role in the traditional dance. We were then asked to improvise our entrance and make it however we want. It was quite exposing, as this entrance really introducing ourselves to the audience for the first time. It was quite high pressure to make sure that the right impression was to be made, whilst also juggling the unpredictability of the cheeky Precious Cleaver. I am thrilled to be part of the Traipse project and I'm really excited to learn more about traditional rapper dancing. I can't wait to see where our progress takes us."


Sophie Arstall

I am familiar with Yorkshire Dance and Beth Cassani who led the class so this instantly put me at ease as I love her class and her approach so it was a good start! I also really enjoyed learning the Rapper dance, mastering the formations and working very closely in small groups, it is a real team effort which can prove challenging but everyone was eager to learn. Once we put it to music the rapper really began to make sense, the drive and rhythm really helped to give us a sense of attack which Tom from Black Swan Rapper kept talking about. He was extremely clear in his instructions and the manner in which he approached this dance and I was impressed by his commitment and experience. It was great to learn from him. I would also enjoy exploring other approaches or attitudes towards rapper dancing.

I also enjoyed the comedic aspect of this dance with the Cabaret/clown character who introduced us into the space as we progressed and in the afternoon exploring the verses we had written about ourselves. I really enjoyed working within character and it was interesting to explore this, however as my verse was more abstract and poetic I felt it was more difficult to portray a specific character. I also need a bit more time to do this and felt there was a lot of literal translation of these verses. I would like to go deeper so that our character work has substance and does not rely on cliches....or resort to showing off... however maybe this is what the project is about which is also fine! This did bring up a lot of questions for me in regards to dance and physicality and theatrical work, which I can begin to articulate here:

• How do we explore characters in the best possible way so that this is convincing and interesting?

• How do these characters exist in the form?

• How much will it stay in the theatrical or comedic realm?

• How much will we stay with the folk tradition and in reverse how much will we bring our 'Contemporary' selves to this?

• What does this dance mean now in our society?

Welcome to the Team.

We're all set for getting into the studio together in Nov / Dec, collaborating, playing, exploring the tradition, researching, interpreting and developing the practice of the traipse. Brightfurnace are proud to announce we'll now be working with Stew, Alex, Ellen, Sophie, Tina and Tom.


Stewart Gibb-Lodge is a multi talented actor / comedian with over two decades of experience performing in a variety of styles. He has played lead and supporting roles both nationally and internationally touring with renowned companies Vincent Dance Theatre, Third Angel, Point Blank, Dead Ernest, The Babbling Vagabonds and Instant Dissidence.

Stew also performs street theatre and live cabaret as Little Jonny Cash or as Precious Cleaver one half of the Cleaver Sisters and is a regular compere at Cabaret Boom Boom in Sheffield. As an accomplished singer songwriter Stew also plays the ukelele, guitar, harmonica, percussion and has trained with numerous clown teachers including John Wright, Peta Lilly, Mike Barnfather, Aitor Bassauri, Petra Massey, Jonathon Kay, Jef Johnson and Jon Davison.

Alex Rowland is based in Hereford and graduated from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance after completing a foundation BPA (hons) in contemporary dance. Completing a years postgraduate training performing with Verve postgraduate touring company. Since graduating Alex has worked with 2Faced Dance Company both as a performer teacher, Champloo and Being Frank Physical Theatre. Alex has been Breakdancing (Bboying) for over ten years and continues to nurture his creative practice by exploring different dance styles and music.

Ellen Turner is based in Lancaster and since graduating from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance has been touring nationally since 2009. She has extensive educational experience within Ludus dance company both as a teacher and dancer, devising and performing in their most recent work: Consequences, choreographed by Nigel Charnock, Yael Flexer, and Ben Wright. Ellen is now a freelance dance artist and has founded her own company ETC Dance, working alongside other local artists and companies in the Lancaster area including Maelstrom Dance. Recently she held her first art exhibition in Lancaster named "Move, touch, inspire" a collection of semi-realistic portraits, inspired by the moving body and collaborates with dance and other media such as film, where she produced and directed a dance for the camera work titled "Listen to youth" which was premiered at the Lancashire Youth Film and dance festival in 2009.

Sophie Arstall trained at Northern School of Contemporary Dance and then Laban (Transitions Dance Company) and has since been working with several choreographers in the UK and abroad including Rosie Kay, Ben Wright and Ingri Fiksdal in Norway. She has recently finished an exchange project between Zimbabwean and European dancers and musicians as well as engaging in her own work. This has led to more recently collaborating with composer midnightorange.co.uk where experimental approaches towards integrating movement and sound were explored. Sophie also engages and directs her work towards Community contexts, teaching and devising inclusively with groups of people from a variety of backgrounds.

Tina Murtagh trained at the Northern School for Contemporary Dance from 2006-2010, during which time she developed a strong interest in improvisation. As a scientist mathematician she is exploring these influences on her own creative practice

Tina has worked with Roberta-Jean in London experimenting with various types of dancing, including jive, moshing, folk dance from different countries and the boogie woogie! Currently based in Leeds she works as a free-lance dance artist and teacher and is developing her creative practice working on a project basis.

Tom Rowbottom graduated from Middlesex University in 2011 with a BA Hons Dance Degree where he gained considerable experience devising his own works and performing in the works of others including Angela

Woodhouse. Tom has toured the UK, including performing at the Edinburgh Fringe festival and the Siobhan Davies dance studio in London. Tom’s has competed for several years within a number of physical contact sports like Rugby, American Football and is keen to explore and develop his own creative voice and practice as a Professional Dance Artist.

All Photo Credit: Andy Wood http://www.soundalibi.com/

Workshop and Audition

Brightfurnace are looking to collaborate with five innovative and confident dance practitioners from diverse backgrounds on their current performance project The Traipse. So whether you're a contemporary dancer or a traditional dance artist we'd like to hear from you. There will be a workshop / audition on Friday 16th September starting at 9.30 am until 4.30 pm at the Yorkshire Dance Centre in Leeds. Along with your usual dance... kit, you will also need to bring a pair of hard soled shoes as we'll be exploring traditional step/sword dance within the workshop (swords provided). You don't need to be a folk enthusiast or know anything about traditional dance. what will be more important is how you approach, interpret and improvise around the traditional forms.

Ideally you will have a minimum of three years post training performance experience and a willingness to challenge your creative practice. The Traipse explores the interface between traditional English rapper sword dance and contemporary dance performance which will result in a fresh and twisted take on living tradition, culture and heritage.

Successful candidates will collaborate with us on an initial two week research and development period from the 28th Nov to the 9th Dec 2011. This will be paid at the Equity minimum rate of £350 p/w.

Photo Credit: Andy Wood.

To register your interest please contact harry@brightfurnace.co.uk with a brief biog, work history and experience illustrating your interests and why you would like to be involved in this project.

Update

We're having a great response to our Shout Outs for dancers which means on the day of the workshop / audition there'll be lots of participants from Contemporary, circus, folk, physical theatre, comedy and cabaret backgrounds all bringing their expertise with them as well as their eagerness to learn!

I'm delighted that Tom Richardson from Black Swan Rapper http://www.blackswanrapper.co.uk/ will be joining us, as will Stewart Gibb-Lodge from The Cleaver Sisters http://www.myspace.com/thecleaversisters which will ensure a dynamic, innovative and ever so slightly bonkers time together in the studio (bring it on)!

It's Friday and finally the day of the workshop audition

Meeting Rob Business Director for brightfurnace at Sheffield train station at an ungodly hour, we had plenty of time to spare before needing to be at the Yorkshire Dance Centre. The foyer of the Northern Ballet Theatre building came in real handy to sit a while and refine the plans for the day ahead.

A Huge special thanks to Rob Brown, Beth Cassani, Tom Richardson, Andy Wood and Stewart Gibb-Lodge alias Precious Cleaver of the Cleaver Sisters for all their support, expertise and commitment to ensure the day ahead ran smoothly and was a brilliant experience for everyone else involved!

I personally got such a lot out of the day with many new insights and affirmations around the direction the work has been taking since it's inception around eight months ago! The Big release for me was to finally be in the studio with a group of 20 amazing individuals / performers who brought to life what I've only been able to see up till now, in my minds eye!

Beth got them all warmed up to help the dancers prepare mentally and physically for the day ahead, incorporating into the class some tightly grouped and speedy movement sequences. This served as a kind of pre cursor to the traditional close knitted forms of the rapper dance that would follow. Tom from Black Swan Rapper then taught a series of figures / sequences from the 'BS' repertoir that have lovely names like coach and horses, single guard, egg whisk and the lock. The methods of learning rapper can be tricky as they seem to favor a left brained approach which "is verbal and processes information in an analytical and sequential way, looking first at the pieces then putting them together to get the whole" Sperry R W. Ouch my brain hurts just thinking of it and believe you me, my own experience of picking up rapper dancing was . . . . . . . H Hm not so quick! The dancers did amazingly well and Tom was able to build more complexity into his approach knowing they would be able to handle it! A recording of Matt Crum, who is undoubtedly one of Englands finest Melodeon players was used to accompany and complete the rapper experience. Matt plays ( and is an aspiring dancer) for Black swan rapper and whom has won several awards consecutively at the Dancing England Rapper Tournament for being the best musician! Thrales Rapper will host 2012's 'DERT' in London which should be a Blast and one that brightfurnace are hoping to be a part of.

After lunch the dancers recapped on what they'd learned earlier, whilst I dashed around Leeds markets in search of several St Georges Flags to be used as props during the photo shoot with Andy and Stew, at the end of the day. Tom rotated the teams around and each team created a new sequence to end their dance with. I was amazed at how after some knuckle crunching (a common hazard of rapper) and maneuvering the teams were emerging and looking every bit like budding rapper pro's!

We then transitioned into exploring the calling on song aspect of the tradition. Stewart and precious found their way into the songs the dancers had written about themselves, the places they're from, the things they do and what kinds of things concern them? Something magical happened as individuals were called into the space to form the group, stories were told that kept us all entertained and
and transfixed! These unfolding archetypal contemporary
folk dramas and playful interpretations of tradition had a certain power and presence in the room. The dancers established their territory, it seemed like they could then own the space they were in, as the scene was set for the dance to commence! T'was wonderful to watch the dancers learn so much in a relatively short space of time and the high energy in the room was infectious!

Realy looking forward to seeing the results of Andy's photo shoot with Stew who ended up wrapped in the flags and looking bemused and iconic in a stoic Saintly fashion!

"Interpretation is about communication . . .
Interpretation is about telling a story . . .
Interpretation is a vital part of how people experience the places they visit".

Masters, D Scottish Natural heritage website
http://www.snh.org.uk/wwo/Interpretation/default.html

The Traipse

This blog has been set up to archive and share my creative practice and collaborative experiences. As a son of Sheffield with a family trade history in the steel industry, brightfurnace seemed a fitting company name. Born in brightside, as a child I remember with awe the now iconic thumping sound of the ton hammers working through the night, New York wasn't the only city that never slept! The alchemic associations and transformations of the fiery furnace seem to echo the grind and relationship I have with uncertainty and change, a metaphor for the creative process.

Brightfurnace's first project the traipse has been in development with partners imove over the past eight months. What began as an idea for a choreographic investigation based upon the interpretation of tradition, in this case English rapper sword dance (with it's origins around the Tyneside coalface) new strands and developments have been forged through what has been a long period of picking the project up and putting it down again, interspersed with procrastination and vigorous bouts of new energy and refined approach! Key to this process has been the continued support and development of ideas from Tessa and imove which has helped this initial period of defining the project feel a less isolated one and more collaborative.

The traipse will be a walked performance event that has it's roots in trespassing or arriving uninvited within a variety of social spaces and surprising unsuspecting groups of people with our show, like that of the pub, greasy spoon cafe and working mens club (I know there's a few left somewhere?) these dances are designed for small spaces. We'll process along and perform in a number of considered, pre arranged venues leaving room for spontaneity in between and along the daily timeline within five locations over five days in Yorkshire.

The final destination of the traipse, the trespass inn is a fictional fantastical performers club that will host a medley of folksy cum cabaret performance and dance. The idea is to partner up with local folk and cabaret clubs, like Cabaret Boom Boom in Walkley, Sheffield and promote local artists. One theory of the origin of the word traipse is from the french word trespass and so the trespass inn and traipsing are synonymous.

The three strands that form the body of the work are as follows:

• Interpreting Tradition

• The Traipse

• The Trespass Inn