Behind the Scenes with Nigel Charnock
Click here to watch behind the scenes interviews with Nigel Charnock and the dancers during the devising of Nigel's piece for 'Consequences'.
And take a look at what dance artists from all over the North West captured when they went behind the scenes...
Dan captures all on camera
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First up on our behind the scenes diary of Nigel's Devising is Freelance Dance Artist, Dan Williams, who captured the experience on camera..."Nigel Charnock inspired me to go into Physical Theatre through his performance with Lloyd Newson and DV8. When I found out about Charnock working with Ludus I jumped at the opportunity. During the first week of lessons and observations, I wanted to learn from a man who has successfully performed and choreographed for over 20 years. To be able to learn from his experience was invaluable to me and I was very grateful for the opportunity. "I decided to capture my experience with Charnock through photography. I felt that this would be able to truely show the effect Charnock has over an ensemble or even a single performer, also how he works through the structure and devising process to create a performance. |
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"I wanted to show the side of a performance you don't usually get a chance to see: the laughs, the sweat, the mistakes and how they get to the end result."
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Steph's witty observational blog...
Lancaster student, Steph, also shares her experiences of Nigel's first week of devising, with a witty observational blog..."After having spent the last five mornings participating in classes with Nigel Charnock, I'd gotten used to his crazy nature. He is very quirky, wild, spontaneous and voices his random trains of thought out loud, which can be confusing, amusing and sometimes just plain odd! Having said this though, he is very funny, friendly and a wonderful dancer and teacher. I loved his classes and really felt like I learnt from him. "So after these five mornings, I assumed Nigel's choreographing would follow a similar pattern - a bit mental and changing constantly. However, I was shocked to find it was the complete opposite! Nigel was practically a different person: thoughtful and strangely quiet! It was really fascinating to watch him choreograph and see the moves appearing in a precise, concise way; it was a bit of a long process that slowly came together but was really great to watch. "The company are great to spend time with and I really enjoyed watching them practice and the routine is looking great, can't wait to see it when it's finished." |
Sally 'draws' her own conclusions...
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Sally Powell - Dance Centre Administrator at The Lowry - shares her outstanding drawings of the second week of Nigel's devising process...
'The challenge of expressing dance at that moment in which it exists is inspiring. A movement only ever occurs once; the event is unique. It will shift and adapt each time it is repeated. I wanted to illustrate what I could see in front of my eyes. Not to depict photographic perfection, but to explore the movement responding to the shifts in energy, light and space and most significantly, the sense of expression from the dancer at that specific instant. Each piece is titled by the lyrics or spoken words that corresponded to the moment in the piece that the movement occurred.'
Buttercup (Top Image) Buttercup portrays Nigel’s use of abstract movements to mimic the song lyrics. The characteristics of each repetition were subtly different creating a unique moment each time.
All Shook Up (Middle Image) This drawing reflects the spasmodic movement of one dancer as he jumps and shakes through space All My Dreams (Bottom Image) I wanted to illustrate the energy of the movement as the dancer took flight
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Helen's poem
Helen Moffitt, Dance Development Officer at The Kendal Brewery Arts Centre, shares her experiences of Nigel's devising with a poem...
Tap tap, squeak, trainers on the floor… Over and up and take your time I feel like I’m too early – avoid the pretty lines, |
Rose sculpts the show...
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Rose Hiron transformed photographs into 3D models, bringing the artwork to life...
Rose's inspiration was the sheer enthusiasm of the dancers. She started by taking various photographs of the devising in collaboration with another participant, and then transformed the images into 3D mobiles. This process spanned the first and second week of the devising process. And what a result! |
Karen behind the lens...
Karen Bartholomew - Dance Artist and Owner of MeshDance - brings us her photographs from Week 2 with Nigel Charnock. Karen gives us a peek into her motivations and what exactly she wanted to capture...
'I recently set up MeshDance, which is an inclusive company, and this summer I will take on the role of choreographer. This is something that both terrifies and excites me - I haven’t choreographed a full piece since leaving university, and I think I would really benefit from seeing a company and choreographer ‘in action,’ which I hope will feed into my own experiences in the near future.
'What I wanted to capture…'
‘I like the way that dance photography can capture moments of a longer work, moments that the viewer might not necessarily pick up on.
‘I’m interested in diversity and difference, and how each dancer/performer is unique. The way in which this difference comes together to form a company has always been of interest to me and I think that exploring this through photography will be another insight into each individual within the company, their body, movement style and relationship with the choreographer and the work itself.
'I have always been interested in Nigel Charnock’s work, and would like to learn more about his choreographic processes and how the Company will approach this. I’m also quite familiar with the work of Ludus, so I’m really keen to see how this piece will differ from previous choreographic work. It definitely seems like a real departure for Ludus and I am excited to see how this progresses!'
Beaumont College get it all on film...
Karen Bartholomew - Dance Artist and Owner of MeshDance - brings us her photographs from Week 2 with Nigel Charnock. Karen gives us a peek into her motivations and what exactly she wanted to capture...
'I recently set up MeshDance, which is an inclusive company, and this summer I will take on the role of choreographer. This is something that both terrifies and excites me - I haven’t choreographed a full piece since leaving university, and I think I would really benefit from seeing a company and choreographer ‘in action,’ which I hope will feed into my own experiences in the near future. 'What I wanted to capture…'‘I like the way that dance photography can capture moments of a longer work, moments that the viewer might not necessarily pick up on. ‘I’m interested in diversity and difference, and how each dancer/performer is unique. The way in which this difference comes together to form a company has always been of interest to me and I think that exploring this through photography will be another insight into each individual within the company, their body, movement style and relationship with the choreographer and the work itself. 'I have always been interested in Nigel Charnock’s work, and would like to learn more about his choreographic processes and how the Company will approach this. I’m also quite familiar with the work of Ludus, so I’m really keen to see how this piece will differ from previous choreographic work. It definitely seems like a real departure for Ludus and I am excited to see how this progresses!' |
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Beaumont College get it all on film...
Beaumont College Go Behind the Scenes from ludusdance on Vimeo.
