The Place

Each night in Touch Wood comes together at the last moment and no two nights are the same: perfect miniatures, embryonic epics and unforeseen consequences - a safe Place to risk all on a bare stage and one of the least predicatble events this autumn.

Touch Wood is a performance complement to Choreodrome, where every other summer The Place's studios are given over to artists free of charge to pursue research and development projects.

The first Touch Wood season was seen at The Place in September 2007. Touch Wood returns this year from 12 September - 3 October. Tickets are on sale now, and line-ups will be announced weekly as works emerge from the studios -- check What's On for details.

Touch Wood Blog by Sally Marie
Saturday 3 October
Tuesday offered us a Rite of Spring moment from Gabi Reuter and her improvisational trio. Surely it must have won the award for best entrance and exit at The Place! The women arrived on stage as if they had run halfway across Europe, breathless and squeezing themselves through space. Julieta Figueroa was like a giggling fairy, drunk on morning dew and the whole audience immediately fell in love with her. Jane Leaney was as magnificent as ever, retaining her position as the GI Jane of contemporary dance – equal measures toughness and femininity. Then there was choreographer Gabi Reuter, who persuaded us that the performers had finally broken into the space of the stage, as if crossing through an invisible wall into some great green field of freedom. Eating up space with their bodies and gulping out cries of joy it was simply ecstatic.

Efrosini Protopapa’s gloriously original piece, ShowReel, combines irreverance and seriousness within the same breath, making it a must at Laban this coming season.

Helen Lindon and Damian Llambias’ colour installation necessitated crossing the dreaded threshold of the stage. Audience participation scares me witless, and as I fought back my terror to place a coloured paper on the stage an ironic thought hit me with some force: I was going to be on this stage the following night performing. So I ran home and apologise now for missing out the second half.

On Thursday we started with a duet, which has emerged as part of Luca Silvestrini’s Choreodrome research into electronic communication and its effects on relationships. The duet was with performed by myself and Kip Johnson, who regular readers may recall from a previous blog. Totally original and a gorgeous mover, I’m sure you will have plenty of chance to see him over the coming year.

This was followed by a re-run of Abi Mortimer’s Here, Still Here, Still, made magic by the beautiful movement of Carrie Whittaker. Elle Macpherson can move over – there’s a new Body in town. She’s also certainly one of the loveliest and most disarmingly friendly people I have met this summer.

The next duet featured Kip and Stuart Waters, who has just left Motionhouse and is doing an MA at The Place. Stuart moves with lightning speed and intensity, which was a great contrast to Kip’s honest and witty text. 

Another solo followed from Tony Thatcher with dancer Anna Axiotis, which I only saw on screen. She looked like a small ghost from where I stood, though apparently the piece was based on an unseen duet by Cage and Cunningham.

Luca’s final duet was for Kip and Vicki Manderson, a woman who appears to have tumbled from the roof of the Sistine Chapel; all cherub and luminous. She’s the sort of dancer you can ask to make a minute of movement but who returns with ten you could put straight onstage. The duet was about the land of internet dating and the audience laughed in the kind of uncontrolled way rarely heard at dance performances.

As with much of Touch Wood, and thanks to Ellie Beedham’s imaginative production, there were lots of other things going on around the building. Dam Van Huynh was in the café with an installation, Kate Pendlebury’s film was in the Founders’ Studio and Zena Edwards gave a beautiful post-performance poetic response. These complementary elements encouraged the whole audience to hang out at the bar, unfolding their thoughts of the night.

Tonight will be great: Adam Linder – ‘and God created a dream dancer and his name was Adam!’ opens with a solo. There’s Fred Gehrig, another dream dancer and one of the most brilliant and original people around. He is paired perfectly with Aletta Collins and from the ten minutes I observed of rehearsals, their work looks quirky and totally fun. Last but by no means least, we have the sexy blonde Tom Dale, a man who helps me care about 'abstract'. It will be stunning.

A post-show live set from legendary improvisers Max Eastley, Steve Beresford and Lol Coxhill rounds off the evening, followed by alcoholic infusions for dessert as we must bid Touch Wood a fond adieu for another year. Cheers dear readers.

28 September
It’ s perhaps with age that people learn to take real risks, and thus Saturday night was truly off-piste yet on the pulse.

Much as I hate to admit it, performing at an audience feels a little old fashioned right now. Being present with the audience and involving them in the conversation feels more essential and natural than the sort of watching in which one is performed to. There’s a risk of us feeling impotent if presence is done clumsily, but this was not the case here.

Heni Hale began proceedings opposite The Place in the Chinese Medicine Shop, moving and talking about what we all perceive to be work. Her performance during the evening was simply to sit inside a square of light on stage while all of us listened to a charming, funny and thought provoking audio edit of her interviews with other workers. A security guard, with his, “five minutes over here and another five maybe over there” was poignant.

Nuno Silva also made a lovely small work. Starting half out the door, it opened up the stage space beautifully and his principal dancer was like some kind of Bond girl: the amazing Fukiko Takase. Nuno knows her from Henri Oguike and they were very much animal equals in their tension, as Nuno sang all sorts of luscious fados (traditional Portuguese folk songs).

Then came Robert Clark and Vidal Bini. There was a delicious kind of risk going on here. Not just the fact the men swapped their aqua and tangerine coloured pants, but because they allowed space without the temptation to say too much. It all washed through and into me. Quiet as a silent wood, the emotions like breezes rustling through the trees of what we were watching, and the improvisations, though hilarious, produced some of the best dancing I've seen onstage in Touch Wood thus far. Rob  is an amazing mover for sure.

Hagit Yakira is without doubt my favourite Choreodrome person. Intelligent, warm, generous and humble, just like her work. What she also included, and what I long for more of in dance just now, was joy - unmitigated joy. Her structures were clear, her text making the rhythms and I think we all look forward to seeing more of the finished piece.

Rick Nodine’s piece came at the end of a packed night. To those of you wondering about value for money in Touch Wood I can only say that five companies and a 10.30pm finish felt a real bargain! It would have been six, but Rachel Lopez de La Nieta was grounded by an air strike in Portugal.
 
Anyway, Rick’s piece was a great example of a path that winds with structure and form.  One which lets an audience breathe and then takes you somewhere else just when you least expect it. The text morphed cleverly, blending seamlessly with what we all saw and the dancers were great. Special mention goes to Gabi Reuter, who just gets better and better, with an innate ability to be wholly present both in technique and expression.

Gabi performs her own work tonight. She cautioned me that, “It’s rough. Initially I just sent video improvs round to the girls in Europe. Now we’ve just finished a single three and a half hour rehearsal, and I can’t believe we’re doing it! Yet, by trying this out now in front of an audience it can save me a month of taking the wrong path.” I’m guessing she’ll really value your feedback, as will Efrosini Protopapa, Jose Vidal, FFIN DANCE, plus artists Helen Lindon and Damian Llambias, who are performing tonight. See you there.

25 September
Hello to everyone on such a beautiful day. Well, I can scarcely contain my excitement about tomorrow. All the dance stars are out in force: Dog Kennel Hilll Project includes two of the finest technical women on the scene, namely Henni Hale and Rachel Lopez de la Nieta. On the grapevine I've heard that the Dog's Choreodrome showing was simply stunning, so miss it at your peril.

Henni is undertaking a try-out, durational performance in the little Chinese medicine shop on Woburn Walk (just up from The Place), starting at 7.30pm, so do go and see what she's up to before the main performances begin at 8pm. Lets hope it’s dance, not mixing medicines!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
Then there's Nuno Silva and his beautiful voice, plus a couple of great live musicians doing Fado. Look out to for Robert Clark's duet and Rick Nodine, whose last piece was something very special.

24 September
Today’s slightly squiffy update is brought to you by way of a bottle of Buck's Fizz, which accidentally exploded in my freezer. This delicious pale orange slush, which I am enthusiastically spooning from a champagne glass to my tremulous lips, may have a slightly deleterious effect. Bottoms up.
 
So, how was Tuesday night? Well darling, we were brilliant! At least I think we were, but I can’t be sure. I was finger dancing in a small room downstairs, where hardly anyone saw me or I them; can’t vouch for upstairs. Certainly the audience hung around until the last breath of the night and a tangible buzz suffused the air. I’m talking, of course, about Donald Hutera’s Finger Dances, with thirty performers occupying the stairs and corridors of The Place, creating miniature dances with their hands.

Owing to Donald’s other job at The Times, there were more dance press than a Sadler’s Wells’ gala. Jan Parry (The Observer’s revered critic for many years) complimented my efforts, but kindly steered me, “Darling, you’ll never be a critic”. I think after this entry she may be doubly convinced! Jan has just completed a must-read biography of the late Sir Kenneth MacMillan, gaining rare access to papers and journals.

My favourite dancer in London is Kath Duggan, even though she’s never actually seen a ballet and despite working her way through all the hierarchies contemporary dance has to offer. I hope her first will be MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet this January, with Alina Cojocaru dancing again following serious injury. Ballet reminds me of the joy of footwork, which we need considerably more of in contemporary dance.

Thanks to a conversation over tea about networking, I encountered an extraordinary new dancer called Kip, who provided an impromptu highlight of Tuesday’s evening. Straight out of a finger dance, he accidentally bumped into a woman in navy and covered her in flour. Kip, if you happen to be reading, that was Janet Archer (head of dance at Arts Council England). Kip has a chance to redeem himself and buy Janet a glass of wine on October 1, when he’ll be performing on stage at The Place.
 
I've had a rare day without dance today, scouting about for some gossip for you, but the only stuff I’ve got so far is so shocking that I can’t even whisper it, let alone write it. I can reveal that choreographer Louise Katerega is marrying a lovely man who bears more than a passing resemblance to Daniel Craig and just received a standing ovation for her latest work. It’s made for the Special Olympics and being performed at Rich Mix in Bethnal Green on 17 October. 

Touching Wood again, I did see a run of Douglas Thorpe’s piece on Tuesday that I want to mention. The dancers were inspiring and the movement every bit as physical as Jasmin Vardimon, with a stunning duet midway. All of the dancers adore working with him and that counts for a lot, especially as he needs performers for a six month contract. He flows n’ flies on fast forward and that’s a wonderful thing to witness.
 
Well now - the Buck's Fizz icy slush has now reached my tummy, sliding me down to soporific slumber. Sweet dreams everyone.

22 September
Saturday was the best night so far, with an abundance of contrasting and brilliant things. Firstly Mickael Marso Riviere, who talked about life after death and out of body experiences beautifully and articulately, elements of street dance melting through his part-improvised choreography. His body seemed to fold between vulnerability and strength, moved almost by some other force. Everyone loved it and it was impossible to get near him during the interval to offer congratulations.

Then there was Two men and a Michael from Gary Clarke, talking about stand-up, but sitting down. The structure and the choice of perfect track led us further and further down a path of giggles. The shock was that one of the performers (Paul) was taken ill, so the indomitable Kath Duggan learnt the entire thing in a day, a frankly astonishing feat. Both she and Ryan Perkins were brilliant in slicked back hair, shirts and suit jackets, trouserless and working in absolute unison with deadpan faces. The whole piece was made in just five days.

Kompany Malakhi’s duet saw Kwesi Johnson choreographing Josh Briers and Jake Nwogu in a short piece that made some of the audience practically gasp in awe. A man on a BMX turning four pirouettes on one wheel was just one of the standout moments amidst four glorious, intense minutes, but every moment mattered. People couldn’t believe their eyes at what one man could do on a bike, on a dancefloor.

Rosalind Crisp was a magical postmodern sprite.  In her impro she became quite angry, though I found this tricky because as an audience member it’s hard to reply. And Natalia and Temitope gave us the histories of their 100 dresses, accompanied by singer Kate Westall, who looked like an angel with a cleavage. It will be interesting to see where the piece goes next. 

I am late writing today because like the other 30 participants, I’m busy working on a finger dance. Yes, you read right. Donald Hutera's Choreodrome project takes to the public spaces during tonight’s interval. Never fear: there’s no audience interaction, just dancers everywhere, from Ash Mukharjee to Stephanie Schober, a couple of the Elders from Sadler’s Wells, as well as lots of other stars you may not yet know. Donald explains the project's background below:

“Finger Dances is a bit of a misnomer because the work, as it has evolved, really involves the whole hand. To me Hand Dances doesn't quite cut it, however, maybe because it lacks as much possibility for innuendo. In any case, this project came about when East London Dance asked me to talk to a group of dancemakers about duets from a critic's perspective. The night before I was due to speak I awoke with a semi-conscious vision of my fingers - both hands - dancing on a table. In the light of day that vision still held, and thus I applied to Choreodrome. Hallelujah! I've loved spending three weeks in a small room working with a few dozen people of different ages and backgrounds, some of whom aren't involved in dance at all. We've only begun to scratch (with avid fingers) the surface of a project which I think has a strong potential to be developed further in all sorts of playful and serious directions.”

Rohanna Eade and Bryony Perkins are back tonight after illness last week forced them to postpone. Rohanna could hardly breathe and that's not a good look on stage, so I’m glad she’s felling better.

I know little about Jemima Hoadley’s new research though I can say she’s always great, and that Douglas Thorpe is creating some real sparks up north. I’m told  he belongs to the old school of choreographer who actually sets his own steps!

Last but not least, I must mention the brilliant feedback idea from Guy Cools that was part of Last Minute Touches (a series of post-show responses from writers, performers, poets and musicians). The whole audience was given a piece of paper and pencil. Instructed to write down single words of description, the resulting collages of bon mots, phrase and spontaneity produced word poems that were pinned to long pieces of string draped across the theatre bar. This ‘poetic laundry’ provided the most wonderful instant feedback to the performers as well as complementing the experience and perceptions of the watcher. Hope to see you tonight. 

18 September
You simply cannot miss Saturday. Rosalind Crisp - as far from a couch potato as ever existed...
 
She’s doing a fast, fresh n' frenetic improvisation. I saw her at Greenwich Danec Agency’s Cabaret last year in a sudden and startling example of what improvisation can be, mixing up rigorous practice with mischief. And it's incredible. Apparently this solo is an opportunity to test, in Ian Dury’s memorable words, “reasons to be cheerful”.

Gary Clarke is an amazing dancer with The Featherstonehaughs (who I should add are revealing their new research and development project at The Place in November) but he’s also now making his own work. I don’t know how to find the right words to express what a fine bloke he is, or explain how big and warm his heart. That’ll have to do. His last piece Coal featured the most moving final image of any piece I have ever seen. Really. A coal miner walks away, sinking slowly, inexorably downwards, as if all the years of his life are dropping away. His back is bent and his life is revealed through a single movement. 

If that sounds sombre, never fear - this new work is rooted in humour, shenanigans and nonsense. Titled 2 men and a Michael, it’s a, “deadpan send-up of stand-up.”
 
Temitope Ajose-Cutting's Seven Moments is a duet for the stunning (on every level and in every way) Natalia Thorn, who you may have seen dipped in oil on the posters for Maresa von Stockert’s Glacier. Two great women here and Seven Moments also features a singer and 100 dresses. (Maresa returns to The Place in November with TrAPPED by the way).

Mickael Marso Riviere’s Eteint Pas (working title) came from, "a fragment of an idea" that subsequently evolved into a work in progress. I understand that the title is deliberately a little ambiguous, but the idea is of switching off. The piece was inspired by the notion of life after death, with many ideas coming from reading stories about out of body experiences. Partly improvised, from what I understand about his work, Marso is trying to extend the vocabulary of what street dance is all about.

Kompany Malakhi are a new one to me so I can’t steer you. And the Last Minute Touch is by Guy Cools, a dramaturg to all sorts of folk, from Sylvie Guillem and Akram Khan to Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and whose whole body is made of brains. And he's nice with it too. 
 

17 September
Let’s begin with the riot of colour that completed Tuesday night’s Touch Wood. A song list, pink satin, gold lamé, yellow wigs, black net, sequined belts, bubble wrap, green silk ribbon, organza, oranges and lemons printed on fabric, tangerine polyester, taffeta and Thom Shaw (assistant editor of Dance Theatre Journal). This was Drag Democracy, an interactive performance and response to the night’s work, which translated as various audience members collecting garments from the rails and making some frankly fabulous outfits on Thom. Long and languorous in the vertical, there was just enough of the lightly ironic in his body to carry off various outfits. A special mention goes to Martin Hargreaves, who styled something that looked like Lacroix couture! I loved it and those Comme des Garçons (?) socks. It reminded me of a New York Christmas day in Keith Haring’s old apartment, fairy lights twinkling and queens parading up and down in glitter during an impromptu fashion show. I digress.

It was a rainy night and my mood was sombre. I initially had to fight the compulsion to watch with eyes desiring something fully finished from the stage, yet sometimes you have to pinch yourself and remember that most of these works are just a couple of weeks old, simple sketches for the future.

If there was a Touch Wood competition for beautiful women then Tuesday would surely win. If I was to go all Mills and Boon on you, I could describe each one of the evening’s performers simply in terms of their heroic gorgeousness!

Vangelis Legakis’ Yet Unititled featured Hannah Buhler in beige, moving like an electric cappuccino, her shifts and rolling so fluid she looked more like she was surfing sea, not wood. Margarita Zafrilla also stole my attention. Speaking to her afterwards she confessed to being frightened, and it’s good to remind ourselves of what it is to dance these pieces after such a short period of research. (Unrelated interesting facts: Margarita's mother was one of twenty-two children! She has fifteen aunties, all artists of course.)
 
Laïla Diallo’s perfect sense of every item on stage mirrored each of her acutely precise original movement phrases. Her turquoise skirt and little white blouse, yellow and white dolly shoes full of rose petals and beautiful body appeared to me like a perfectly articulated painting coming to life.

Jesús Rubio Gamo’s work left me with unanswered questions, so I wrote to one of the dancers (Eva Recacha) and here’s what she wrote back. Thought you might appreciate the insight.

“The work is inspired by a text written by Jesus Rubio. It is a metaphorical description of Ophelia's journey in Shakespeare's Hamlet: love, betrayal, decomposition and becoming the earth itself (or becoming the world we inhabit).

“The text talks about Ophelia being at home in her flat, never leaving it, and how she experiences this confinement. She has an incredible interior life, full of surreal and vivid episodes in which the information she has from the external world blends in her imagination with her wishes and hopes in incredible and painful ways, creating a parallel reality.

“The starting point was to try and translate some of the literary devices used in the text as a way of creating movement material, imagery, situations, atmosphere and to see the expressive potential of using these devices in dance.

“Jesus made a structure for the piece based on three literary devices, to present Ophelia at the moment right before she has decided she’s going to leave the flat. It’s a two to five minute transitional moment, augmented and distorted to the piece you saw yesterday.”

So there you have it.

Coming up…I can promise you a lovely surprise from h2dance’s Choir Project and Mayuri Boonham’s piece marks the first time she hasn’t taken a performing role. She seemed excited by the prospect of the wooden floor, which is ideal for Indian dance. It is also a first for her, in mixing floor work and contact, together with Bharatanatyam. Mayuri told me, “Let the aunties sob into their hankies. I just had to try something new.” And therein perhaps lies the spirit of Touch Wood.

15 September
At the end of Saturday, as dusk gave way to the dark, members of the audience were still sitting under the streetlights of Duke’s Road talking and talking. There was a lovely sense that there was nowhere else in the world to be. It struck me then that dance is still young here really and it felt oddly exciting. What will we do next I wonder?

So ended the first Touch Wood night and the first forty years of performances at The Place. The future starts here… During the day there had been over 1000 people at The Place taking part in free classes, and then there was the forty strong Dancer for a Day project in the evening. Luca Silvestrini made a piece called 5,6,7,8 in just seven hours. By the end I imagine he was rather more, ‘5,6,7 give me an alcoholic beverage please!’ Yet it all worked out well, with considerably more actual dance than we’d expected. (Tip: how to make a community cast look chic. Go for My Fair Lady at the races. Everyone looked brilliant in black and white.)
 
To question rather than to entertain. The capital R of risk was headed by Colin Poole and Simon Ellis, with their conceptual games, which felt in the watching as if we, the audience, were complicit in some kind of dialogue rather than being danced to. It was oddly absorbing, and somehow smiley and slyly on the edge. Not everyone liked it, but lots of us loved it.

Zoi Dimitriou looked stunning in a red dress, and her partner Jos Baker possessed huge integrity in making sure everything felt was expressed through the body rather than facially. Zoi had taken Conlon Nancarrow’s compositional structures and Annie Hall as inspiration. There’s a potential that pieces and performers can appear harshly exposed due to the deliberately limited lighting states allowed for Touch Wood. Yet with Zoi’s work, that minimalism became beautiful, from her choice of aesthetic to the 16 wooden hoops that shared the space, as feelings were made visible through set. It’s really one to look out for in the future.

Vera Tussing showed a commission to be presented later this year in the ROH2 Firsts season, so look out for it there. Gentlemen take note: Vera has incredibly long legs.

Deborah Light was both light and dark. She used light perfectly by literally taking matters into her own hands, present in presence, as well as doing some fascinating broken doll movement slumped against the back wall that was totally devoid of vanity.

Coming up - Jesús. Yes, Jesús Rubio Gamo is performing in Touch Wood’s second programme. I confess I don’t know him yet, but have gazed though the window of his Choreodrome studio enough times to see what looks to be an amazing piece of work. And Eva Reçacha, one of Frauke Requardt’s gang, is in it: an incredible raven-headed girl, a rigorous intellectual in life, yet possesses a startling Dionysian abandon when she moves. Then there’s Laïla Diallo, who is also a really great laugh in daily life, though you won’t be laughing when she dances. She’s too beautiful for that, gently transporting you on a barely perceptible magic carpet of minimalism that leaves you floating a few inches higher than before. Thom Shaw’s Drag Democracy is a post-show response that has something to do with high heels, and Vangelis Legakis explores the ways dress codes, social status and gender can determine how a person is treated. Tell me about it baby! How different life might have been if I had Sylvie’s body and was wrapped in Prada.

There’s plenty of music too as Balbir Singh mixes up contemporary, classical form and live musicians. Rohanna Eade and Bryony Perkins (apparently an amazing gospel singer on the side) reveal their latest duet, which adds up to a great mix and match of artists to tempt you away from Holby City and a TV dinner. Better to leave the house for lovely dancing and happy times in The Place’s lilac seats. To quote T.S Elliot: “April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of dead land, mixing memory and desire.” Okay, so it’s not ApriI, but I love that line.

8 Sep
Touching wood may be exactly what this year’s participants are doing right now. The season is a multilayered gobstopper of gorgeous moments from newly made and newly discovered dance research, fresh out of The Place’s Choreodrome research initiative.

During Touch Wood, they take the floor up in the theatre and strip everything back to the basics. It’s edgy stuff. And I’ll be here on the edge, garnering all the gossip I can for you. You need simply flow like light-filled lava though these doors to see the freshest sketches of future works today.

What’s it like to do Choreodrome? It’s full-on flight, free-flowing risk, invention and inspiration. That is unless you’re making a solo. The general joke goes that when making solos on oneself, a good deal of time is spent lying on the floor searching for inspiration from the ceiling. It’s hard to be alone and even harder to be alone in an empty room!

Which brings me to our first Touch Wood artist - Deborah Light. Using a chocolate analogy, if I’m a bit Cadbury’s (i.e. heavy on the nut), then Debbie is a tiny, dark chocolate-enrobed slice of crystallised grapefruit: intense, mesmerising and unafraid to shed the polite side of herself and give in to the unknown coal black night. Indeed there seems something of the faerie about her, and not the sort you’d find at a children’s party. She lives in Wales, so you must come on Saturday 12 September to catch her before she flies away to the land of dragons.

Also appearing on the first night is the beautiful Colin Poole, though sadly not naked this time around. Alongside his heroic body, there’s his exquisitely enquiring mind and he’s joined by fellow choreographer Simon Ellis in a gently shocking blend of heterosexuality and risk with a capital R. Simon also writes a great blog, which you must check out. I hail from the tribe that felt Gertrud, Simon’s piece from The Place Prize last year, should have won. Alas, we were up against all those that wanted the boys in pants.

We also have Zoi Dimitriou dancing a duet with a man and lots of wooden hoops. She’s the closest thing to a Greek goddess the British dance scene can muster.

The line-up is evolving as I write, so check back regularly for my updates. It’s ten nights you can’t afford to miss. The now, the future and everything of the present moment. Book the lot. I’ll see you there in a lovely accidental kind of community. 

Sally Marie
Since her training at Central School of Ballet, Sally has performed in numerous works by Protein Dance, Jasmin Vardimon, Sean Tuan John, Rajni Shah and Lulu’s Living Room. She is the artistic director of Sweetshop Revolution.