Red Head Reflection

‘Shut Down’ by Vincent Dance Theatre… simply phenomenal! I could not wait to start writing the second I got out of that theatre. The company was founded in 1994 by Artistic Director Charlotte Vincent, who has directed all of their work to date. The productions integrate professional and non-professional performers, and gender politics have been a key theme of exploration throughout the company’s career. ‘Shut Down’ is Vincent Dance Theatre’s first ever all male production, which investigates the concept of being a 21 st century man, and the stereotypes that come with that label. It takes a heart wrenching look at the political and personal, struggling against the conventional gender roles; a man’s urge to fight, his supressed emotion, his power and masculinity. The performance was beautifully understated, not trying to be anything it wasn’t, and through this emerged a raw quality from the performers you rarely see in theatre anymore. Both the movement and dialogue were perf...

Prototypes’ ‘A Machine They’re Secretly Building’ is a sprint through the idea that at all times, we are under surveillance. The audience walked out of this political performance wanting to throw their phones away, as facts were hurled at us one after another, teaching us that everything we do is monitored, every piece of information is kept, and the government believes this is okay. On 22 nd March the company performed the show at Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester. Edward Snowden has observed: “Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying that you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.”, and this was a poignant message throughout the piece, which really gave us as an audience something to think about. The performance had an ironic and playful style, as actors Rachel Baynton and Gillian Lees ate secret messages, wrapped each other in cling film, and let balloons free from a filing ca...

Commissioned by Attenborough Arts Centre, visual artist Mel Brimfield created the ‘Talking Heads’ exhibition, which draws predominantely from themes of mental health. The work displays an array of multi-media instillations, film, and comic style images, depicting the experiences of those living from and recovering from psychosis. It draws from Brimfield’s own research at the Department of Psychosis Studies at Kings College Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, and the National Psychosis Unit at Bethlem Hospital, London. ‘I cannot shake the idea that I am an imposter’ ‘My father refuses to accept my brothers’ diagnosis of schizophrenia’ ‘As the sands pass through the hourglass, I am conscious of a sense of increasing regret with no fixed palpable source’ Just a few of the phrases from Brimfield’s ‘NUTS: The Remembrance of Things Past’, where the peanuts character Lucy is used as a psychiatrist to the artist, who’s speech bubbles of therapy sessions fill the ...

‘8 Minutes’ by Alexander Whitley presents the fascinating collaboration between science and dance, examining the fundamental ideas of what we know about the sun: its scientific nature, its symbolic relevance, and its significance to our daily lives. This brilliant performance was made in collaboration with scientists from STFC RAL Space and on the 12 th March, I had the pleasure of watching it at The Curve Theatre, Leicester. Firstly, I was delighted to find that this dance piece demonstrated the very obvious influences from its scientific partner, unlike many companies who simply dance for dance sake to music that happens to fit their stimulus. Undoubtedly there will always be elements of this in dance pieces, and this occurred predominantly through the solo sections of Whitley’s choreography, particularly with one female soloist. Unfortunately, it appeared like this piece was trying more to show off her flexibility rather than display an element of the sun. That being said, as an...

Rambert is an internationally acclaimed contemporary dance company who draw their style from the likes of Merce Cunningham and the Release technique. They are a British national treasure, advocating equality and diversity, and have collaborated with numerous companies and celebrities since their first performance in 1926. On 3 rd March they performed the last show of their tour ‘Life is a Dream’ at The Curve Theatre Leicester. The performance is based on the existing play ‘life is a dream’, in which the prince, incarcerated his whole life, is set free for a day. He discovers the world around him, and begins experiencing overwhelming emotions of resentment, greed and anger, until he is eventually imprisoned once again. He then wakes and is told it was all a dream. A word of warning before going to watch this piece; I would highly recommend a bit of light research… actually, rather a lot of research. Without a little prior knowledge of the plot, the dance is a blurry narrative, ge...

As part of De Montfort Universities ‘Cultural Exchanges week’, ‘Zoo Indigo’ performed their show ‘Celluloid Souls’ on the 1 st March. Made up of 2 friends, Ildiko Rippel and Rosie Garton, the company, formed in 2002, create almost slapstick multi-media productions, performed in both English and German. After booking tickets for this show, you are urged to fill out a questionnaire detailing your film memories, including your favourite scene, which character you would like to be, and a memorable cinema experience. These create the foundation for the performance, which therefore is different every time, based on the audience. A post-modern exploration of cinema, this performance cleverly recreates scenes from film, with a mixture of pre-recorded footage, film clips, and live camera work. Rippel and Garton, humorously incorporate household objects into their bizarre re-enactment of scenes, making expert use of camera trickery to imitate the intricate clips. We saw the pair in...