Let’s Write about Screen Dance
New critical writing on works and themes from the Screen.dance 2021 festival programme following the screen dance writing workshop led by Róisín O’Brien
THE LAST CHILDREN
MHAIRI ALLAN
In the opening scene of The Last Children, we hear the sound of church bells, children’s voices and the words of storyteller Michel Galaret reading from his work, The Song of Stones. So begins this striking collaboration between choreographer Fu Le, Galeret, the young children, and inhabitants in a village in the countryside of rural France.
In 2019 Fu Le was commissioned to lead a range of multi- art workshops with the children over a 3-4 week period as part of a government initiative to bring artists from the city to rural communities. What then became evident was that the only school in the village was about to close. The creation of The Last Children took on certain urgency as Galaret (a former pupil of the school) wrote his fable, the reflections of the children were recorded and the resulting work filmed on the evening of the school closure.
The Last Children captures and connects with the natural collage and rhythm of the surrounding landscape of stones, which are tied with the identity and memories of the village. As the children re-enact the fable, they play with stones (artificial ones created by them), they run, form lines and pass the stones along (as previous generations may have). Two children wrestle in a playful tug of war; there are games of chase; a small group move together, repeating motifs of small arm gestures; and there are duets mimicking rugby scrums as the children congregate outside a small shelter. Created in a single shot, the camera hovers above, alongside and amongst the children and is accompanied by the steady rhythms of Julien Langlois’ musical score, the rich voice of the storyteller and the lull of children’s songs.
Working with young children comes with the unexpected and the unpredictable. But here the children are focused and immersed in the choreography and imaginative play. The look of concentration and care they take to handle the stones and their relationship with each other as they follow the narrative of the fable radiates energy, abandon and openness. This is revealed through the relationship between the young subjects and the camera. As the film comes to a close, ‘Marky’, the main protagonist of this story appears with a stone resting against his face, eyes closed, as if to listen to its warnings. “Tomorrow the sun will not rise anymore” utters the storyteller, as a young girl’s frantic solo begins, her arms flailing as if to drive away some unseen force. Gradually, one by one, the children lower themselves to the ground and lie quietly. The powerful images and poetics of the moment speak volumes, not only of the children, but for the future of the village and many others like them.
The Last Children portrays a moment of time, a delicate mixture of innocence and loss and the end of this idyllic world. As the film closes, the storyteller climbs the stairs of the local school, “we should know where we come from” his words connecting the past with the present, whilst simultaneously speaking to the future of this generation of children.
A curious and practised explorer of movement, Mhairi Allan is an Aberdeen-based performer and nurse. She has experience in devising and making, for both adult and children as an independent dance artist and as part of creative teams involved in the conception, development and production of work. Mhairi’s current research, Listening to Birds – Grief Solos which explores narratives around the subjects of grief, loss and healing, was developed and supported by National Theatre of Scotland and Citymoves Dance Agency.
Let’s Write about Screen Dance
New critical writing on works and themes from the Screen.dance 2021 festival programme following the screen dance writing workshop led by Róisín O’Brien
SQUARED
MHAIRI ALLAN
Go for a walk – add an intention/task – observe what happens – repeat.
There is a sense of unease as Squared opens to the steady pulse of Antari Loops’ emotive score. A solitary shadow appears projected onto a blank white screen and begins her walking journey. Squared is part of Sophia Kondylia’s ongoing research, Performing Geometries which explores two dimensional shapes, the square, rectangle and circle.With a background in dance and architecture and drawing on mathematics, logic and the building blocks of nature, Kondylia examines how, by following the outline of a square with repetition of movement, the body and mind can obtain balance when creating space.
The shadow walks and dances, following the outlines of squares sketched on the performance floor, accompanied by voiceovers from maths lectures. Gradually the square reduces in size and the shadow continues to follow its shape. The walking patterns are repeated at a varying pace until eventually the action of the task of walking this route involves more effort from the performer’s limbs. At times the shadow has to find ways to keep the body moving; steps become larger and heavier, the head drops and the shoulders rotate like a slow moving speed skater. The combined movement of the performer and use of the light results in merging of the filmic image from clear to indistinct and two shadows emerge repeatedly for brief duets. Transitions are created by the dynamics of the action of the task of walking and the camera playing with the shadow. The purity of the movement becomes more distinct in its repetition as the action of walking stops and the shadow comes to a standstill. Micro movements deprived of expression are more pronounced, the gentle raising of the arms and turning the head as if to briefly acknowledge the viewer.
The shadow is deprived of the sensory messages normally seen in performance and I missed the emotion and textures of the moving body. On its own, Squared is difficult to engage with. It is, however, a snapshot in the context of Kondylia’s other work. Squared is a laboratory for the choreographer’s ongoing academic and movement research and this work is deeply influenced by this. Using the elements of one walking task and space she takes a simple movement gesture and investigates it methodically and meticulously.
There is some reward in obsessively trying to take repetition to its limits, to solve something. Through the power of repetition the body eventually runs out of space so the mind takes over. Squared is both disconcerting and hypnotic in its viewing and I did find a sense of calmness despite the foreboding score, perhaps as a result of the balancing effect of the square’s components? My daily walk has taken on a new meaning.
A curious and practised explorer of movement, Mhairi Allan is an Aberdeen-based performer and nurse. She has experience in devising and making, for both adult and children as an independent dance artist and as part of creative teams involved in the conception, development and production of work. Mhairi’s current research, Listening to Birds – Grief Solos which explores narratives around the subjects of grief, loss and healing, was developed and supported by National Theatre of Scotland and Citymoves Dance Agency.