DANCE
Perfect by Motionhouse
Credits (Who?)
Artistic Director - Kevin Finnan
Choreographer- Kevin Finnan & company
Dancers - Vanessa Cook, Junior Cunningham, Wendy Hesketh, Helen Parlor & Stuart Waters
(3 women & 2 men)
Theme (stimulus)
Space and time a book called "The history of barbed wire"
All 13 sections are on the way we witness time and how as a force it pills and shapes us, drawing upon the concepts of waiting, nurturing, time flying by and the aging process.
Choreography
- The perfect production combines dance theater and aerial work. Strong physicality and contact work. Style uses and defies gravity.
- The dances are physically adventurous. with strong emotional content. Finnan always begins with the set.
Set Design by Simon Dormon
Box frame set: a white box gradually revealing a wire cage. Many different uses. The set includes projection, sand, a paper screen, water, a gauze screen and slings. Rakes and brooms are used as props.
Lighting Design by Mark Parry
The lighting works with the film and the set, sometimes sharpening the focus, other times layering the image. In some sections lighting divides the floor space and creates shadows. In other sections purple and gold lights achieve a bright, colourful effect.
Original Music by Sophy Smith and Tim Dickinson
The music used has a mixture, including percussion, voice, and electric guitar. It creates an atmosphere, sometimes matching and sometimes contrasting(positive or negative correlation) with the movement content
Costume Design by Claire Armitage
The costumes are simple, everyday, gender - specific. Men wear white shirts and black trousers. Women wear short, strappy, black dresses. clean lines and shapes, adapted to work around harnesses for flying.
Examples
Foot Dance
The foot dance is 4 minutes long with the whole company performing. all you can see, with just the bottom of the screen gone, is their legs (knees to the feet). This dance symbioses memories and footprints in the sand. The choreography is made up of simple steppy movements with tiptoes, hopping, large jumps, and skipping. To help them with the large jumps they are wearing harnesses that the audience can't see. The music is very rhythmical and has a good beat. overall it gives a fun and playful atmosphere.
Shadow Dance
This dance is about 6 minutes long with 4 dancers. 2 of the dancers are at the front performing were we can see them whereas the other 2 are behind a screen being shadows. At the front there is sand. also there is a clear use of lighting to make the shadows. For the choreography there are a lot of contraction and extension of the arms, and sometimes the two women would dance in unison. This dance could represent memories of either past or future of a relationship.
Perfect by Motionhouse