Dance Umbrella Roundup
What a wonderful journey; from the very long walk around London Paul-André and Jeanette took in January to decide on a location, to presenting thirty intimate, surprising, occasionally soggy, but always inspiring performances during October in Dance Umbrella 2007. The final figures are still being counted, but we know that there were - literally - thousands of people who watched Paul-André Fortier’s Solo 30x30 as well as accessing it online. Many people were encountering contemporary dance for the first time and reactions included "odd", "beautiful", "weird" and "relaxing". Along the way, Paul-André and his Rehearsal Director Ginelle Chagnon also coached post-grads studying choreography and theatre practice at Laban and the Universities of Surrey and Middlesex, inspired music from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, encouraged first-time choreographers in Bloomberg’s workplace and were captured on many Londoners’ mobile phones.
Now that we have come to the end of this project we would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our volunteers without whom we would not have been able to look after our lively piece of street so effectively. They are: Alex, Angelika, Catarina, Chryssa, Fátima, Freyer, Gemma, Haris, Hayley, Isabel, Jessica, Karin, Laura, Megan, Nasreen, Rosie, Sandra, Sarah, Seth, Silvia and Sophia. We would also like to thank staff at the Bishopsgate Institute, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, our associated artists and, not least, all of our specific supporters who made the project possible here in London: Bloomberg, City of London, Canada House Arts Trust and Quebec Cultural Office.
If you saw Solo 30x30 and want to share your thoughts with us, feel free to drop us an email.
The London performances will live on through this online blog, but Paul-André himself is moving on to Rome where he will once again perform for 30 days rain or shine. Buon viaggio!
The team hard at work!
