"It’s that dance thing again…"

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!

Guildhall Roundup

On behalf of all the composers and performers involved in this year's collaborative project between Dance Umbrella and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, I'd like to say a big thankyou to everyone who came down to the concert last Tuesday.

It was fantastic to have such a well-sized and enthusiastic audience to see and hear the culmination of this exciting project.

I think that there were some remarkable moments that evening. Moments when, whether by chance or design, the newly-composed music and Fortier's movements really 'fused' and interacted in unusual, unpredictable and sometimes beautifully wild ways.

It's fascinating the way in which the mind makes connections between what is seen and what is heard, and how different these cumulative sensory impressions are from person to person. It has been great to hear some audience members' individual reactions to the event. Everyone I've spoken to seemed to take something different from what they witnessed. If you were there and would like to share your thoughts about the event with myself and/or the other composers, please do get in touch.

Thank you for those who have read the blog over the last weeks, and thank you to the wonderful people at Dance Umbrella for making this project possible. It has been a joy for all involved.

Ed Finnis

Performance - Day Thirty

Can you believe it, day thirty has arrived! Our last day at Liverpool Street was certainly one of our busiest. It was very hard to keep track of how many people there were especially with the majority staying for the duration, as well as the usual traffic of city workers. The mass of people seemed to create a barrier or a blanket around the space protecting Paul-André from the chaos of the city, which felt quite poetic for his last show.

A number of 'regulars' came by especially to watch including one who has been to over twenty performances. We asked him what he was going to do now that Solo 30x30 would no longer be here and he simply replied "I will have to go and watch something else".

We wonder if anyone will turn up tomorrow to see if he is still dancing...

We asked Paul-André to share his thoughts with us:

The crowds gather for the final performance:

A final goodbye:

Performance - Day 29

The penultimate day! We cannot believe that it is day 29! Once again we had another successful performance today despite a delayed set up due to some workmen parking their truck in the middle of our square and more of those blue bicycles back again!

We also managed to catch up with Guildhall composers Ed and Michail who told us their thoughts on last night's concert.

Chatting with some men who are regulars at Solo 30x30:

Associate Projects - Hugo Glendinning Upate 3

In my visits 6 and 7 to Fortier's Solo 30x30 I decided to stop looking too hard for the 'subliminal' choreography and see what else might be happening. Interestingly what emerged was a series of duets with the passing or watching audience. At one moment a small boy standing up on the 'balcony' mirrors PAF's movements exactly, consciously and somewhat ironically joining the dance. Then there is a picture in which PAF seems - through some act of remote physical will - to be forcing a man to lift his two black bags, to turn a corner and leave the frame. Meanwhile in the same picture another figure joins this gesture with a move towards the performance that completes a circle of movement initiated by Fortier's gesture. Another very straight forward image shows a woman's fear or maybe disgust as Fortier moves into the most violent part of his choreography with chopping movements of the hands accompanied by sharp and audible exhaling. Her body leans away from the performance making it a part of the subliminal choreography that I have been looking for all along, albeit through an unconscious act of aversion rather than inclusion. I like the pictures from these two visits a lot, I have also realised that the panoramic format which I have been looking at is totally appropriate for what I am doing and that using just a 50mm lens gives a more honest view of Fortier's work in relation to the passing people.

Hugo captures Solo 30x30

Guildhall Concert

The Associated Project by Guildhall School of Music and Drama students premiered at Bishopsgate Institute last night. Seven composition students worked on six original compositions over the last month inspired by Solo 30x30. The pieces were written for percussion instruments.

This is the first associated project of Solo 30x30 to involve music, and Paul-André chose not to hear the music until he stepped into the space and began to dance.

Unlike a more traditional concert experience, the audience was able to sit around the performance space - some chose chairs, others sat on the floor - and the musicians from Sankorfa were situated in each corner of the performance space. It was a wonderful concert, and both the composition students, and Paul-André were extremely pleased they were able to conclude the project in this way.

Performance - Day Twenty Eight

After twenty eight days we are now intergrated with the environment at Liverpool Street and doubling as a tourist/shopping/dating bureau - we've been asked all sorts of odd questions by passers-by lately! A very busy start today but as the piece unfolded the atmosphere calmed. We spoke with some business men today who had been 4 or 5 times and said they found it a relaxing break from their stressful jobs.

Audience reaction to Solo 30x30:

Performance - Day Twenty Seven

With not long to go until the end, people are returning for their last chance to watch Solo 30x30. Some students from Middlesex University visited today with an MA Choreography student filming the piece and interviewing Paul-André Fortier for her dissertation. There was a varied reaction from the audience today with one spectator asking how much our Bloomberg umbrellas were as he wanted to buy one!

Clip of Paul-André Fortier's Solo 30x30:

Paul-André chatting with students from Middlesex University:

Performance - Day Twenty Six

Considering the wet weather we had a big audience with many people protecting themselves under their umbrellas for the full 30 minutes. A couple of taxi drivers stopped their cabs on the road in front of the space to watch, we even had time to give them a programme before they drove away!

Audience reaction to Solo 30x30

(Apologies for the video being the wrong way around,
we are not very techno-minded! But we liked this interview and wanted to share it)

Performance - Day Twenty Five

Great atmosphere from the audience today, everyone seemed to really enjoy the performance and Paul-André even did a second 'curtain call' as peeople just continued to applaud him. Lots of children around due to half-term and one little girl enjoyed playing with the rope and we were worried that it would fall off all together!

Cyclist stopping for a peek!

Performance - Day Twenty Four

A grey day but at least it was dry! Hugo Glendinning was taking photos today so all staff needed to keep slightly further away than usual to ensure that no orange jackets appeared in the photographs. It was another busy Friday with around half of the audience staying for 10 minutes or more, as well as a few regulars who are seen almost everyday at the performance.

Paul-André Fortier in action:

The crowds that gather on the steps of the station:

Associate Projects - Guildhall School Update 3

Make some noise.

Sankorfa, the percussion quartet who will be playing while Paul-André dances at Bishopsgate Institute, have been squeezing in time to rehearse our pieces. As is often the case, the performers wanted some time to look at our pieces and rehearse without the composers present. This is because it's always a bit of a nightmare sight-reading through a new piece with the composer there, listening and pointing out the minutiae when you're just trying to get a grasp of the whole.

So we won't hear how our pieces sound for another few days yet... and then things will probably get a bit frenzied for us again, making last-minute changes.

Personally, I have been looking all over the place for some quarter-inch tape on which to record and play the electronic-part of my piece. (It's made up of all sorts of things from thickly layered guitar-feedback to recordings of people reading from the Financial Times.) I found an old abandoned reel-to-reel tape recorder in a corner deep in the dark underbelly of Guildhall and really want to use it for the performance. Having finally got my hands on a fresh reel of tape (from a man called, amazingly, Stephen Hawking), I am now going to do some tests to see how it sounds...I could easily go the CD player route, but some annoying, nostalgic part of me wants to see and hear the plastic reels going round.

'Analogue is warmer', and all that.

Ed Finnis
Composer

The free concert is on Tues 30 October, 7.30pm, at Bishopsgate Institute
Check out details of the concert here

Performance - Day Twenty Three

A damp day that nevertheless was quiet eventful. We managed to stop 4 people walking into the space, including a couple with their luggage! The weather discouraged people to stop for long, but we had 'core' group who stuck with it. Lots of varied reactions today; surprise, confusion and cynicism, which sometimes made for a 'distracted' atmosphere.

Clip of Paul-Andre Fortier's Solo 30x30

Performance - Day Twenty Two

Our presentation of Solo 30x30 is supported by Bloomberg, so it was really great today when a number of their employees came by again to watch Paul-André. They all enjoyed the performance and later that evening Paul-André conducted a creative workshop with them which was a lot of fun.

Passers-by stop to chat, or take a break while reading
all about the piece

Performance - Day Twenty One

We had a very stressful set up today due to a security van parking in the performance space and not moving until minutes before the start! Luckily we we managed to get the space set up just in time for Paul-André to begin!

We want to encourage you to check out the fantastic photos taken by Ginelle Chagnon on Paul-André's blog. Plus, we've added links on the right hand side to audience members' sites - we are so amazed by the images many passers-by have been capturing. Thanks for sharing them!

We also found an interview that Showcasefringe did with Paul-André a couple of days ago - click here to watch.

Performance - Day Twenty

Happy 200th performance Paul-André!

Since its premiere in Newcastle in March 2006, Solo 30x30 has now been performed 200 times in seven cities around the world, including London. Dance Umbrella is extremely happy to be part of this wonderful achievement.

Interviews with audience members:

Performance - Day Nineteen

A wonderful day today with a clear blue sky, although a little cold! There was a mixed audience today with a few little ones enjoying the performance with thier families. Paul-André received a great reception at the end of the show, he even did two 'curtain-calls' rather than one and many audience members stayed to speak with us about him and the piece at the end.

Interviews with audience members:

Performance - Day Eighteen

A busy Saturday! When we arrived we had to handle an ambulance, a securicor van and a massive queue for the Taxi bay all in the performance space. We had our work cut out for us. It was really lovely to see one of the audience members subconscioulsy mirroring Paul-André's movements as he watched. It just adds to the experience for us, seeing the way the piece impacts on the audience. Hugo Glendinning came down to take more photographs today, so we tried really hard to make sure our orange jackets were out of the way so he could get some clear shots of Paul-André.

Interview with audience member:

Performance - Day Seventeen

As we are becoming quicker at setting up we will begin to set up closer to 1.30pm, so that there is less of a wait. There was a lively atmosphere today, with not only the City workers, but people travelling and those that have time on their hands to watch the entire 30 minutes. The Bishopsgate Institute was very quiet today so we will try to encourage people to head down to look at the exhibition after the performance.

Clip of Solo 30x30:

Audience reaction to Solo 30x30:

Performance - Day Sixteen

We decided to change the rope around the edge of the performance area today and to some people it was invisible! People are so busy in the City area and a few do not even notice the rope. They accidently trip over it or even unitentionally walk into the actual performance! At least it makes them stop for a split second to realise what is going on before they hurry off. Today we had a group of students sketching which was great, it was interesting to see what they had created from watching the piece. We are starting to notice more people coming back for a second viewing.

Interview with audience member: