S(c)ent
Premiere Ballett Basel, 2007
UK Premiere New English Contemporary Ballet 2007
Choreography: Richard Wherlock
Music: Franz Schubert • Symphony No 7 (Unfinished)
• 1 Allegro Moderato
• 2 Andante con moto
Costumes: Heidi de Raad
Rehearsal Director: Cristiana Sciabordi
Lighting Design: Paul Taylor
Dancers
Leigh Alderson
Kyle Davey
Linda Duclos
Pascaline di Fazio
Nekoda Joske
Julien Leboulanger
Rachel Maybank
Eddie Pezzopane
Jean-Michel Sinisterra Munoz
Alexandra Sklavos
Wherlock’s first source of inspiration for S(c)ent was Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony which has long held a fascination for him, which he has come to know well from repeated listening and which provided him with the start of an idea for his choreography. But it was a chance
encounter with a manager from the perfume industry which was the trigger for this piece. Wherlock was intrigued to learn that not only did the perfume firm produce exclusive and expensive scents, but that it also manufactured a wide range of smells, everything from car aromas to the smell of ground coffee, for use in all kinds of situations where the illusion created by a particular odour could alter perceptions and even influence situations. As his ideas for the piece evolved, he realised that as well as being interested in the evocative power of smell, he was also drawn to the idea of the senses more generally, and with particular reference to human relationships. How does one person interpret the sensory signals that another emits? And what about the sensory signs that others associate with us when we are no longer present? A specific aroma or a taste on the tongue has the power to remind us of a past but unforgettable presence.
“ Fluid, exquisitely-shaped duets allow the dancers
to show grace, balance and sublime control.”
[The Stage, November 2007]
Adrift in Softness
Premiere New English Contemporary Ballet 2007 Tour
Choreography/Staging: Patrick Delcroix
Music: Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto
• Avaol (Insen)
• Siisx, Mur (Revep)
• Trioon1 (Vrioon)
Murcof
• Unison (Murcof Mortes)
Costumes: Heidi de Raad
Lighting Design: Paul Taylor
Dancers
Eddie Pezzopane
Jean-Michel Sinisterra Munoz
Kyle Davey
Alexandra Sklavos
Linda Duclos
Rachel Maybank
This essentially abstract piece plays with the idea of a central character drifting between different states of consciousness. Within this condition of reverie reality is suspended and free-flowing thoughts and memories blend into each other, receding as mysteriously as they appear.
.com together
Premiere New English Contemporary Ballet 2008
Choreography: Jamie Thomson
Music: Autechre • Rotar
Trentemoller • Into the Trees (Serenetti Part 3)
Costumes: Heidi de Raad
Lighting Design: Paul Taylor
Dancers
Kyle Davey
Linda Duclos
Rachel Maybank
Eddie Pezzopane
Jean Michel Sinisterra Munoz
Alexandra Sklavos
The technological age claims to bring people together, with online messaging, social networking websites and email, but in reality it has created a world where the need for physical interaction and personal responsiveness to feelings and emotions is lost. Why do so many people today choose to opt out of real life for hours on end and inhabit instead the isolated world of cyber relationships? “Real space” relationships offer potent and beautiful possibilities that “virtual” relationships can never achieve – the warmth of touch, of subtle response to mood, expression or gesture. These intimacies are what reinvigorate and “rehumanise” us; they give us life and allow us to escape from the sterility of the internet chatroom. This piece sets out to capture this very contemporary contrast. Strong and almost robotic at times, it also provides moments of great tenderness. It is an abstract celebration of the power of real human relationships over the isolation of life lived at the “virtual” level.
In C Sharp Minor
World Premiere New English Contemporary Ballet 2008
Choreography: Davide Bombana
Costumes: Heidi de Raad
Lighting Design: Paul Taylor
Music: Ludwig Van Beethoven String Quartet in C Sharp Minor (Op 131)/Dimitri Mitopoulos (arranged for String Orchestra)
1 Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo (6th movement)
2 Presto-Molto poco adagio- attacca (7th movement)
3 Adagio quasi un poco andante-attacca (1st movement)
4 Allegro (5th movement)
Dancers
Leigh Alderson
Kyle Davey
Linda Duclos
Pascaline di Fazio
Rachel Maybank
Eddie Pezzopane
Jean-Michel Sinisterra Munoz
Alexandra Sklavos
“ Bombana has the dancers reaching
for the heart of the music and becoming part of it.“
The Stage, 2008
Light into Shade
Premiere Queensland Ballet 2004
Premiere Ballett Basel 20 May 2005
UK Premiere New English Contemporary Ballet 2009
Choreography/Staging: Richard Wherlock
Music: Richard Einhorn
Lighting Design: Andy Furby
Dancers
Benoit Egloff
Pascaline di Fazio
A simple study of movement initially performed in Australia in 2004 as part of a gala
by Queensland Ballet was developed by Richard Wherlock into the work Light into
Shade set to a composition by Richard Einhorn. Fluid movements coalesce into a dance
full of elegance coupled with profound emotion.
Ctrl-Alt-Delete
World Premiere New English Contemporary Ballet 2009
Choreography: Jamie Thomson
Lighting Design: Andy Furby
Music: Autechre • Plyphon
• Second Scepe
• Vletrmx
Max Richter • The Haunted Ocean 5 (Solo Version)
(from the soundtrack Waltz With Bashir)
When things in our life, our relationships, our world break down should we take the
chance to press Ctrl-Alt-Delete and reboot, clear the system and free ourselves up to
start again? Can we let go of our frustrations, anxieties and insecurities and take the
plunge feeling confident in the knowledge that we can choose to regain control of our
own lives? For when we cut loose and take ourselves back to the drawing board all we
are left with is the belief we have in ourselves. Is it, perhaps, at this moment that we
start to feel totally free and alive?
The piece looks, in a very abstract way, at how we experience control in different situations
and relationships, and the freedom we feel when we press our own Ctrl-Alt-Delete keys.
Dancers
Kyle Davey
Linda Duclos
Rachel Maybank
Eddie Pezzopane
Jean-Michel Sinisterra Munoz
Alexandra Sklavos
