Wonderful Weekend!

Wow! What a weekend!!Where do I start...

Well Miguel Pereira's Doo was extraordinary. It had me captured from start to finish. I was encapsulated by his storytelling, filling my mind with colourful images. The rhythyms made by Pak were incredible and I loved the use of live sound being captured on stage and then played back in a incredible climax towards the end. It was almost an unbearable experience, but that challenged me to accept the sound intensity and this unique experience, which seemed to take control of me. It was absolutely incredible!!

Saturday was also brilliant! My mum and dad were up for the weekend to see the events so I gave them a real nottdance experience for the day and took them to the Breakjazz event, the double bill at Lakeside and to Jam Cafe afterwards.

The Breakjazz event was an absolute buzz. Chris, Valerie, Ras Happa and Hetain, put on a magnificent performance in the Broadmarsh centre, which drew a huge crowd. The open jam made it for me. The mixture of up and coming dancers and professionals made it really fun and the encouragement from the crowd was great! I was amazed by Clementine (Vanessa's gorgeous daughter) who can only just walk, yet was bouncing away to the music provided by Ras Happa! I think she may be one to watch! I also managed to throw in one my inverted headstands (it was a proud moment!hahaha), but I take my hat off to Paul who also threw down a brilliant freeze! - He's so down with the Kids!

The Rachel Krische and Robert Hylton double bill, was a fantastic mix. I was really fascinated by Rachel's process and her collaboration with Deborah Hay, and really appreciated the complexity of the performance and it's process. However, my favourite, and my parents favourite piece of the night was Robert's. He is such a beautiful performer and I was so drawn into the performance that I started to twitch when he moved! I think he has a real honesty to his performance, and his voice over allowed the audience in on his thought process adding to this. I loved the intricacy that was produced with his locking and popping, and could spend hours watching those tiny movements in the feet rippling up threw the body. I think the audience interaction worked well and think that he could really do more with this in the future.

Back at Jam me, Mum and Dad had a a great time talking to Robert and the team! It was a lovely relaxing atmosphere, with great food and conversation. I am definitely planning to go there more often! However, I did get slightly embarrassed when my Dad starting giving Robert Hylton some movement ideas!! Hahaha, the only dance my Dad has ever done is 'the bump' with my mum about 30 years ago, some bad 'Dad dancing', and he once tried to spin on his head after a few beers!

They would both like to thank everyone for a fantastic nottdance experience, and particularly the staff for being so lovely and so welcoming. They wish us all every success with the rest of the festival.

So... bring on the next week! See you there, Kirsten x