NEW CHOREOGRAPHY AT NORTHERN DANCE

After a break of too long, I’ve recently returned to the joys of scoring contemporary dance and the excitement of a live audience.

Choreographed by Northern Dance’s Artistic Director Maxine Fell at their dance lab in Newcastle, FLORES DE LA NOCHE premiered March 2023 in a showcase of new and pioneering work in visual art, dance and film. The piece draws inspiration from a flower painting by the celebrated British painter Anthony Whishaw RA,– also on display – and explores notions of female sensuality.

Blending influences of loungecore, tango nuevo, flamenco, jazz and EDM, much of the score was improvised live in real time to the dance performers, and featured locally-based jazz soloist Giles Strong on acoustic steel-string guitar with me on accordion and bowed cymbal. It was exhilirating to respond musically to the moment-by-moment energy of the performers, as they turn fed on our spontaneity.

Visual artist David Leonard was responsible for FLORES’ delicate lighting design. We also previewed work-in-progress from David’s own longer-form dance work EPHEMERA: a film extract using AI technology to transform images of Maxine in performance. Also presented was David’s haunting visual art piece ROTATION, accompanied by the music of Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir.

Picture shows performers Katherine Whale and Pagan Hunt, photo © David Leonard.