SpinDrift: Helen Edwards and Oxford Improvisers, Arts at the Old Fire Station 22nd February 2022

Spindrift is a special early evening event in the cafe of the Old Fire Station combining free improvisation by musicians of Oxford Improvisers and dance with special guest Helen Edwards.

Helen Edwards is an Oxford based dancer, artist and arts psychotherapist. She has studied Butoh and Amerta Movement in Indonesia, Japan, Europe and the UK. Helen will perform a solo piece of her own devising (Finding Stone) and also dance in duo with fellow Oxford-based dancer Lizzy Spight.

The evening will present a new piece for improvising musicians and dancers devised by Lawrence Casserley, a larger group piece by Paul Medley, and a piece by Bruno Guastalla using maqam techniques, for loutar and sinewaves.

Programme:

Siròc for loutar with sine waves performed by Bruno Guastalla

Finding Stone solo dance by Helen Edwards with musical accompaniment by Martin Hackett, Philipp Wachsmann, Paul Medley

HIPPO devised by Lawrence Casserley. Dancers: Helen Edwards and Lizzy Spight. Musicians: Lisa Reim, Chris Stubbs, Pete Watson. The five greatest threats to biodiversity can be summarized by the “HIPPO” acronym: (1) Habitat loss, (2) Invasives, (3) Pollution, (4) Population, and (5) Overexploitation. The score consists of five graphic images, which are drawn from some of the most endangered environments on earth: grasslands, oceans, broadleaf forest, arctic regions, Aral Sea.

Spindrift devised by Paul Medley for solo players and small groups

Squall, a text piece devised by Mark Browne for improvisers, that considers some of the many and diverse aspects of large bodies of water.

Performers:

Dancers: Helen Edwards, Lizzy Spight
Musicians: Andrew West, Chris Stubbs, Bruno Guastalla, Lisa Reim, Martin Hackett, Lawrence Casserley, Chris Dammers, Mark Browne, Pete Watson, Philipp Wachsmann, Dan Goren, Lizzy Spight, Paul Medley.

Date: Tuesday 22nd February 6.30pm

Venue: Old Fire Station Cafe, 40 George Street, Oxford OX1 2AQ

Tickets: on the door.

Find out more about Helen Edwards here

Find out more about Oxford Improvisers here

Find out about Lizzy Spight here

 

Ana Barbour: a tribute

Late on Monday 6th November 2017 Ana Barbour, much loved, inspirational and guiding presence in the Oxford dance scene, passed away having battled with cancer.  Her touching funeral at the home she loved on Sunday 12th November was attended by numerous family, friends, and colleagues, and was a celebration of her life and achievements in speeches, songs and dance.  I felt honoured to speak on that occasion about Ana’s work as a dance artist in Oxford, and I am posting here my speech to pay tribute to her.  You can also find links below to her own blog Anadances, Cafe Reason of whom she was an integral part, and the DEC Project; and her own occasional writings for this blog.  Oxford Dance Writers would really welcome other voices in this endeavour of remembrance, so please use the comments facility below to add to this partial picture your particular memories of Ana.  Thank you!

Ana Barbour

When I mounted the Solos Project for Oxford dance artists in 2008 Ana was one of six dancers who showed solos in the Burton Taylor’s intimate studio space. Her Butoh inspired piece Baggage accompanied by the atmospheric music of her long term friend and collaborator Malcolm Atkins was a remarkable episode in which having entered bowed down by a bundle on her back she burrowed into the baggage itself, morphing into surreal shapes and images of confined struggle that were humorous, poignant and dreamlike. It was my first experience of Ana as creative imagination and compelling performer.

 

OVADA Stammtisch presents An evening with… John Cage, Erik Satie and Oxford Improvisers 24th April 2014

A chance to see one of Oxford’s most engaging and idiosyncratic dancers, Flavia Coube, in an evening hommage to two composers who have challenged, inspired and influenced numerous choreographers…  OVADA Stammtisch presents An evening with… John Cage, Erik Satie and Oxford Improvisers this week at the OVADA Gallery.  Oxford Improvisers write:  “It being neither the centenary of Erik Satie nor John Cage (nor of any calendrical significance to either), Oxford Improvisers are celebrating the work of two of the most iconoclastic composers of the twentieth century with an evening of entertainment featuring members of the collective as well as guest dancers, visual artists and the virtual presence of Satie and Cage in film and verbal recording.”

 

Luminous Shadows – DEC Drawing Dance in performance at Old Fire Station 23rd May 2013

DEC is an Oxford based group of established musicians, dancers and visual artists, who explore the interactions between their media through improvised performance and video projection.  Luminous Shadows shows them in action in a selection of poetic and playful collaborations both structured and spontaneous.  This innovative live creative experience has proved fascinating and engaging for audiences, with its unpredictability and intimacy in the moment.

Since 2010 DEC has performed in Oxford at the Pegasus Theatre, OVADA Gallery, The Story Museum and The Old Fire Station, at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas, and has collaborated with the Oxford Improvisers and poets such as Vahni Capildeo and Robin Kirkpatrick.  DEC artists regularly exhibit their work.

 

Sound Image Word Motion – at the Old Fire Station Tuesday 5th June

Escape the Jubilee with Oxford Improvisers at the Old Fire Station on June 5th!

An evening of performances by the DEC group in collaboration with members of Oxford Improvisers and leading poets.

‘a unique and ground breaking collaboration between four art forms’

The DEC group is:
Malcolm Atkins and Bruno Guastalla: music
Susie Crow and Ana Barbour: dance
Clare Bassett, Kassandra Isaacson, Suzie Moxley: visual art

Featured poets:  Vahni Capildeo, Gavin Selerie

Tuesday  5 June   Doors open from 7:00 pm     Entry: £8/£6
The Loft Room, The Old Fire Station, 40 George St., Oxford OX1 2AQ

evening convened by Malcolm Atkins and Janna Ferrett

Part of the Oxfringe Festival