Hi there,
Well I think it’s safe to say that I’m back into the swing of things and fully immersed in all things Motionhouse, and what an exciting time it is at the moment. The Voyage, our London 2012 Festival show, is coming together swimmingly (excuse the pun!) our newest show Broken is taking shape behind the scenes and our dancers have just returned on contract, so our Spencer Yard Studio is full of sweaty bodies and raucous laughing!
The Voyage is part of the London 2012 Festival
We officially launched The Voyage to our partners and press a week or so back at the Town Hall in Birmingham, which is where the projections for the show will be screened, making the backdrop and setting the scene for our open air spectacle. About 100 people made it along in total and The Voyage was received exceptionally well! Kevin presented our ideas for the show to the crowd, complete with some beautiful film footage courtesy on Logela, who we are once again collaborating with and who will be providing the media projections. We even had a short film excerpt from Patrick Nolan, the Artistic Director from Legs On The Wall who is devising the piece with Kevin. If you want to take a look at what Patrick had to say click here.
There was a Q & A session after Kev’s presentation and the comments received were all extremely positive, with plenty of people pledging their support and wanting to get involved further. It was a really great evening and although it merely marks the start of things to come I think it’s safe to say that everyone left the event feeling energised and excited about the project. We also managed to secure some TV coverage (albeit brief) so if you’re interested in taking a look at the BBC Midlands Today footage check out the film below.
We’re working with Birmingham Hippodrome at the moment to develop the marketing and promotion for The Voyage and devising a new website and Facebook page. The website is still under construction, but if you’re interested in registering for updates on the project click here and enter your details on the site. I’ll keep you posted via the blog on how everything’s coming together in the interim and of course you can always check out our Facebook and Twitter sites for updates.
We’re not ones to shy away from hard work at Motionhouse. Some might say that we have enough on our plates with one massive Cultural Olympiad project to worry about in a year, but not us! 2013 is Moho’s 25th birthday year and we’re creating a brand new theatre show to celebrate our milestone, which will commence touring in the UK in the autumn of that year. Broken will be our 19th theatre production and Kevin and the creative team have been working on the artistic development of the show, whilst Soph, Louise, Jo and I have been developing the strategy and promotional packs to sell the show into venues. Broken’s still in the early days of its conception, but I promised you a sneak preview in my last blog, so here goes…
Broken is Motionhouse's next Venue Touring Show
Building on the success of Scattered, which explored the theme of water, Broken will use dance and film to investigate our relationship with the earth. Using multiple layers of scrolling film and our highly physical dance style Broken will create an intriguing computer game-esque world of tunnels and burrows, shifting perspectives and see-sawing slopes and platforms. Hanging in suspense, diving for support and scrambling to safety, our dancers will negotiate the cracks and craters of this world of illusion where nothing is quite as it seems.
Designed by our long-term collaborator Simon Dormon, with projections courtesy of Logela Multimedia, Broken will be a visual spectacle: ravishing, delicate and poignant, taking you on a journey into the earth as you’ve never seen it before.
The Motionhouse dancers are busy rehearsing Scattered with a new cast
Of course before our dancers get their teeth into the choreography for Broken it’s full steam ahead on The Voyage and also Scattered, which is appearing at Déda in Derby for two nights. As we’ve had a change in cast since our last Scattered show the dancers are beavering away in the Studio and in our Warehouse teaching the material to Martina who has replaced Laura and trying to get her up-to-speed before our April shows (Fri 27 & Sat 28).
To try and get Martina settled in and comfortable with the show we’re hosting two free showings of Scattered at our Warehouse next week on Wednesday 14 March from 3.30pm-5.30pm and Friday 16 March from 2.30pm-4.30pm. This will be one of the only chances you’ll have to see Scattered in the UK this year, so if you fancy a trip to Warwickshire we’d love to see you, and I’m sure the company would welcome your presence and support.
Due to the size of our rehearsal space there is limited capacity so places are being offered on a first-come-first-served basis. Simply RSVP to confirm your place by Monday 12 March to mezze at info@motionhouse.co.uk. For those of you who haven’t visited our warehouse space before it’s a little ‘rough-and-ready’! So if you’re planning on visiting us bring a stool/deckchair/blanket and we’ll provide the entertainment. Details about finding our Warehouse and parking will be available from mezze upon confirming your place.
I think that’s all I have to update you on for now, but by my next post in a couple of weeks all our Quest Apprentices will be on board for The Voyage (sorry, yet another shipping pun – they’re really not intentional!) and they, alongside our dancers, will have begun working with our community groups so they’ll be plenty to tell you.
Hopefully I’ll see some of you at our Warehouse for our Scattered Open Rehearsals next week.
Bye for now!
Jus xx
