THE LIST
MAYFEST
will have much opportunity to close. Speed. subliminal images and bodies movements of the unexpected. guaranteed to hold your mind.
To end on a tantalising postscript. it is worth just dropping in that Glasgow-based Gregory Nash has been working with Petronio in New York and if plans go ahead and contracts signed. the American will be over in Culture City 1990 next spring to work on a special commission for the (iregory Nash (iroup. With luck. this may not be the last we see of this dynamic young man.
The Stephen I’etmniu ('mnpuny appeurfmm 14—16 May. See Listings.
DAVIES WYOMING IN
THE GLOAMING
‘Here I am. lam nearly 40. lfl'm good at all. I'm good now. I‘ve got to do it now and the dancers have got to do it now. We can't always talk about the future. We can‘t even talk anv more about building a future. ' This is it.‘
This is Siobhan Davies. dancer. choreographer. director of the Siobhan Davies ('ompany and mother oftwo small children.
phomi David Buckland
The Slobhan melanoma." In ‘Wyomlfltl'
Stretching each day to fit her commitments. she underlines each with the resolution that nothing can be put off until tomorrow. ()ne of Britain‘s first generation contemporary dancers. led by a bright explosion of movement experimentation in the Sixties. she has become one of the country‘s most individual choreographers. Determination and resolve. already part of her natural make-up. was sharpened after a recent visit to America. The recipient ofa Fullbright Award. a travelling grant more often put to use moving scientists around than dancers. allowed Davies. her partner photographer David Buckland and
their children. to take to over 11.000 miles of road. ‘I had been working since I was 17 until then. lfyou don't have time off you don‘t drop anything, you carry more and more and more and you feel you have to bring everything out all the time.‘ America was time out put to valuable use. enabling a happy reassessment of work and career. ‘lt’s a lovely feeling. when you can just say. well. I‘m not interested in that any more. And then ofcourse you make room for putting more on board.‘
On returning. she took on board her own company which made its debut at London‘s 1988 Dance Umbrella. ‘I wanted to have a small. compact group and really spend time developing work.‘ Passionately concerned with the intimacies of dance and its making. Davies has always sought the special refuge of companies not living under the demands ofinstitutionalisation. Siobhan Davies Dancers came alive for a year in 1981. followed by the creation of Second Stride with choreographer Ian Spink who contines to exercise that company's creative muscle.
But the larger company has always had its place. For many years she coupled this very personal direction with her work with London Contemporary Dance Theatre, where she began her dance career. Post-American journey. she has struck a new relationship with Rambert Dance Company. where she has just been made Associate Choreographer. ‘It‘s a great opportunity to work with Richard (Richard Alston. director of Rambert) who I‘ve known since the beginning of both our dance careers.‘
While the attractions and satisfactions of being a big company choreographer speak for themselves. there is no doubt where Davies’ heart lies. ‘One is the larger. structured company with full time commitments and the other is more intimate with dancers who work in different places throughout the year, bringing their own resources with them.’ A person of naturally balanced response. she becomes brilliantly animated on the subject of her own company of dancers. all very experienced in their own right. ‘You just swirl up with energy. I spend more time working with them because that's why we get together. We don’t get together to make publicity or money or do anything else other than do the work and then get it out.‘
Wyoming and White Man Sleeps are the two works ‘getting out’ for Mayfest. Like much of Davies‘ work. both took their cues from other art forms. ‘It‘s easier to get energy from them. then you go to dance in a different frame of mind.‘ Wyoming took root in the words of Gretle Ehrlich. a writer who ‘looks at the place and then dives in on one or two people and then stands back again‘. It also comes from the America of large skies so unlike our D
The List 5 - 18 May 198913