Present: Maxwell Golden, HKB Finn, Zena, Matt and Kelly, Nigel, Rapahel, Jon Speedy, Thebe, Ben, Jason Yarde, Leeto Thale.
Everyone came in ready with a zingy energy to create and we began with a jam session in which the theme tune for the night came about. Thanks to a freestyle from our emerging spoken word artist Raphael Blake. “Intimacy- we’re getting into it!”
From this point the exploration of the theme began. Many people spoke about how hard they found it talking about intimacy- just where to start - but as we progressed using rhythm exercises, word games breaking off into duos and experimenting with hot-seating, people found rhythmic and lyrical ways to take themselves out of their comfort zones using their craft to explore the theme. Freestyle also meant there were no rules or set etiquette for how artists spoke about it.
One exercise involved a duo between a poet and a musician. Some really intimate work came through this exercise and also inspired us to look at how we could make creative use of the Albany performance space. What was exciting was observing poets and musicians dotted around the building and the Albany garden adding a vibrancy of the building with the sparks of creativity around them. Talking, experimenting, blitzing the possibilities.
Jason Yarde not only brought his numerous saxphones but brought sampling gadgets galore and was tweaking this and blipping that and the journey of intimacy into the future was under way. Ben on bass had a very calm grounding effect to the session. Cheryl on drums stepped in at the last minute and brought a solid yet feminine feel to the sessions.
Kelly and Matt had a couple of technical issues with the lighting as the film drew needed more light to do their job but with negotiation a happy medium was finally met. By the end of each day, everyone had a good idea of what they would be performing on the day.
When it came to the tech and dress run everyone was on tender hooks a little, feeling the pressure of the conflict of the show being structured and free at the same time but then as the day progressed it became clear that the faith in the free flow energy of “conversating” (if that’s word) using our art forms and the new language devised form the fusion of our art forms would bring the whole performance to life.
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