Every journey must start somewhere, mine started on October 7th, I was preoccupied with a burning question. My goal was to seek out a better understanding of the contemporary dance world, a world that I wanted to be a part of but had little practical experience of. A result of the past year or so has been the desire to attempt to design with a sense of ‘truth’. In the most basic of forms I suppose that to me, the truth of lighting dance would be to have an affinity to the movement. But must I be able to move in order to portray the true intent of movement? This was the genesis of my exploration, I set about planning forwards, those I would want to meet, questions I must ask.
It became clear to me that I was interested in not only understanding more about the work of a lighting designer in contemporary dance but also how dance is made. This is somewhat emblematic of my interest in the psychology of making theatre. As a method of ascertaining if being inside the movement was important, I set out to get in touch with designers who had had some level of contact with movement before starting design.
“ Do you think in order to understand movement, you have to have moved yourself?”
“What are your inspirations behind movement based work, do they differ from text based work? Can light ever come first conceptually for you?”
“How do collaborations work for you in dance? Is this more freeing than text based work?”
“What would you recommend to someone trying to progress into dance?”
I meet Michael Hulls at Russell Maliphant’s studio in a rather unsuspecting location in North-West London, the studio is warm and homely and inside rehearsals are afoot for Sylvie Guillem swansong ‘A Life in Progress’. I am shown to a sofa and offered a cup of tea. Michael has a wonderful talent for speaking with a disarming nonchalance. He seems at peace and relaxed with his work.
It is interesting to see this collaboration that I have admired for so long from the inside, there is sense of togetherness in the room and I’m keen to unpick it.
There is an ability here for Michael to have a say in the overall structure of the work, this born out of a shared understanding of each others work. Michael makes it clear that the key in the work is understanding what it is the choreographer means. This brings us full circle onto understanding movement and how one might do this.
One of the reasons I chose to meet Michael, was his exposure to movement during training at Dartington. This paired with his beginnings working with light in an improvisatory capacity, makes him the perfect man to ask about having affinity with movement and it’s effect on design.
M: I did take a few movement classes back when I was training, but for me it’s more important to be able to learn the language. Learn what the choreographer means when they talk about shape. Pace. Pattern.
J: How do you learnt that language, though study?M: Immerse yourself, see dance, read dance reviews. And a top tip, Get yourself ‘The Oxford Dictionary of Dance’ I still use mine to this day.
Michael turns to me “We can talk later, watch them!” I sit for an hour or two watching Russell working with the dancers, I see what Michael means about Russell working from the inside, they mark a section and stop to look at a single foot movement, looking for a journey onwards. Michael intercepts occasionally offering provocations “That section feels more fluid if we do it downstage…” All the while Michael is experimenting with the small lighting set in the room. The work becomes reactionary from all sides.
Later, over lunch we discuss the challenging question, how to get into dance? I hear of his story, the years on the road with little money. We discuss his arts council bursary and the effect this had on his trajectory.
M: I was approached by the arts council, and told that dance needed me. Needed better lighting. I was asked what I would do with a bursary, I said ‘attend lighting workshops in New York with Jennifer Tipton. And that was that!
The Arts council were also insistent the Michael contact more dance companies, write to choreographers and broaden his scope. This we both agree is a good way to go about it, as after all the best way to improve is to do more. However Michael’s unconventional beginnings meant that he had a very different view of the work. “I don’t light things I don’t like.” Michael had followed advice and contacted a range of companies, and was invited to see some of their work. “I didn’t like it, it wasn’t me” so he politely declined. Michael recommended I find a way to work into the dance colleges, get known as someone looking to find new collaborators, catch them while they’re fresh and just starting to want to choreograph and create. We part and agree to meet again in 2015 so I can see the next stage in development of the piece.
Meeting Michael was a really positive experience, it was nice to hear that even people who are widely regarded have had their struggles. As a result of the meeting I resolved to set this advice into motion, begin to find the next generation and get talking to them. In the meantime I decided to get a copy of The Oxford Dictionary of Dance and continue the journey and attempt to piece together the language of dance.
“…you need to understand that the rehearsal process is also the authorship process.”
-Peter Mumford
I meet Peter Mumford at the Young Vic on 28th October, I felt that his input could be interesting as a designer whose work spans across many forms. This interview was to be more structured than the last. Peter is very eloquent on the matter and fascinating to listen to, he talks of his journey in relationship to that of contemporary dance in the UK. Peter once again advises that it’s not so much an ability to move, moreover an ability to interpret movement, and learn to speak the language of dance.
P:…So I have attended the odd workshop many years ago [Laughs]. But I think you can understand movement without doing it, certainly interpreting, visually, but you need to look at it, you need to begin to understand the language. Sue Davies who I’ve worked with a lot (Siobhan Davies) she talks about her work as being quite narrative, but she qualifies that by saying that what she is interested in is what’s between the lines…the narrative that can’t be expressed by words. I always think Sue’s definition of it being about what’s between the lines is a very interesting and apt one, because it’s learning to speak that language and in a way you do that by watching it.
For Peter it’s about finding where the visual language can fit into the work, this slightly in contrast to Michael and Russell’s work where light can breed the idea. Sometimes this visual idea is something that peacefully overlays the movement and sometimes it’s an idea that can shape the movement. There are also challenges to this of course.
P: There are lots of people like Richard Alston who will say, it’s just about dance. Just like a painter might say it’s just about colour. But it still has structure.
This provocation is interesting to me, and possibly helps to unlock one of my recent worries of lighting something that you find hard to engage with, or that has limited viability for concept heavy designs. Structure will always be there. Peter also offered an answer to the question of inspiration and reference points when designing for dance.
P: No, I think there is a difference [between inspirations for movement based works and text based works], because text in many ways is more specific, you have to say usually because there are always exceptions. It makes more specific demands on what you are doing. […] I did a piece with David Bintley recently called ‘Faster’, which was a piece for the Olympics working with a composer we’d worked with before, Matthew Hindson. He [David] gave me the most general of ideas, he’ll give you a scenario but it won’t be anything like a play, it will be more like…this section is about lots of running about.
This insight is helpful as it begins to unlock the process of creation that I know little about in the world of dance, it seemed at least to me that I needed to witness more of this creation. Peter also emphasised the importance of music as a way into the piece as “Rather like a script the music is often there in advance” he explained that this is sometimes is all you have to go on.
Monday 10th of November, I’m at the Southbank Centre this week shadowing lighting designer Yaron Abulafia and getting a feel for the collaborative work of New Movement Collective. Michael Hulls had recommended I look into them as an interesting example of a collaborative collective and as dancers who were making moves towards choreography. Their work caught my imagination, this was to be an interesting time as it was also their first conventionally staged show. I had long admired Yaron Abulafia’s work, always striking with a strong backing of dramaturgical research.
“I treat artificial illumination as a philosophical act of clarification — not a decoration.”
-Yaron on his use of light
Lighting : Yaron Abulafia Photo: Foteini Christofilopoulou
Schedules were tight and Yaron is an extremely busy man, so exchanges were infrequent. It was interesting to see that Yaron had an assistant who called focus and saw to a smooth running fit up. Yaron must be one of the few in the dance world who can accommodate such a thing in a sector so scantily funded. We spoke of his journey with this piece, three weeks development in Italy and a preview in Winchester. Yaron seems to be king of a quick turn around within his work, and success in this field must be attributed to his research heavy approach, this coupled with his talent for providing light that offers a new perspective means that his work is always potent.
Yaron, who is in the final stages of his research for a PhD at University of Groningen, has a very clear interest in not only lighting movement, but also the wider impact of what we all do. However his interest in providing an alternative narrative, coupled with the highly strung atmosphere of a critically acclaimed but nevertheless young company premiering their first ‘mainstream’ production was nothing short of hair-raising. It provided an interesting study into the idea of walking the line between facilitator and creator and the idea of authorship. Later I asked him about the perils of working on this particular production, he resided with the following; “It doesn’t have to be perfect. Nothing is perfect.”
I meet Lucy at the stage door cafe of Saddlers Wells on 17th November, in what is clearly a stressful day. Lucy is lighting ‘Terra Incognita’ which is being added to Rambert’s touring rep system. Lucy explains that there is only 1 day dedicated to adding their piece into the rep, with choreography by Shobana Jeyasingh and design by Jean-Marc Puissant. To make things worse a slow fit up has hampered progress, and Lucy has yet to plot a single cue ahead of the imminent tech which Lucy warns ‘Maybe one of the worst you have witnessed’. We talk over lunch, I’m immediately drawn in by Lucy’s warmness. Not dislike Yaron, Lucy talks of her desire to know the reasoning behind her work.
L: I need to know the ‘why’s’ behind each state, the audience never never understand that, but it’s important for me intellectually. I do a great deal of research on each project, I ground my designs on a strong foundation so that when an idea doesn’t work my next one will have come from the same origin.
This careful consideration of finding the right ‘place’ for the work is clearly one reason that she is lauded amongst her collaborators.
Lucy’s not rigid. She understands why things change dramatically in live theatre. You can’t control it. It’s like holding the reins of a lot of horses. All these forces are pulling the piece along. You can’t ever say this one is going to lead.
- Shobana Jeyasingh on Lucy Carter, an extract from ‘Bringers of Light — Part Four ‘Shared Visions’
Lucy admits that her beginnings in studying choreography have helped her greatly through her career, although she adds that her choreographic ideas were always very structural and visual. So she can interpret and understand the structure of choreography easily.
I found Lucy’s humanity to be the most rewarding aspect of our meeting. She, more than another spoke of the personal challenges of pursuing such a career. We spoke of her route into design, working at The Place, for two years, which in her mind provided her with the meeting place for most of the people she had worked with since. “I’m not sure how you’d do it now” she admits, honestly. I suppose do as much as you can and slowly you become known, noticed for the way you light or the way you collaborate.
We talk of the difficulties of juggling the work, living away from London and having a family. Lucy talks openly about the realities of being at the top of her game.
L: It’s bit impossible really, everyone wants something from you at the same time, you have to let people down sometimes. I’m meant to be submitting a first draft of a lighting plan this afternoon, which simply won’t happen.
Her solution, having a clear grasp of your calendar and what she terms ‘Maintenance Meetings’ in which you meet directors/choreographers solely for their benefit, to ensure that you are still being faithful to them. It was to be an interesting afternoon observing tech. The whole creative team spent a good 5 minutes comparing and contrasting rescue remedy products. An omen.
This journey has exposed some obvious answers, the importance of understanding the choreographic direction, much like when working with text based works. However it has also given me a clear view of what is important in the next step in my journey, finding a way to learn more about the structure of dance. It has also given me an important grounding in the realities of forging a career in contemporary dance. I look forward to using my final months in education to meeting more people in the contemporary dance world and immerse myself in the quest to find emerging dance companies to forge new collaborations with.
This essay was originally written as part of my studies on The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama’s Theatre Practice: Theatre Lighting Design Degree. It was published in The Association of Lighting Designers magazine Focus in the April/May 2015 issue.
