Gary Clarke’s Lustrum

Taken from the Yorkshire Dance website;

"Pioneered by Merseyside Dance Initiative, Lustrum brings together 15 dance artists to devise, create and showcase five dance works (a solo, a duet, a trio, a quartet and a quintet) in five days; a fast and furious collaborative project driven by creative instinct and quick-fire choices.

Using chance to dictate outcomes, participants will switch between the roles of choreographer and performer from day to day, experimenting with the generation of material and creation of performance work in a spontaneous, non-critical way.

This vigorous 6-day project offers a unique opportunity for a team of experienced artists to meet, network, exchange ideas, enrich and develop both choreographic and performance skills and experience staging an evening of professional work in a very short time frame."

Facebook Event

Lustrum is led by Gary Clarke, a friend and collaborator of many years; who asked me to be part of Lustrum in Leeds. Of course, I agreed and we began working on what my involvement would entail.

As you could probably ascertain from the blurb above, Lustrum is a challenging project. There are rules, processes, restrictions and limits to be observed: the dance artists are pushed to create each day, for five consecutive days, what they would normally spend weeks on. I shall be visiting Yorkshire Dance daily, seeing what has been done, talking with the participants and taking away whatever I can, in preparation to perform a live soundtrack to all five pieces on Saturday night, 27th July. Should be grand...