Dance Work

• Series Title: The_Art_of_Touch
• Title: Dance Work
• Choreographer: Siobhan Davies
• Choreographer - Comments:
• Dancers: Amanda Britton,Gill Clarke,Sean Feldman,David Hughes,Jeremy James,John Kilroy,Paul Old,Catherine Quinn,Deborah Saxon
• Dancers - Comments: David Hughes replaced Paul Old (injured) and Jeremy James replaced John Kilroy on the Trespass/The Art of Touch tour.
• Music: Matteo Fargion,Domenico Scarlatti
• Music - Comments: Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) five keyboard sonatas: K141 in D minor, K87 in B minor, K122 in D major, K18 in D minor, K204a in F minor/major.
  Performed by Pierre Hantai on Astree Records;
  
  Matteo Fargion: Sette Canzoni, commissioned by Siobhan Davies Dance Company
• Composer: Domenico Scarlatti, Matteo Fargion
• Composer - Comments:
• Sound Score:
• Sound Score - Comments:
• Sound Installation:
• Sound Installation - Comments:
• Conductor:
• Conductor - Comments:
• Musicians: Carole Cerasi (harpsichord)
• Musicians - Comments:
• Writer:
• Writer - Comments:
• Artist:
• Artist - Comments:
• Designer: David Buckland
• Designer - Comments: Credited in original programme as Set Design
• Lighting Design: Ian Beswick
• Lighting Design - Comments:
• Sound Engineer: Ron Thomson
• Costume Designer: Sasha Keir
• Costume Designer - Comments:
• Costume Maker: Sasha Keir
• Costume Maker - Comments:
• Film Director: Ross MacGibbon
• Film Director - Comments:
• Production Manager:
• Photographer:
• Painter:
• Author:
• Video Documenter:
• Audio Documenter:
• Editor: Ross MacGibbon
• Editor - Comments:
• Contributors: Gavin O'Curry
• Contributors - Comments: Steel Construction
  NB for 1997 tour:
  Metalwork by Dovetail Specialist Scenery
  Set painted by Liz Reed
• Other TV/Film/Radio credits: Cameras: David Gopsill, Steve Hall, Paul Jenkins;
  Executive Producer: Bob Lockyer
  Producer: Stephany Marks
• Other TV/Film/Radio credits - Comments: BBC Production for Dance Night, broadcast on BBC2, 28/12/98
• Summary: There were two scores for The Art of Touch; Domenico Scarlatti and a commissioned piece by Matteo Fargion, both written for harpsichord. However, the impetus behind the work came from Francois Couperin who composed a series of pieces to form the hand in preparation for touching the keyboard in order to enable musicians to explore the range and colour of the instrument. Davies proposed this idea to the dancers; the quality and weight of the foot against the surface of the floor, the imprint of the body on the surrounding air and the different dynamics of the sense of touch. The dance is made for seven dancers and is composed of seven clear parts, mirroring the musical structure.
  One of Davies' most celebrated and popular works, it won Davies an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance and an Evening Standard Award for Outstanding Production.
• Publisher: SDDO
• Production Date - Original: 1995
• Production Date - SDDO: 03/04/2008
• Format Original:
• Source: SDDO
• Relation: Profile
• Duration:
• Word Count: 0
• Venue:
• Tour: with Wild Translations:
  06/10/95 - 07/10/95 - The Dancehouse, Manchester
  09/10/95 - Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch
  12/10/95 - Wyvern Theatre, Swindon
  17/10/95 - Edinburgh Festival Theatre
  20/10/95 - 21/10/95 - Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury
  25/10/95 - 26/10/95 - Sadler's Wells, London
  
  with Trespass:
  10/05/96 - 11/05/96 - Grand Theatre, Blackpool
  20/05/96 - 21/05/96 - Mercury Theatre, Colchester
  31/05/96 - 01/06/96 - Theatre Royal, Newcastle upon Tyne
  04/06/96 - 05/06/96 - Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
  
  with Bank & White Man Sleeps:
  09/10/97 - 10/10/97 - Repertory Theatre, Birmingham
  17/10/97 - 18/10/97 - RNCM, Manchester
  24/10/97 - Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon
  28/10/97 - 30/10/97 - Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
  04/11/97 - 09/11/97 - Joyce Theater, New York City, USA
  
  revival with Rambert spring tour 2010:
  03/02/10 - 06/02/10 - Theatre Royal, Brighton
  11/02/10 - 13/02/10 - Theatre Royal, Glasgow
  17/02/10 - 19/02/10 - Edinburgh Festival Theatre
  25/02/10 - 27/02/10 - His Majesty's Theatre, Aberdeen
  10/03/10 - 13/03/10 - Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold
  21/04/10 - 23/04/10 - Theatre Royal, Newcastle
  28/04/10 - 30/04/10 - Lyceum, Sheffield
  25/05/10 - 29/05/10 - Sadler's Wells, London
• Web Links:
• Subscription only: Public
• Available at SDD-only:
• Copyright Statement:
• Copyright Agreement:
• Rights ownership:
• Analysis: 'Davies’ decision to combine Scarlatti’s pre-existing music with Fargion’s music is somewhat unusual. Although she has always been interested in a range of musical styles, since 1988 and until that point she had only worked with music by contemporary composers. Scarlatti’s music sets a frenetic, frenzied pace at the start and then Fargion’s music, in the latter half, is at a more moderate, gentler pace, peppered with pulsing, shuddering, spasmodic moments, underlining the contrast in sound and texture between the two composers’ music. Besides the music, inspiration for Davies also came from the anatomical ‘stop start’ frames of man moving from the work of the nineteenth century scientist and photographer, Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) who used multiple pictures to record and reveal the movement of people and animals. One structural device that Davies used in shaping the dance is accumulation; the ‘same’ movement is returned to, extended and remade to explore contrasts in dynamic variation and spatial orientation. The exploration of fragmentation and accumulation, as linked ideas in The Art of Touch, reveal how Davies has brought together her primary interest in choreographic structure, which shaped her work prior to 1988, with her fascination with bodily structure, which has continued to inform her work since 1988' (Sarah Whatley, 2002).
• Permanenent URL: http://www.siobhandaviesreplay.com/record.php?id=28

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