- Title: Different Trains
- Date: 2nd April 2008
- Summary: Set to the music of the same name by the American minimalist composer Steve Reich, for live and taped string quartet, taped monologue and sounds of trains, the dance follows the structure of the music (which is in three parts) and draws from the speech within the music (stories from people who made different train journeys between 1939 and 1942, including Reich's own as a child travelling across America and those of Jewish people in Europe during World War Two). A large set behind the dance action comprises a metallic wall of chrome discs upon which are two enormous 'blade' constructions. These wheel-like structures rotate for much of the dance at different speeds. Lighting design adds to the idea of travel by marking out diagonal lines across the stage space.
- Work: 1990
- Choreographer: Siobhan Davies
- Choreographer Comments: choreographed for Siobhan Davies Dance
- Dancer: Darshan Singh Bhuller, Scott Clark, Gill Clarke, Paul Douglas, Sean Feldman, Michael Fulwell, Jeremy James, Elizabeth Old, Lauren Potter, Lizie Saunderson, Deborah Saxon
- Dancer Comments: 1990/1: Scott Clark, Gill Clarke, Paul Douglas, Michael Fulwell (replaced by Darshan Singh Bhuller for 1991 Spring Tour), Lauren Potter, Lizie Saunderson
1993: Gill Clarke, Paul Douglas, Sean Feldman, Jeremy James, Elizabeth Old, Deborah Saxon - Music: Steve Reich
- Sound Score: Different Trains (1988) for string quartet and tape. Published by Boosey & Hawkes
- Musicians: Sophie Harris (cello), Steven Smith (violin), Clive Hughes (violin), Nic Pendlebury (viola)
- Musicians Comments: The Smith Quartet
- Designer: David Buckland
- Lighting Design: Peter Mumford
- Costume Designer: David Buckland
- Costume Maker: Penny Thompson
- Analysis: ‘…the rich palette of her dance movement – sensuous glissando footwork that flipped into a hard staccato pulse, reckless twists and falls packed within a single phrase, duets of weary weightedness – also detailed the qualities and concerns of this group of people living variously threatened, exhausted or avid lives’ (Judith Mackrell, Dance Now, 1997).
‘Davies looked at Steve Reich's writings, relating to his composition, telling of the different train rides he had taken as a small boy travelling from the East to West coasts of America. This idea of different stories and journeys instigated most of the movement, American sign language being used as part of the story telling’ (Deborah Saxon, 2009). - Production Date Original: 1990
- Production Date - SDD: 2nd April 2008
- Tour: with White Man Sleeps (1988)
08/11/90 - 10/11/90 - Sadler's Wells, London
16/11/90 - 17/11/90 - Arnolfini, Bristol
19/11/90 - Northcott Theatre, Exeter
21/11/90 - Connaught Theatre, Worthing
26/11/90 - Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
30/11/90 - 01/12/90 - Newcastle Playhouse, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
06/12/90 - 07/12/90 - University of Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry
07/05/91 - Grand Theatre, Blackpool
13/05/91 - Tramway Theatre, Glasgow
17/05/91 - 18/05/91 - Oxford Playhouse
24/05/91 - Horsham Arts Centre
with Arctic Heart (1991)
25/09/91 - 27/09/91 - Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
other dates TBA
with Wanting To Tell Stories (1993)
27/09/93 - Opera de Lille, Festival de Lille, France
