- Title: Eighty Eight
- Summary: Eighty Eight is set to pianola music by Conlon Nancarrow (Studies 4, 6, 12, 17, 20, 25, 27, 31 and Tango). It toured alongside Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues in 1998, as an example of a linked programme of Davies' choreography. Eighty Eight and Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues share a similar urban, industrial quality in the combination of movement and design. In Eighty Eight, the near inhuman speed of Nancarrow's pianola music creates the challenge to the performers and the dance material. Davies also enjoyed looking at the perforated paper scores and observing the patterns these created. The urgency of both the scores for Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues and Eighty Eight created new choreographic dynamics.
- Work: 1998
- Choreographer: Siobhan Davies
- Choreographer Comments: choreographed for Siobhan Davies Dance
- Dancer: Amanda Britton, Sean Feldman, David Hughes, John Kilroy, Henry Montes, Matthew Morris, Paul Old, Lauren Potter, Catherine Quinn, Deborah Saxon, Sarah Warsop
- Dancer Comments: David Hughes performed for the Spring tour only. John Kilroy replaced David Hughes for the Autumn tour.
- Music: Conlon Nancarrow
- Sound Score: Studies for Player Piano 4,6,12,17,20,25,27,31 and Tango, by arrangement with Schott and Company Ltd, copyright Smith Publications, Baltimore, USA.
- Musicians: Rex Lawson
- Designer: David Buckland
- Designer Comments: Metalwork: Dovetail Specialist Scenery Pipework: New Vent Distributors Ltd
- Lighting Design: Peter Mumford
- Costume Designer: Antony McDonald
- Costume Maker: Sasha Keir
- Analysis: 'Rex Lawson played live Conlon Nancarrow's music for piano. From the beginning, Davies and the dancers could be stimulated by the visual rhythms seen on the piano keys and the punched patterns of the score on the paper piano rolls. The precision and urgency of the sound motivated schemes of actions and movement scales, which the dancers use to travel across the space. The incredible speed of the piano challenges the dancers and occasionally, they in turn become wilfully slow’ (Deborah Saxon, 2009).
- Production Date Original: 1998
- Tour: with Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
30/04/98 - 01/05/98 - Oxford Playhouse
06/05/98 - Wycome Swan, High Wycombe
15/05/98 - 16/05/98 - Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
22/05/98 - 23/05/98 - Cambridge Arts Theatre
29/05/98 - 30/05/98 - Grand Theatre, Blackpool
26/07/98 - Kalamata Festival, Greece
01/10/98 - 03/10/98 - Barbican Centre, London
09/10/98 - 10/10/98 - Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester
14/10/98 - 15/10/98 - Birmingham Repertory Theatre
03/11/98 - Cankarjev dom, Slovenia
