Repetition of Change is a very special piece. Sharon worked with Kenneth Hesketh who composed a stunning score which brings the collaboration alive. It goes without saying that a final technical rehearsal can be a very stressful time for all involved as it is the final chance for the creative team to get it right. I spoke to Sharon after the rehearsal who told me she was happy with how the afternoon had gone. “It wasn’t bad” she said, “I’m always going to be nervous regardless because at this point I have to hand it over and I’m out of the picture. Part of me feels great, but part of me also feels very anxious.”
I was surprised by the calm atmosphere during the rehearsal. There were a handful of minor problems which included some lighting issues and a reflection mystery, but everything was sorted in a smooth and efficient manner. As time ticked by I asked Sharon how she would feel that evening, watching her work being performed. “I find it quite hard because I become very critical and pick up on things that a lot of other audience members wouldn’t even notice.”
The team managed to run through the piece without stopping once so I was given an overall feel for it. There was something strange and mystifying, yet exciting, about watching the dancers perform in plain dark clothes, rather than the striking costumes they would be wearing that evening. The piece is very choppy but is performed with a great deal of fluidity, at times I wanted to pick up a remote and press rewind as I didn’t want to miss one tiny detail of Sharon's riveting choreography.
Repetition of Change feels very dreamlike and as I sat in my seat I thought about how so many people could interpret the piece in a number of different ways. For example, a child could interpret the piece very differently to an adult. Sharon seemed thrilled when I discussed this with her, “That’s absolutely fantastic! That is exactly the right response! We’ve had the whole spectrum of ages watching the performance and some of the young people who saw it gave us a synopsis of that they thought they had seen. It was amazing to discover that they clearly understood it. The work itself isn’t prescriptive but the dream idea that you are taken into a different world is exactly what I went through, I had to look under the microscope and try and think about what it would be like if I was one of those cells, or if I was a molecule and what that would be like.”
For Sharon the journey started back in the summer of 2012. “It has been phenomenal” she said. “It is amazing to think of all the stages of trying to formulate the idea and the concepts and then meeting Ken and thinking through what is was we were going to do. It was amazing that we managed to do anything because we met in such a horrible café! We sat there looking at the sticky floors thinking ‘what is this going to be? How are we going to make this work?’ But we realised we were talking the same language and that we were on to something.”
Working with contemporary music is a new experience for Sharon. “At first I was afraid that I wasn’t going to be able to match it." Personally, I think the music adds an extra hypnotic layer to the piece, when it came to an end I felt as if I had been put into some sort of trance. Sharon explained how, at first, working with the composer had been a daunting prospect. "He presented me with the music and I wanted to be sure I did it justice. When he sent me the music I didn’t get it at all, I just couldn’t figure it out. But I listened to it again and again and again and we ended up going on a journey together.”
Of course the most exciting thing about Repetition of Change is that it is a brand new piece of work. As I took my seat in the studio I had absolutely no idea as to what I was about to witness which is both thrilling but also risky for paying audiences. Discussing the importance of supporting new work, Sharon said “It’s crucial. What Phoenix are able to do is show you history, but we also have artists who are coming up with new ideas and concepts, but if they haven’t got a platform then it stays within them. Getting new work out there is intrinsic to the growth of any creative art form. You’ve got to get out there and take that risk.”
Andrew Tomlins (Editor)
Particle Velocity runs at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Studio until 23rd November 2013.
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