This week we were back in Cambridge revisiting and reworking ‘I’m Laughing At Clouds’, ready to be performed at E-Luminate Festival 2016. Once again, myself and DFDcollective dancers Sarah, Glynn and Holly we were joined by the fantastic Hannah Spencer and Camila Miranda from Cambridge Contemporary Dance who created this piece with us back in September.
E-Luminate is a festival of light that takes over the city each year. The city is transformed with amazing light projections and a whole variety of events. I was invited by Alessandra Caggiano to revive ‘I’m Laughing At Clouds’ to be part of the festival programme. Anglia Ruskin University kindly sponsored us to make this revival possible.
On Monday we spent the day on site rehearsing the piece and reminiscing about getting sun burnt back in September during the creation process. The bitter February temperatures meant that rehearsals were split between inside and out. The dancers were all too aware that these would be challenging conditions to perform in on Wednesday evening. All the dancers worked incredibly hard to not only remember the choreography, but also rehearse it to performance standard all in one day.
I was so appreciative of the staff from Anglia Ruskin during Wednesday’s set up. The team of people working with me made the technical set up and the event run smoothly. Performances were scheduled for 5:45, 6:15 and 6:45pm. So of course it began raining at 5:30! Having managed to get all the equipment into a safe place, the performances went ahead in the rain! The dancers were incredible! They coped with bitter temperatures and persistent rain and still managed to perform the piece better than they ever have before! Absolute troopers! The rain really added a bit of extra magic to the piece as the lights and movement were reflected in the water on the floor.
I am overwhelmed by the commitment of the dancers. It is thanks to them that the work looked so fantastic, even in unforgiving circumstances!
The work will be available to view online very soon! Keep your eyes peeled!
