Supercool

The first dance: unrelenting, bitter and stunning

23 Sep 2011

Categories: Events, Extra-curricular, Learning things,

I was lucky enough to be invited to Dancexchange's 10th anniversary season launch and opening performance last night; a double bill by Hofesh Shechter Dance Company. Despite having seen plenty of dance on TV and online, until last night I'd never been to a live contemporary dance performance, so it was quite an experience.

The evening kicked-off with a pre-show drinks reception (in the same Hippodrome suite which houses the BRB Coppélia exhibition) and a talk from David Massingham, DanceXchange's Artistic Director. David reminisced about the work done by DanceXchange over the past ten years, and that of the various associate artists and choreographers who've developed work in the DanceXchange studios.

One such choreographer is Hofesh Shechter who created the first show of the season, Uprising, in the very same building in which it was about to be performed. Nice aptness.

Performance time! Having been ushered into the Patrick Centre auditorium (via a man doling out earplugs which looked like sweets, as you can see), we took our seats and during the usual ambient chatter in what appeared to be a full house, the lights went out. They didn't fade; they went out. Suddenly. And completely. Which caused a few gasps.

Then the music started and I understood the earplugs thing; I could feel the booming, bassy, percussive, repetitive soundtrack in my feet.

I won't do a detailed recap of the entire show as I'm not a dance reviewer but Uprising was quite amazing. As far as the dancing goes, the fluidity between perfectly synchronised movement and faux-chaotic, faux-fighting was technically incredible.

Towards the end, the sound became a bit Amon Tobin, with electronic whirring, whizzes and twists – I subsequently learned that Shechter produces the music himself, which makes sense really as sound is an integral part of the performance. As is light. This was seamless; moving from single spots to moody half-light to bright, squint-worthy floodlights. Lee Curran clearly knows his stuff.

Afterwards, a single word seemed to describe Uprising: unrelenting.

During the interval the auditorium had been transformed from Uprising's raw, industrial space into a blank white canvas for The Art of Not Looking Back. A strangely oppositional match with Uprising – the style of dance fitted together but the tone this time was shrill and brittle, and included a screaming, spitting soundtrack which was uncomfortable listening.

The booming, brash, constancy of Uprising was clearly the male to this piece's stereotypically changeable, highly emotional and volatile female. (Not least because all Uprising's dancers are men and The Art of Not Looking Back is performed by women. Makes me wonder how it'd work performed vice versa …?)

A single word to describe The Art of Not Looking Back: bitter.

The performance ended with a literally awesome sequence in which both the female and male dancers became silhouetted and appeared to rewind at top speed through several of the core moves we'd just seen. It felt like watching a film being rewound, it was that convincing. Stunning stuff.

An interesting after-show Q&A followed, with David Massingham and the audience quizzing Hofesh about his creative process, what influences him and whether he minds other choreographers stealing from him. (He doesn't.)

There was even a point at which I thought Mr Massingham was about to reveal his favourite film is Love Actually. (He didn't. It was a Joni Mitchell song on the soundtrack he was referring to.)

So; that was my first experience of live contemporary dance. Would I go again? Yes. In fact, I'm off to see some sinister-looking dancing clowns next month. And I will be taking those earplugs, juuuuust incase …

Making space for art

19 Sep 2011

Categories: Events, Jewellery Quarter,

On Friday I went along to the launch-party-type-thing for the latest art exhibition at BPN Architects here in the Jewellery Quarter.

It's Dean Melbourne's first solo show. And it is good.

I must admit that sometimes art stumps me a bit and can make me feel daft if I don't 'get' it. Not this. That's not to say Dean's work is easy or bland or anything though; far from it. This is work you can stand and look at for ages and it gives something back, somehow. Uh-oh, I'm starting to sound way too flowery for my liking …

As I'm not having much luck explaining myself, I'd heartily recommend having a read of Lorna Parsons' blog post about the show, which is much more readable than my witterings. Lorna (who worked with Dean to organise the exhibition) gives a very clear and rational explanation for an architectural practice hosting art exhibitions – a concept which may at first seem a bit odd but actually makes perfect sense.

Dean Melbourne's paintings of dreamy fables and tea-sipping ladies will be on show at BPN Architects' really rather ace exhibition space until December. Contact BPN in advance to arrange a look around.

Oh, and when you go, be sure to notice the framing for an extra hit of colour and detailing. Lovely stuff.

All aboard!

14 Sep 2011

Categories: Our work,

Some months back we were approached by 'social web' gurus MySociety who were looking for some help with the branding and user interface design of their latest major project.

MySociety are kind of a big deal and do some ace projects so we were pretty chuffed they got in touch and wanted to work with us – especially as this was the first time they'd ever worked with a design agency.

And what a project to work on.

Now, the fruit of everyone's labour – FixMyTransport – has officially launched; and to rather wonderful (worldwide) reaction.

At a basic level, FixMyTransport makes it easy for people to send problem reports to the companies or authorities responsible for those problems. (You can find out more about it on the FixMyTransport 'About' page – have a read.)

Sounds like a simple idea, right? Deceptively so …

With around half a million bus and tram stops, train stations and ferry ports across the country, each needing to be linked with (possibly several different) transport operators, it's been a work in progress for a good while and, with MySociety blogging about the project's progression, has been eagerly awaited.

Following a few weeks of beta testing, on the official launch day it had fantastic press coverage, including articles in Wired, The Guardian and the BBC over here and The Wall Street Journal across the pond.

We were especially pleased with this Guardian Professional article, which picks out the site's user-led interface and design as being a key factor in its success so far. Hey; we worked on that! So that was nice.

Primarily, however, the site's success is due to the ideas, clever coding, hard graft and sheer tenacity of MySociety senior developer and all-round good egg, Louise Crow. (Who is also thoroughly adept at using video conferencing and instant messaging to explain the ins-and-outs of Ruby on Rails, ERB, HAML and PostgreSQL. Quite a feat.)

According to MySociety's blog, on the day FixMyTransport was officially launched after its quiet beta, there was a 550% rise in visitor numbers and more than 70 new campaigns were created; with lots more smaller problems being sent directly to the relevant operator. Those are some impressive stats.

All told, it's been a pretty smooth and thoroughly pleasant journey; definitely no complaints. I think we can confidently hail this project a success.

On 15th July …

15 Jul 2011

Categories: Extra-curricular, Likemind, Useful/interesting,

1573 English architect Inigo Jones was born.

1799 The Rosetta Stone was found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by Captain Pierre-François Bouchard.

1823 A fire destroyed the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.

1919 Irish author and philosopher Iris Murdoch was born.

1955 Eighteen Nobel laureates signed the Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons; later co-signed by thirty-four others.

1973 American actor Brian Austin Green was born.

2003 The Mozilla Foundation was established. (The same day AOL Time Warner disbanded Netscape Communications Corporation.)

2011 Likemind Birmingham celebrated four happy years of setting the alarm early for Friday morning coffee and conversation.

======

Thanks to Wikipedia for the info. above. Apart from the Likemind bit which we knew already.