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wish + qish

Lapsus Corpi at Laban, Deptford 2 March 2006

 

CONCEIVED AND CHOREOGRAPHED BY Efrosini Protopapa

CREATED IN COLLABORATION WITH AND PERFORMED BY Alex Beech,Priska Luthi, Pano Masti, Eri Papacharalambous, Neil Paris, Elena Prapidi, Susanna Recchia, Anastasia Tsonou
Extracts from music tracks by gotan project, Thelonius Monk, Wynton Marsalis, Louis Armstrong, Dominique Troncin, Giorgos Hatzinasios, Nicola Piovani

An uniquely thought provoking evening of dance, music, talk and discussion which defies verbal description but was an experience "not to be missed", to use the worn cliché.

Twice four dancers were on stage to realise Efrosini Protopapa's conception, and in an after-discussion she paid tribute to the multitude of collaborators, including members of the Deptford public interviewed by the dancers who had button-holed them on the streets to ask "What would you like to see on stage?".

Their answers informed some of what was enacted, and culminated finally with a glorious endless compilation, recorded winningly by Alex Beech, a monologue which evoked Molly's stream of consciousness that ends Joyce's Ulysses.

To indicate the range of material worked up, I cannot do better than to reprint the acknowledgements in the programme of the "creative input" from passers-by, family members, friends and colleagues: Giorgos Anaviotis, Eleni Lyvi, Thanos Varias, Despina Scholidou, Mat Hale, Kate Zamira Mummery, Laura Doehler, Gina Stickney, the male musician in his late 20s, the male with hang-over in his late 30s, Hayley Durwood and her friend from BA3, Linda the reception­ ist, the woman at Goldsmiths in her mid 305, Kristine Vende, the two women in the Laban cafe aged mid 30s-40s, the woman who works at the cafe in her late 20s, Susan Sentler, Dr. Martin Hargreaves, Pippa Gavaghan from Marketing, Kerry Chappell in Dance Education, Yousoun Hwang, Stephen Hodge, the Scottish 60-year-old studying for an MA in Art History in the Open University, Irene, mum, Jamie Matthews, Steve, Thomas, Sara, Joshua, Richard, Tavus, Cindy, the 2 Italian female law students in their early 20s, Natasha Vladimirova in Greenwich, the middle aged couple in Greenwich, the woman in her 40s, Meieli Jordi, Veslem0Y E. Hodnelard, Tatiana, Julia Roebuck, Mattia Bladene, Dimitris, la mamma via mobile, James Aziz, Stella Altiparmaki, the Goldsmiths Library lady aged 23, the woman cueing, Ayesha Ali, the oriental guy who is a PD student, the woman choreographer, the English guy from BA2, the German guy from BA3, Anna, Gianluca, Ron, Adie, Laura May.

The hour long performance, an intense experience for watchers, and apparently a demanding and exhausting one for participants, involved mime, speech, frequent costume changes in full view, dance - and roller blading. The dance area was defined, destroyed and recreated by the dancers with red and green sticky tape, and the proceedings were governed by "rules" set out in "scores", as explained a little by Efrosini Protopapa in a conversation on stage after the show.

Musical Pointers is pleased to report that the selection of recorded music, edited by the same Efrosini Protopapa (who was also responsible for the effective lighting design) was intriguing and delightfully wide ranging. It made full use of Laban's state-of-the-art sound equipment, and congratulations to the sound technician for not playing it too loud!

Laban believes that Lapsus Corpi will become an important voice in UK's contemporary dance world - with good reason on this showing. I hope this notice will also prompt some readers to travel to Laban's beautiful home in Deptford to widen their artistic horizons.

No more words! Maybe my illustrations from the programme will tempt a few in range to try to get to Roehampton University to catch the remaining performance of wish + qish on 8 March.

 

 

 

wish + qish is the first full evening production by Lapsus Corpi. Having as its starting point a collection of interviews which addressed the question 'What would you like to see on stage?', this work explores the stage as a place where possibilities meet expectations and where choices confront demands.

 

_

 

MUSIC/SOUND

 

Extracts from music tracks by gotan project, Thelonius Monk, Wynton Marsalis, Louis Armstrong, Dominique Troncin, Giorgos Hatzinasios, Nicola Piovani Alex Beech

Pano Masti

Efrosini Protopapa

Efrosini Protopapa

Evdokia Veropoulou and Lapsus Corpi

Xavier Briche, Johanna Levy, Fay Patterson, Paresh Shaw, Tess Dworman, Lucy Hansom

 

RECORDED VOICE

TEXT ADVICE

SOUND EDITING

SET AND LIGHTING DESIGN COSTUME DESIGN TECHNICAL TEAM

 

wish + qish has been realised with the creative input of the following passers-by, family members, friends and colleagues:

 

Giorgos Anaviotis, Eleni Lyvi, Thanos Varias, Despina Scholidou, Mat Hale, Kate Zamira Mummery, Laura Doehler, Gina Stickney, the male musician in his late 20s, the male with hang-over in his late 30s, Hayley Durwood and her friend from BA3, Linda the reception­ ist, the woman at Goldsmiths in her mid 305, Kristine Vende, the two women in the Laban cafe aged mid 30s-40s, the woman who works at the cafe in her late 20s, Susan Sentler, Dr. Martin Hargreaves, Pippa Gavaghan from Marketing, Kerry Chappell in Dance Education, Yousoun Hwang, Stephen Hodge, the Scottish 60-year-old studying for an MA in Art History in the Open University, Irene, mum, Jamie Matthews, Steve, Thomas, Sara, Joshua, Richard, Tavus, Cindy, the 2 Italian female law students in their early 20s, Natasha Vladimirova in Greenwich, the middle aged couple in Greenwich, the woman in her 40s, Meieli Jordi, Veslem0Y E. Hodnelard, Tatiana, Julia Roebuck, Mattia Bladene, Dimitris, la mamma via mobile, James Aziz, Stella Altiparmaki, the Goldsmiths Library lady aged 23, the woman cueing, Ayesha Ali, the oriental guy who is a PD student, the woman choreographer, the English guy from BA2, the German guy from BA3, Anna, Gianluca, Ron, Adie, Laura May.

 

Lapsus Carpi would like to particularly thank Brian Brady, Sri Sarker and Rebecca Dawson, Gill Clarke, and everyone at Laban who helped and supported us realise this production, especially all the heroes in the production department.

 

Efrosini expresses her gratitude to Alex for bearing the cold and for her description of the piles of clothes in her bedroom; to Priska for arranging 12 flights in a period of one month and for her gangster walk; to Pano for offering to book the tickets to Venezuela and for calling me 'Miss'; to Eri for arranging to receive her carpets on a Sunday and for her first swearing while running in a circle per­formance; to Neil for explaining to me how things grow and for his 'stamata tara' look; to Elena for wearing the 80s coat and for her falling backwards; to Susanna for being the most trustworthy geek despite not being able to always trust the process; to Anastasia for her new take on Giselleis nervous breakdown and for making sure that I sleep and eat.

 

Also thanks to Francesca for witnessing this process in the most active, excited and encouraging way, for her ability to perceive the latent and the elusive; to Christian for capturing our best and worst moments; to Chrysoula for always being available to speak on the phone after midnight and to Viskondia for taking my suggestions into account, without ever quitting; to Paresh for the thorough proof-reading and for jumping on board on the last moment; to Johanna for being there so that I can watch the show; to Marias for transporting maps and for his ability to create MSN nicknames out of the titles of our work.

 

Last, but not least, my deepest thanks to all those whose life became slightly messier due to my intense and absolute commitment to this project; far their patience, tolerance and support.

 

 

© Peter Grahame Woolf