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PRESS
One Up One Down
Download One Up One Down at Edinburgh Press Release
Reviews of One Up One Down
FEST MAG / THE SKINNY
Wed 19 Aug 2009
ONE UP ONE DOWN
EDINBURGH ****
Sophie Vukovic
The full-length mirrors and artificial lights of a shop fitting room set the scene for a Gilmore Productions’ latest dance show One Up, One Down. A wry comment on the pressures of being a woman in a high-achieving, consumerist society, the show lays bare the dark side of the quest for physical perfection with an honesty Naomi Wolf would be proud of.
Natasha Gilmore’s frenetic and highly energetic choreography is accompanied by the music of composer Quee Macarthur. Though some modern dance can become self-absorbed, and the content can get lost in interpretive, ostentatious choreographies, Gilmore’s work manages to communicate the self-hatred and anxiety of the women of the celebrity-worshipping, size-zero aspiring generation in almost every move.
Performers Jade Adamson, Charlotte Jarvis and Tara Hodgson are wonderfully skilled dancers. The puppet-like rigidity of their movements embodies the feeling of being trapped inside a woman’s body and the demands society puts on it. They sing and recite poetry by Zimbabwean writer Tawona Sithole, whose poignant words and forceful rhythmic quality complement the dancing. Sithole himself dons the slick suit of a shop sales assistant, whispering sweet promises of happiness and fulfilment to the women as he offers them the latest in evening wear.
Though the material is thoroughly cynical, the show’s dancing is free, raw, and at times hilarious. There is a tangible element of danger to the dancers’ motions. They are fearless in their performances, and fully committed to expressing the frustration of the constraints of the world of haute couture, and the desperation to be free of them.
The Blank Album
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Download The Blank Album Press Release
For press queries contact:
Belinda McElhinney
Gilmore Productions
The White Studios 410-412
Templeton on the Green
62 Templeton Street
Glasgow
G40 1DA
Tel: 07814 025677
Email: belinda@gilmoreproductions.co.uk
Reviews of The Blank Album
THE HERALD
Monday 17th March
THE BLANK ALBUM
PAISLEY ARTS CENTRE
Mary Brennan
ALL-SINGING, all dancing - and flamboyantly rock'n'roll with it - The Blank Album is like a mini-music-fest without the mud...but with the kind of swaggering hi-octane choreography that Jagger
in his heyday would have leapt at.
On one level, what choreographer Natasha Gilmore and composer Quee MacArthur have come up with is a tongue-in-cheek take on popular culture: the music, style-motifs and genre-loyalty that people
adopt as a significant part of their own identity - and MacArthur's chameleon score ranges persuasively from ballad to two-tone anthem, to torch song and mental metal. but even as you're grinning at the
antics of the dancers - who are also playing a variety of instruments, live on stage -it's hard to ignore the subtler insights that Gilmore and her team have woven into this hugely entertaining medley of cunning pastiches. For we all have our own personal sound scores: the songs that trigger memories, the ones that can make us laugh or cry, the artists we wanted to be - cue going ape on air guitar.
The Blank Album celebrates the place music has in our lives, our relationships, our dreams. En route there are some sizzling moments of all-out dancing and some strikingly poetic images as well, with the performers all displaying an astonishing degree of versatility. That said Laura Durrent's air-borne cello playing is an unexpected orchestral manoeuvre and Stuart Bowden's sassy strutting, in skin-tight trousers, have a groove of their own.
THE SCOTSMAN
Friday 21st March
THE BLANK ALBUM
THE ARCHES, GLASGOW
Kelly Apter
BACK when albums had two sides, care and attention went into the running order. A big number to open and close each side, softer songs between. That's exactly what Natasha Gilmore has done on The Blank Album.
The Glasgow-based choreographer has invented a "band" of dancers, all with rock-star pseudonyms. Striking an album sleeve-style pose on the stage, the five dancer/musicians cut quite a dash. An hour later, it was as if we'd just listened to a concept album, while reading about the band in Rolling Stone. Fall-outs, love triangles, musical differences – they were all there.
Gilmore has done well to recruit four dancers who can play an instrument and/or sing, and a trained musician who can dance. Guitars, a violin and a cello were all played superbly – usually while dancing.
Accessible, fun and packed with catchy tunes and quirky choreography, The Blank Album may not hit No 1, but it's good enough for a respectable place in the Top 40.
