08 August 2016

EIF 2016 - monumental with The Holy Body Tattoo and Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Tonight we attended our fourth performance at the Edinburgh Playhouse: monumental (lowercase intentional) performed by the dance company The Holy Body Tattoo, accompanied live by the art-rock collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Quite a shift from yesterday's orchestra performance.

Hazel, one of our coordinators, waiting for the jury to arrive to snap photos

Hello!

Looking good

Filling out the evaluation forms after that intense performance

Still thinking about it

After the performance, we were invited onto the empty stage to speak with Dana Gingras, the show's choreographer. We asked her what inspired her to became a choreographer, and afterwards she briefly explained how the show was conceived. The text projected in the show was from Jenny Holzer's art exhibit, circa 1989, called Selections From the Living.

The rehearsal director also took some questions, and we learned that a decade ago, the dancers for the first ever performance of this show had to learn the entire choreography in three weeks. And to capture the tense energy of the piece, they began their training right away on tiny pedestals seen below (giving the dancers aprox 2'x2' of space to dance on). Rebecca and Nicole had fun climbing onto them to see what it's like. We concluded that they were definitely tough to dance on.





To follow our adventures during the 2016 Edinburgh International Festival, check out more at our Instagram @JuryassicPark.