strut

eva on her bike

STAFF BENDA BILILI

Tonight the CCA Jury was attacked by yet another photographer at Norwich Theatre Royal.

Jury Three was exposed to world music from Congolese rumba-funk warriors "Staff Benda Bilili" - a group of parapelegic street musicians who live in and around the grounds of the zoo in Kinshasa, DR Congo. We sat behind parapalegics who, if and when we stood, yelled at us to sit down. So the isles were packed with dancers but if you wanted to stay at your seat you had to sit. I've never been to anything like it.

We left during the the encore because some of the Jury was too tired to stay, and got a bit sick. Could it have been a physical reaction to the different sounds they played Courtney?

Nijinksy Klunchun Norwich

City Academy Norwich does Nijinsky Siam





And Jodie swings with the ghost of Nicole

PENGUIN CAFE ORCHESTRA, norwichnorfolkfestivaltwentyeleven

JURY ONE PLAYS IN A PARK BEFORE THE SHOW.

NO EDITS.

Tonight was another night of music. This time it kept the attention of our Jury, however they couldn't keep from crinkling their friggin water bottles, and why the plastic bag Hammoud? Are plastic bags back in fashion or something? Hammoud refused to put his food inside our fabric bags cause there was something about this bag that made him feel good. Didn't get it.

We listened to The Penguin Cafe Orchestra who played the famous "music for a found harmonium" which was featured in the movie Napolean Dynamite. I especially like the sound of a type of guitar that was a bit larger than a ukulele whose outer strings are octaves lower. I also dug the ultra speedy violin and viola work. The instrumentation of this orchestra was natural sounding and intricate, pleasant to the ear and layered with fun.

With three more shows left to judge (tonight included), there's plenty to organize for the Awards Ceremony. We found some dancers and singers in the group. Compiled images as background support and a list of their top tunes. 50 Cent is back y'all!

Cabaret Crusades and Scratching on Things I Could Disavow (Encore)

On Sunday Jury group #1 saw Wael Shawky's film 'Cabaret Crusades: The Path to Cairo' which was a historical movie performed by puppets about the crusades. There were supposed to be 2 parts to the film, but Wael's work was interrupted by the revolution in Egypt, so we were only able to see part 1. I liked the horse puppets best.




The fabulous Diane

Our row

On Sunday Night, Jury group #5 was the second group to see Walid Raad's 'Scratching on Things I Could Disavow.' We were 'shushed' by some audience members and even the actor...but he still hung around to talk to the Jury afterwards while we ate brownies from the theatre bar. Mmm.

...Verblendungzusammenhang!

On Saturday night, Jury group #3 saw Rene Pollesch's 'Ich Schau Dir In Die Augen, Gesellschaftlicher Verblendungzusammenhang!' We sat at the front on cushions for the show, which was performed by one actor who spent most of the performance in his underwear or in spandex pants. There were lights and drums, there was music and spraypaint...Big hit. I thought Jury member, Victor, was going to spring up and run onstage on several occasions. It was both philosophical and funny, and the actor, Fabian Hinrichs, was really great. He has an entourage of 25 people who help him make that show happen, so we weren't able to inform him about the Jury's presence in the audience that night, but he was still willing and happy to pose for some pictures after the performance.







Talking to Fabian

Spectres

On Saturday Jury group #2 saw Sven Augustijnen's 'Spectres,' which was a photography exhibit and documentary about Patrice Lumumba who was Prime Minister of the Congo, and was assassinated shortly after the country became independent from Belgium in 1960. The photographs were from the archives of individuals who were interviewed in the documentary, and had never been published/seen before. Before the film, Sven came to talk to the Jury about the exhibition and the documentary, and explain the historical context around Lumumba's assassination. We didn't have enough time to see the whole film, which I would've liked to.

a younger theatre

Just learned of A Younger Theatre, a group who does stuff sort of like this, only more full time and formally.

Je T'aime

2 Dimensional Life of Her

rode loper tapis rouge

Seen at Secundrabad and Life: Reset/ Chronique d'une ville epuisee

On Thursday, Jury group #3 saw Zuleikha Chaudhari & Raqs Media Collective's 'Seen at Secundrabad.' It was a multi-media performance with dance, monologue, random actions and sound, backdropped by a projection of an old photograph that was obscured, but gradually became clearer, while simultaneously moving closer to the audience (on some kind of track overhead). I appreciated the piece's investigation into the photographic archive, and themes around historical authorship and construction, omission, memory...but I have to admit, from what I've seen so-far (which, admittedly, isn't very much) this kind of multi-media performance isn't my favourite genre. Best moment: red balloon.




Darren lying on the red carpet, setting up an entrance shot...


The Jury jumping over Darren (of course)



Heading inside

On Friday the 13th Jury group #4 tackled depression and loneliness in Fabrice Murgia's 'Life: Reset.' I liked the use of music, sound and projections in the piece. The rabbit reminded me of Donnie Darko. After the show the kids got to go backstage with Fabrice, who showed them how the technicians created the various scenes by moving pieces of the set (ie. the bathroom, bedroom, etc.) around, how the screens worked and where they placed the cameras to create the projections. The Jury also got to meet the star, Olivia Carrere and her double.





No children were harmed in the taking of this photograph

Darren getting annihilated

Before the show...

Backstage!

What are friends for?

Lucas teaches me how the cool kids say it (sideways)

no way in hell we would have kept still for ANOTHER hour! So we left.

Preshow:

I started an experiment that didn't quite turn out as I imagined during a pre-show talk of tonight's show at the Norwich Cathedral. These talks are challenging for me - especially BEFORE watching the show. Was such a challenge for me, that my first instinct was to check in on the kids. To find out how they were doing, I passed around a small note that said:

"if you're bored, make a face in the camera (pass it on)", along with a running video recorder.

This was going to tell me who was bored and would also help show other jury members how they felt about pre-show talks. Pretty clever, eh? The teacher/staff lady caught wind that something fun was happening and when she read the note, she turned beet red. Thankfully the note continued to pass along, but it got shut down when one kid made a big pose and caused too much attention.

After that was over we played a big game of tag to refresh ourselves and then took a walk down the road to Tesco Express cause Josh was hungry. He bought a cookie and a bag of chewy savory snacks for a total of 1.73p.

The show started to a full house and the old cathedral came to life (imagine gothic architecture, stained glass, you can wiki it for more info). Immediately the kids I sat beside doodled and passed each other notes.

"Its sucks two eggs short of a picnic basket"

"we're claping for nothing because its so rubbish!"

"so bored"

"it sucks eggs"

"0's all round 4 this performance & most boringist act."

By the interval, forty minutes later, it had been requested that we vote on whether we should stay or go. Each person stated their truth so we left.