I had the very great pleasure of working with a great choreographer and friend of mine Marc Brew, and his astounding company, along with my favourite percussionist Evelyn Glennie when we devised ‘Fusional Fragments’ – a new ballet scored by Evelyn and myself.
The show was premiered at the Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of the Cultural Olympiad to a packed and happily raucous house. The event was filmed and the staging was all the more extraordinary due to Evelyn appearing onstage within the dance. Having worked with Evelyn extensively over the last couple of years, I’m constantly amazed at her willingness to just get stuck in to everything she does. Need I mention her leading the field of drummers at the 2012 Olympic Opening ceremony..?!
We’ve just performed together at the National Museum of Scotland along with the extraordinary artist Maria Rud. More on this soon…
In the meantime, here’s something I wrote (not music!) that was an initial sketch for the ballet above. Forgive my English (believe it or not it is my first language…).
Fractured Darkness
In a dark, broken dream,
Half-remembered dances spin from the ether.
Something is submerged
The old music box pulled from a Venetian canal
Plays a forgotten lovesong.
Footsteps amongst the ruins as
Fractured toys play a
Clockwork aria half-drowned
And yet the song survives.
Now a waltz
Amongst the shards of glass
Light flickers from the mirror
As the candles sputter in the gust
In this dark, broken dream,
I sing though my voice is rust
My body is rooted to the tiles of the floor
as the rain falls through the shattered rafters
A jolt…
And, yet another.
There is a way back.
This is only a dream
I am alive though I cannot ever wake
In this dark, broken dream,
I sing though my voice is rust.
I step amongst the glass
And settle with the dust.
