Fleur Darkin is the artistic director of Scottish Dance Theatre, whose latest full-length work, the Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith-inspired Velvet Petal, will be performed in Inverness and Edinburgh this month
SCOTTISH Dance Theatre have just returned to Dundee following an amazing time at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. We performed four shows to rave reviews and were honoured to be part of the prestigious Made in Scotland and British Council Edinburgh Showcases. This allowed us to present the company to a wealth of international promoters keen to host us in countries across the world.
I’m always invigorated by my time at the Festival, and each year seeing talented performers come of age during the world’s largest celebration of artistic endeavour is very special. It’s this transformation that fascinated me when I read Patti Smith’s memoir Just Kids, which tells the story of how she and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe found themselves in 1980s New York making art surrounded by drag queens, rock stars and factory girls. Together they were working to forge their own identity in a heady atmosphere surrounded by people doing the same.
This idea of metamorphosis and how we find the confidence to create became the starting point for Scottish Dance Theatre’s latest production Velvet Petal. As a choreographer I wanted to capture that feeling of flux between confidence and shyness and how we steel ourselves to change. (Life takes guts!) How tough girls and pretty boys present themselves to the world, changing themselves, their clothes, never quite wearing the right outfit.
Our route into that place of self-expression is the music we play to ourselves, when nobody is listening. Like so many of us, I listened to a lot of music in my bedroom and those artists became guides. The show has a soundtrack featuring LCD Sound System, Four Tet, Leonard Cohen and The Cure. There’s something about music that takes the audience on the dancers’ journey and makes us think of how we change ourselves.
Through researching this piece we found out that caterpillars, for instance, choose the timing of their metamorphosis. Biologically they must change, but they have some control over the timing and wait until their environment is most supportive. For humans it seems change is a private act. The theatre is our trusted environment and Velvet Petal becomes something sexy, with heart, fragility and a sense of purpose.
For me Velvet Petal is a reminder that we can continually recreate ourselves, that it’s OK to be vulnerable and that change is empowering. It’s five years since I joined Scottish Dance Theatre as artistic director and as a company we embrace change, outside talents and influences whilst still being grounded by our roots in the local community, making work that those new or not new to dance can enjoy.
I’m excited to bring Velvet Petal to Inverness and Edinburgh this month. Following the reaction to the extract Velvet Petal: Bedroom presented at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, I can’t wait to see what audiences think of the full-length show where the talents of our company and creative team are presented on a large scale. Most of all, I hope the show helps awaken the sense, potential and possibilities of change in everyone who comes to see it.
September 16, Eden Court, Inverness, 8pm, £14, £12 concs. www.eden-court.co.uk September 30, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 7.30pm, £15.50 to £25. www.edtheatres.com scottishdancetheatre.com
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