Friday 11 December 2015

Ovid's Garden

Ovid's Garden - December 2015 - Winterbourne House and Garden
Avid for Ovid are very excited to announce that in summer 2016 we will be performing at the official opening of Ovid's Garden at Winterbourne House and Gardens, a unique Grade II listed heritage site.
Ovid's Garden forms part of University of Birmingham postgraduate Miriam Bay's PhD exploring the invocation of classical mythographer Ovid in Italian Renaissance gardens. Designed by acclaimed landscape designer Kathryn Aalto, in Miriam's own words, 'the purpose of this garden is to recreate the plantings of the past, enabling me to explore how Italian Renaissance gardens were designed to impart narrative, retelling ancient mythology through botany and its inherent symbolism.' Needless to say, we are thrilled to have been invited to perform in this beautiful, multi-sensory living museum...

The team made a first site visit to Ovid's Garden yesterday and, despite the heavy December rain, were very excited by the different performance possibilities with which the garden presents us – both in terms of space and of subject matter. Now to work on new episodes inspired by Ovid's narratives of the plants in this garden...

Date and time of performance to be announced shortly...

 

Thursday 10 December 2015

Night at the Museum

Avid for Ovid were thrilled to perform at the Ashmolean Museum's DEADFriday evening event on Friday 30th October 2015. It was a very fitting setting: under the shadow of Nike in the museum's Cast Gallery, we performed for hundreds of evening visitors. It allowed us to showcase some new pieces, created for the evening – sorceresses Kirke and Medea, Mother of Dragons – as well as revisit some old favourites: mourning Aurora, werewolf Lycaon, Tisiphone, Shades of the Styx,  and Myrrha's transformation, all suitably eerie subjects for this special Hallowe'en event. We also engaged the audience in some participatory activities – the casting of Roman curses for us to embody / improvise through movement and music. Thanks to the team at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, especially Sarah Doherty, Public Engagement Assistant, and, of course, to our wonderful audiences.
Tisiphone -
Dancer: Susie Crow; 
Musician: Malcolm Atkins
Photo: Marcella Vigneri
Lycaon -
Dancer: Ségolène Tarte; 
Musician: Malcolm Atkins
Photo: Marcella Vigneri
Myrrha -
Dancer: Marie-Louise Crawley; Musician: Malcolm Atkins
Photo: Marcella Vigneri
Kirke -
Dancer: Ségolène Tarte; 
Musician: Malcolm Atkins
Photo: Marcella Vigneri

Myrrha, Birmingham Dance Network Introducing event, mac Birmingham, October 2015

Some beautiful photographs of Myrrha (performed by Marie-Louise Crawley) at Birmingham Dance Network's Introducing new dance platform event, October 2015 at mac Birmingham. Photo credit: Christian Hunt www.huntfoto.com

Myrrha -
Dancer: Marie-Louise Crawley; Musician: Malcolm Atkins
Photo: Christian Hunt

Myrrha -
Dancer: Marie-Louise Crawley; Musician: Malcolm Atkins
Photo: Christian Hunt

Myrrha -
Dancer: Marie-Louise Crawley; Musician: Malcolm Atkins
Photo: Christian Hunt