Thanks so much to everyone who applied to the platform on April 20th/21st.
We've just made a shortlist and we'll be announcing the line-up very very soon!
How exciting...
in the meantime, if you are not already following us on twitter we are @ausform
Written in our workshop in Devon on 21st of January 2012, with a cultured cup of Lapsang Souchong…It is a month since the shadow-puppets of The Clockwork Moth were featured in the show “We Can Stay All Day” in a pre-Christmas Ausform at The Cube. The experience was fulfilling for us as artists on many levels; perhaps most valuably, Vicky and I remembered how fun and rewarding it is to produce smaller experimental works relatively quickly. We’ve gotten used to thinking of performances on a fairly epic scale; the problem with this is that epic projects give a kind of unlimited excuse for ‘taking your time to get it right’. Since Ausform, we are thinking much more of what we can do ‘in the meantime,’ and our conclusion is ‘plenty.’ Ausform is a special event which draws upon the sprightly creative spirit of Bristol – a box of surprises for an open and appreciative audience. It is a remarkable feature that one rarely thinks about when they view a show, that audiences can be very, very different depending on where you go and for what reason. Another thing that spectators are mostly unaware of is that they may well have a strong effect on performers. In the case of shadow-puppetry, one is often hidden behind a screen, and so the only real way to recognise audience response is to hear it. Ironically, the most frightening scenario is one where an audience is paying deep and undivided attention – a contemplative, analytical frame-of-mind is often accompanied by a great dose of silence. In such cases, it is easy for the performer to imagine that they have made a grave mistake: every cough is one of stifled disgust, every scrape of a chair-leg is someone leaving the room contemptuously. Its always a relief to find that people are just really interested, in the kind of way you might be when looking at the moon through a telescope. But in Bristol, this interest manifested itself in the way we enjoy best: good, hearty, belly-laughs. Coming from Devon, we were also given the chance to try out some ideas that we had been toying with for some time regarding the portability of our work – a cardboard set which can be set up live on an empty stage within forty seconds, a system of using complicated puppet/scenery combinations operated by only two people. These are the kinds of things that could turn into serious risks if invested for the first time in a grand touring production. Ausform provided a safe opportunity to see if these things were possible for us - such opportunities are rare. Now we have something which is easily made ready for platforms and festivals – that’s something we didn’t have before (our previous show was such a difficult one to transport that it may well never see the light of day again!). The warmth of the audiences reactions were immediately soothing, and we felt quite at home within a few seconds. The tension of performing dropped right away and we found ourselves laughing along with our spectators. This had a circular effect as it turned out: several people commented on how they enjoyed seeing how much fun we were having (we were not, in this show, completely concealed by screens). For those who attended – thank you for your kind responses - you made our night. But thank you most of all to the organisers for the chance to take part – it means a great deal to any artist to be asked to create, and we were proud to make a connection between The Clockwork Moth and Ausform, who by now have a fantastic history of hugely inspiring and talented performers.
9th of January - 26th of March
Venue: DanceSpace Bristol
Class Time: 19:30
Every Mon, Please be on time!
Class Duration: 1:30
Full Price: 6 drop In
Concession Price: 24 for 5 sessions pre paid
Box Office Phone Number: na
£6 Drop In/£24 pre paid for 5 sessions
This is a back-to-basics Ballet class for people with little or no experience of Ballet. The class is designed to engage students with the principles of extension and resonance in movement, not just focusing on achieving positions, but addressing the subtlety of alignment that allows grace and freedom in the body. We will work with anatomical imagery throughout the class to heighten our understanding and connection to the technique, building a strong foundation that will create dynamic flexibility, strength and fluidity in movement. It is ideal for a wide range of movement practitioners, particularly Aerialists, circus artists and contemporary dancers who want to use ballet as a supporting practice. I.Cressy@live.co.ukVenue:
DanceSpace Bristol
The Island, Blue Gate, Bridewell St
Bristol
Bs1 2py
South West
Posted in Uncategorized on November 7, 2011 by nicbeard on Papercinema.com
A very happy return for us to The Cube. This will be our first time performing ‘The Rock Charmer’ in Bristol, big thanks to the lovely people at Ausform for bringing us back to The Cube. The piece was developed in 2010 for a special event where we projected images onto 100 foot sea cliffs at Worth Matravers in Dorset…
…Round pillars of the old quarry, an old man wanders scratching at the mysteries of the rocks… calling… what have they seen, what are they, what makes them, what stories can be told by these weather blown sentinels? Unwrap geological time, explore the layers of the rock. Music by Chris Littleboat and Ed Dowie.
Developed with support from Inside Out Dorset.
Tickets available here http://ausform.posterous.com/pages/events
The Cube Cinema http://www.cubecinema.com/
We are looking for characters and a violinist to play with us in our next event...
Margarita and Her Drawing Master / 8pm / Cube / 10th Dec We are recreating parts/moments/stories of the Master and Margarita by Micheil Bulgakov and are looking for people to come play with us to be the characters in the scenes. There idea is for the audience to discover the performance and story through drawing which means you will be still on stage, but an animated stillness.Thank you so much to everyone who came to our platform on Saturday night!
It was a great evening at the Cube! The artists thoroughly enjoyed performing to such a wonderful audience!
The Platform is back in April 2012 - however before then we have many events coming including two in December!
10th Dec 8pm Margarita and Her Drawing Master - drawing spectacle with live music.
Margarita and Her Drawing Master / 8pm / £2
Join us and discover the Cube on a journey through moments of the surreal and
18th of December Ausform presents... Rockcharmer by the Paper Cinema (2pm and 7pm)
Tickets from out events/tickets page
Tilly Webber was born in England and started her training at the Arts Educational School, Tring Park at the age of eleven. She then went onto graduate from London Contemporary Dance School in July 2007. From there she worked with the Michael Clarke Dance Company in the summer of 2007, working on Modern Masterpieces, The Stravinsky Project. She Also worked with Cordigo Dance Project in ‘Resolution” and ‘Evolution’ 2007-2008. From March 2008 Tilly started performing with C-12 Dance Theatre and joined them again shortly in 2009 for 'Dance Umbrella African Currents'.
Tilly then went onto work with Marc Brew Company for Spring/Summer 2009, touring his piece ‘Nocturne’ throughout the UK and then re-joined the company this summer 2011 for the acclaimed piece performing in spaces such as 'The National Theatre ' and 'Greenwich and dockhands International Dance Festival' London.
In 2008-2009 she began working with Rosie Kay Dance Company, in the first production of Rosie's 'SuperNova' and toured for summer/Autumn 2009. At the end of 2009 the company begun work on a new piece " 5 Soldiers' and toured throughout the UK for 2010 and then was taken to 'Madrid En Danza Festival', Madrid in autumn 2010. Due to its popular critic the company continued re-work on the piece and then further toured the piece around the Uk, Jersey, a residency in Berlin (Tacheles Theatre) and then travelling through Germany .
She then moved from London to Bristol(2011) and started work with choreographer Willi Donnier on his 'Bodies In Urban Spaces', performing in a site specific performance around the city.
In the summer 2011, Rosie Kay Dance Company was then commissioned by the 'Cultural Olympiad 2012' to create a piece on 'The Severn Valley Railway', where she performed on 'The Great Train Dance' as an actress and dancer.
Tilly is thrilled to be part of Ausform Platform and looking forward to getting involved with the Bristol dance scene.
Blog by The Clockwork Moth for ‘We Can Stay All Day’ at Ausform
Written at 10.30am, Sunday morning, Nov 13th, in the Roundhouse Café, just before opening time.
One week to go!
We are literally, yes literally, over the moon (from the point of view of Mars and Venus)
You know, I find it a grand misconception that there is no work for artists – on the contrary I find that the second there is a whiff of having something new to offer, one finds that that something is in instant demand.
And so, our Ausform-written shadow-puppetry short was given a chance to pilot itself in front of an audience one week early.
This was a blessing in more ways than one. For a start, our deadline for having everything ready moved closer, which means we now have the unheard-of advantage of having ample time to concentrate on the finer details that come from getting to spend quality time with your puppets.
So our first showing of We Can Stay All Day happened last night to a small audience at a fundraiser for Soundart Radio, a community radio station based on Dartington estate, Devon.
It was their 5th birthday, and the event had a special resonance as many students from the now deceased Dartington College of Arts showed up to perform. Soundart, besides having a wonderful reputation for experimentation and non-commerciality has the distinction of having been born in the exact same week the announcement was made to close the college.
We thank the organisers of Ausform for encouraging us to get something new together, because frankly, I know that we probably wouldn’t have otherwise - not so soon anyway. We’ve been reminded that as artists, its best not to try always to wait for a good time to make new work, because really, there never is any time in life.
As we perform the shadow-puppets unseen by an audience (we are behind screens) its always difficult to gauge how its being received.
There was a great deal of silence, and I worried that perhaps people were just completely bored, perhaps even angry at having their precious time wasted by such utter drivel (my imagination is a little overactive). But I am pleased to say from speaking to people afterwards that the mood was one of captivation and enchantment.
If you haven’t seen shadow-puppetry live before, I urge you to. Shadows have a magic, ethereal quality to them. I put this down to the illusive quality of them: one never sees a shadow-puppet, only its shadow, floating almost intangibly, a breathing entity composed solely of light and dark.
Traditional wayang kulit shadow-puppetry was more than just a form of entertainment – the shadows were seen as mediums to the spirit world. There is something about a thing which is somewhere between the physical, tactile world, and the untouchable place where shadows dance, that taps into that part of us – the part that will always see the sun go down, even if we know that it is really the earth that is turning away from it.
SOME IMAGES OF THE CLOCKWORK MOTH'S PAST WORK:
'“We Can Stay All Day” is work in progress, a shadow-puppet short, conceived specially for Ausform with its experimental atmosphere.
Follow our blog updates ausform.posterous.com for upcoming platform - less than a week to go
“Sometimes when I’m driving, I shut my eyes. Just to see what that is like” @irabrand
In Bristol on the 19th November? come to the cube for puppetry, dance, circus and live art.
the ausform team is growing!
@ben_m_redfearn @hannahsullivan8 about to paste bristol with ausform flyers! HS
"A free thinking, creative and open minded space for artists & producers" lovely quote about us from collaborating artist
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