Intimate Memories (1994)

Choreography: Sarah Rubidge

(in collaboration with the performers -  Athina Vahla, Dean Xavier, Brenton Surgenor and Ben Wright,)

 Intimate Memories is a trio entirely made up of a series of duets and occasional solos. It is an open work, its form and appearance being open to change from production to production.

The piece was choreographed to test the generally unexplored notion that modern dance works with semi-narrative themes and clear expressive characters could be subject to the same kind of re-readings as those in which theatre directors engage when directing a play. Certain parameters of Intimate Memories have been designated open to change from production to production. These include the dynamic qualities of the movement material, the temporal progression of the duets as the piece develops, the spatial relationship of the main duet to the solo performer, the music, set, costume and lighting. The major constant was the spatial features of the duets themselves.

To date Intimate Memories has been presented as four independent productions, two directed by the choreographer, two directed by independent artists. Although the productions differ radically one from the other, all  the extant productions of Intimate Memories constitute versions of the same piece - in spite of the fact that the danced personalities of the three 'characters', the quality of the relationships between them, the musical and visual ambience, and the qualities of the movement alter radically from production to production.

First Production    (dir.Sarah Rubidge)  The Bonnie Bird Theatre,  April 1994

Second Production (dir. Sarah Rubidge) The Place Theatre, February 1996

Fourth Production  (dir. Will Thorburn)     The Bonnie Bird Theatre, London, June 1998

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