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Sionhan DaviesBritish dancer
Country:
 Great Britain |
Content:
- Biography of Siobhan Davies
- Early Life and Career
- Mysterious Dance Technique
- Importance of Sound in Dance
- Unconventional Rehearsal Spaces
- Dedication to Dance and Constant Exploration
- Experimentation and Audience Engagement
Biography of Siobhan Davies
Siobhan Davies, a British dancer, has dedicated her life to dance. For her, the words "life" and "dance" are synonymous. She believes that dance is more important in life than any other form of art, whether it be film or painting. According to Davies, dance is a more visual art form that can tell stories about everything in a much better and more precise way.
Early Life and Career
Siobhan Davies was born in 1950. As a teenager, she realized that she wanted to dedicate her life to dance. At the age of sixteen, she began taking dance lessons in the technique of Martha Graham. She entered the class as a girl who knew nothing about movement, but she left as its queen. Within a year, she and her team gave their first performance in London, and soon after, they formed the London Contemporary Dance Theatre.
Mysterious Dance Technique
Siobhan Davies, or rather her dance technique, is very mysterious. Everything is highly abstract. It seems like she is talking about superficial things, and the meaning is impossible to grasp. It takes time to learn and understand her dances. Siobhan Davies' dances are not for beginners; one must be a true connoisseur to comprehend them.
Importance of Sound in Dance
Sound plays a significant role in Davies' dance. It is not just about the presence of sound or its tonality, but rather how well it can merge with the dancer's inner world. In the 1980s, when Davies decided to become a choreographer and form a company, she faced a challenging problem: there were no studios in London at that time, and rehearsals had to be held in small rooms, often with poor conditions.
Unconventional Rehearsal Spaces
Once, she organized a rehearsal in an unheated church hall where the dancers had to wear hats and gloves. Finding a suitable building for rehearsals was Davies' main challenge for two decades. She expressed her desire to have a modest building with its own history. Often, she would come to her temporary studio, looking at the dust that prevailed in it, and for a moment, she felt that all her experience and efforts were no more than that dust, and she knew nothing in life except for the objects in the studio.
Dedication to Dance and Constant Exploration
Every day, Davies thinks not only about her dancers but also about dance itself. Her mind is constantly filled with thoughts on how to make dance even more primitive yet deeper. Her recent work, "Songbird," can be considered a masterpiece. In each dancer, we see refined movements, grace, simplicity, and a strong desire to share harmony with the world.
Experimentation and Audience Engagement
Rehearsing in unconventional spaces is not the only experiment Davies has embarked upon. She realized that dance should be showcased not only on theatrical stages but also in other locations. Contact with the audience and their visual proximity to the dancer is what modern dance needs. The size of the performance area does not matter; actors must not only listen to the music and connect with it but also hear the heartbeat - their own and that of the rest of the world.
