Five choreographers have created new dances in response to Siobhan Davies' 1977 solo Sphinx, despite never having seen the original work. The result, Living Image: Chapter 1, is a thoughtful and rewarding evening that prioritizes process over product.
A project built on curiosity
The year-long project, which will ultimately involve 20 choreographers, is typical of Davies, now 75, a pioneer of contemporary dance in the UK. Rather than showing them the dance, Davies discussed her experiences making Sphinx nearly 50 years ago, including what it felt like to inhabit her animal self in a graceful solo. The film of the original is shown post-performance, but the focus remains on the creative process, often hidden from audiences.
Distinctive personal responses
The evening's most lucid piece is by Shannelle 'Tali' Fergus, who uses a voiceover of her unedited thoughts. She wonders how she can create when, as a choreographer, 'I make shapes and respond to sounds' but doesn't know what shapes or sounds Davies used. Infinite possibilities become more curse than blessing.
Dan Daw and Temitope Ajose riff on a list of words compiled from their chats with Davies, such as 'walking becoming dancing' or 'syncing in/syncing out', resulting in a pleasingly simple, unshowy duet. On film, Andrea Buckley dances in a field while a horse nibbles the grass around her. British-Palestinian street dancer Sasha Mahfouz Shadid plays the oud, making a descending tremolo sound like a falling bomb, covering his head for protection on impact.
Archiving dance through creation
Each piece was made in just five days. Fergus's voice muses on how to archive dance and what to preserve, reflecting on the hundreds of choreographies she has created for classes each week. As her body shifts in line with her thoughts, she considers ending by putting on music and letting herself go. She decides against it, drawing the audience emotionally into the process.
Living Image: Chapter 1 runs at Siobhan Davies Studios, London, until 3 July. The next chapter takes place in November.
