R&D Insights week 3: The Deluge

Day 1 

It’s great to be working at Greenwich Dance this week, especially as this will be one of our venues on our tour. It is incredible building steeped with history and it will be beautiful to see it transformed into an immersive environment like The Deluge. We are starting to arrange sections into an order, so that by the end of this week we have a rough draft of the whole show. Today was a lot of re-capping material, and trying some initial ideas. We also have a very talented young composer with us this week- Cameron Gallaher, helping with sound and music. 

Abi x

Day 2 

Another good day at Greenwich Dance! Whilst we were working hard to continue the development of the physical language of The Deluge, my attention was repeatedly drawn to the aural environment that was drifting around the spaces we were working in. It was a cocktail of dancers voices echoing from the hallway as they worked alongside writer Nick Walker to develop narrative threads, recorded messages speaking out like memories from the past, and underlying all of this the chillingly sweet melodies of Dougie Evans engulfed us and poured into the foundation of the developing work. 

Dougie is working alongside musician Cameron Gallaher for this week at Greenwich Dance and it was incredible to be able to observe how they work together. It was even more inspiring to witness how they play together - their commitment and honesty in performance fuelled us dancers to uncover a little more rawness in how we communicate... Looking forward to tomorrow!!

Carrie xx

…their commitment and honesty in performance fuelled us dancers to uncover a little more rawness in how we communicate...

Day 4 

It's the end of Day 4 at Greenwich Dance and we are extremely close to having a full outline of The Deluge. It's really exciting discussing and figuring out, with the help of Nick Walker, ways in which the extended cast will contribute to 'The Deluge'. 

We started the day off by doing a run of some of the sections in the order we think they will appear in the work. Even though some of the transitions between sections are not finalised, it is incredible how naturally they appear and feel next to each other. This is also helped by the smooth sounds of Dougie Evans and the talented Cameron Gallaher. 

We have one more day to finalise the outline of the work as tomorrow is our last day here at Greenwich this year. But it is exciting to know that next time we are here we will be transforming it into our immersive theatre land. Continue checking the Lîla Dance blog to keep up to date with how our rehearsals are going in the new year. 

 Sarah Golding :)

Day 5

I joined the Lîla team this week having not seen them since the sunny days of Eastleigh in the Spring. And even though it’s winter, the days have stayed pretty sunny and my journeys on the Docklands Light Railway to Greenwich have given me some spectacular views of the financial heart of London – light glinting off the glass of the banks’ headquarters and wispy clouds forming at the dizzying top of 1 Canary Wharf. It may have completely destroyed the economy but by goodness the city does a good photo opp. 

This week has all been about structure. What journey do we want the audience to go on, and so how we should order the material to best articulate that journey? Abi has held her nerve on this, not wishing to pin things down until the right moment. I know for a fact that Abi is a foodie and there’s something of this in her approach – she has instinctively collected and kept a range of ingredients - solos, duets, trios and full company moments - without worrying too much how they’ll sit in the final dish, but knowing that they’ll all work together beautifully at some point when the time is right.

Today was that time, and the material all tumbled into place, with a rough shape created, one which was familiar at times, and unexpected at others. Now it’ll be a question of refining, enriching, and checking that we’re telling our story.

I’ve been mainly a soldier of theatre for the last 25 years, as opposed to dance, but it’s always a thrill to experience the sheer work ethic, and indomitable spirit, of this company of dancers. They don’t block anything, they don’t stop offering ideas, and they never let the frequent request to step out of their comfort zone prevent them from going there without question. This has been particularly true as I’ve been making demands on them with text which they’ve responded to without fear – or at least if they’ve had fear they’ve kept it to themselves. 

There’s a long way to go with the show, but I’ve concluded that Abi, Carrie, Jamie, Aya, Sarah, and Dougie are basically Sherpas, so if the show needs to scale this creative mountain, they’ve got the legs and the guts to do it. Meanwhile, I’ve needed to take a puff of oxygen from time to time, but that’s because I’m a wheezy writer. 

Base camp four. See you at the top. 

Nick Walker (writer) 

Photo credit: Cover image/photo 1 by Dougie Evans, Photo 2 & 3 by Dave Keightley. Dancers: Sarah Golding, Carrie Whitaker, Sarah Golding & Joe Darby.