Christ Church Spitalfields hosts many arts events as well as services (though I had thought the church had been deconsecrated) and this superb Hawksmoor monument saw one of its (for parts of the crowd) more controversial events tonight. Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri was performed on (mostly authentic) period intruments and choreographed for contemporary dance. As a piece of music, the piece is a rather odd collection of excerpts from the bible, a passion meditation on various parts of Christ's body drawing on the appropriately passionate Song of Solomon for some of the passages. For the first Lutheran hymn, as it is sometimes described, this might be a surprise for some. Many protestants would think of this as a very Roman form of adoration. The tenor of the work is contemplative, but the ending comes from something much more exuberant; the amens are fulsome to say the least.
Crispin Lewis and Jo Meredith collaborated to produce this event, Lewis directing The Musicall Compass in the music and enabling the musicians, and Meredith choreographing LoCommotion and dancing herself. Lewis has a long established track record in early music, with many Wigmore Hall appearances as well as producing Dido and Aeneas at the Linbury in Covent Garden, so he has previous theatrical form. Not that he didn't consider the Membra project carefully: as he says in the programme, as a musician by birth almost, he has attended many dance performances "and wished they'd all keep still so that I can enjoy the concert." My retired Cathedral organist father said almost exactly the same thing when I dragged him to an Alston performance set to baroque opera. Meredith's career is at an earlier stage than Lewis', but everything I've seen of hers has shown sensitivity and talent, so the evening had promise.
Entering the church, the seating was collegiate in four blocks in nave and chancel, which was something of a source of stress for some of the audience. And since I've mentioned the audience, I'll deal with them first. A dance and music collaboration would be normally considered both a visual and aural event, but not for some of these. The audience was dominated by the early music contingent and some of these people must find it quite an effort to leave home. Unique amongst audiences in my experience they are the only crowd that goes to follow music partly by ear and partly with finger on page. They, or many of them found this performance difficult to deal with. Some were initially unable to look at the dancers at all, unable to come to terms with the fact that they were attending one of the most exciting events of the year so far, they resolutely looked at the band while they were visible, or devoured the words and translation in the programme. They remind me of audiophiles with expensive hi-fis, who listen more to the medium than the message.
And yet.
Since this was a complex show, I'm going to be tedious and deal with some of the elements individually. The music is lovely and I have ordered it for further listening. It was played beautifully by a band who were seated in front of the altar facing away from the audience so that director Lewis could see the dancers as well as the musicians and this had a very nice, and perhaps unintended effect on the sound quality; it was integrated and harmonious, more than I have sometimes heard it in more conventional settings. After the introductory movement, the band began to disappear gradually up into the northwest gallery, where by the end of the piece, they were making a truly wonderful sound.
The singers were magnificent performers. Not only did were they responsible for a lot of clearly enunciated and beautifully modulated sound, often a long way away from both band and conducter, they acted and interacted with the dancers, involved in the movement, moved by and moving the dancers, singing from the floor and processionally. Perhaps the movement highlight was Chris Wardle and Christopher Bowen picking Lucy Anderson up and carrying her slowly out of the nave. Claire Tomlin sang with amazing tone and purity notwithstanding being nine months pregnant.
Musically I think purity was the hallmark of the evening. Played and sung in an entirely unaffected manner, the performance seemed effortless in many places, with the players obviously owning the piece and relaxed with it.
LoComotion are another outfit whose performance was characterised by purity. Dancing in the round as they were is terribly exposing and more so in a space laid out in cruciform. I not only exposes any lack of concentration in the dancers, but also any deficiences in the choreography. So how was the choreography? It's a long piece and many find it impossible to create a short work without repetition or resorting to a circular format. Well, the longer the piece went on, the more inventive and fresher the composition seemed and the intensity with which the dancers worked was consistent. They were accurate, danced with utter commitment as well as emotion, and attacked the work relentlessly. I'm very glad I'm not waking up tomorrow morning with Lucy Anderson's knees. Marble is a pretty unforgiving surface to dance on, but she thumped onto it with no holding back.
But neither Anderson's nor the other performances were restricted to mere physical prowess. There was art here in the movement, in the poses, in the stillness, as when Jordi Calpe Serrats was standing above and behind Adrian Horsewood up in the gallery - a moving, melancholy and tender ghostlike figure all done with facial expression and attitude. He can move too of course and was a joy to watch. Anderson gave us an other worldly performance, referencing a Magdalen like love in abstract, not attaching it to any particular musical phrase or singer - nothing so crass featured at all in this event.
Grace Hann's movement is always extremely watchable, her style is transparent and utterly pure, and she combines that with a gutsy drive and concentration. This is a beguiling combination and makes watching the others an act of will.
When an England number one bat is appointed captain, you always look for an immediate loss of form, because of the responsibility on the new role. It is a danger for choreographers who perform in their own work that either their performance or their creativity will suffer. This certainly was not the case tonight. Jo Meredith made an extraordinarily long, original, apt, relevant and engaging piece of work here and danced her part with a hustling attack and her hip flicking movement as well as turning in a performance that was by turn moving, sexy and witty. When the dancers were moving the singers, Meredith (not tall) paired herself with the tallest male. She avoided all the traps of so called liturgical dance and effortlessly had her choreography cover the church, retained interest and didn't get in the way of the music.
This was an excellent evening, one that brought much more than I expected in emotion, clarity, complexity and in being memorable. This performance deserves a repeat and would work well in many churches. This Lewis/Meredith collaboration has succeeded superbly and one measure of that was how, gradually, slowly, they won the audience and received an enthusiastic and long ovation that was well deserved.
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