PaperDolls 2012: It begins

And so it begins. 

Before I am catapulted head-first into a week of 12-hour day rehearsals for the Land of Giants, I stole an hour to actually write a blog! It's been so long! And boy oh boy, what a start to what will undoubtedly be a defining Summer for PaperDolls aerial performance group, details of which will slowly and steadily be revealed over the next month.

Ferocious looking gals that us Dolls are, we have been frequently plucked for the odd photoshoot here and there to promote this gigantic event. This one was taken in Belfast Circus School (where I've been in incubation since September 2011). They pretty-ified my arm pit by photo-shopping my sweat patch out...

 

To my absolute delight, I was one of three aerialists selected from the Belfast Circus School crew to fly at a great height (up to 70 meters) from a crane over a sea of 20,000 people that will make up the audience for The Land of Giants. This is the harness I've been getting acquainted with, the only thing keeping me safe as I somersault through the air in choreographed abandon! I've labeled her "Emmo". 

And here is where we have been rehearsing the last week. T13 is a huge warehouse which is also a skate and bike park. There's a bunch of hardcore breakdancers, BMX-ers and skateboarders who rally around doing pretty insane stunts - while we, well, rally around doing marginally insane stuff. And the banal - there is much waiting and repeating as we initiate a few 100 volunteers! On occasion, it rains inside! Seriously...

 

Yesterday we went on site for a quick run through of the opening scene. It was also raining outside!

In preparation for the big event, it has been our absolute pleasure to work with Simone and Joseph from Cuerda Producciones, Argentina, for the last three weeks doing lots of aerial harness! Here's a little video of the PaperDolls and friends, coming to terms with the harness. Graceful - as only us Dolls can be :)

In the meantime, our doppelganger clones have been working hard plotting, scheming and creating amazing new productions to bring to Dublin this year! I feel like exploding with excitement just thinking about what we have in store for our beloved city this Summer! Que facial BEAM! 

Mere days after we dangle from cranes, shoot pyro from tethers, build ships and wrangle letters (you know, the Land of Giants show thing!) we return to Dublin to start our own gigantic work - beginning with what promises to be a very productive two week residency in Axis Theatre, Ballymun from the 5th - 22nd July. 

As part of our time in Axis, PaperDolls will be hosting an evening of performance on the 21st July as well as public workshops in aerial and acrobatics on the 22nd July.

See Elaine Dolls upside down on the front cover of Axis' Theatre's Summer programme!

The full Axis Theatre programme can be downloaded here, including details of our performance and workshop weekend happening on the 21st and 22nd of July.

Finally, just so you know, PaperDolls were so pleased to present 'Soul Juncture' at the Irish Aerial Dance Festival in Letterkenny earlier this month. Jym Daly took some absolutely stunning photos, a sample of which can be seen here.

Well... here I go... head first into the most amazing Summer of my life.

For Ever Love: Video piece with Laura Sheeran

Yesterday was spent helping Laura Sheeran finish the edits on our video collaboration for 'For Ever Love', the single from her upcoming album, What the World Knows, due for release on good Friday, 6th April. We shot the video a few months ago in the Sugar Club, Dublin (Thanks to Oisín!) which I previous posted about here. As previously blogged: "For Ever Love was originally featured in 'Paperdolls' as my solo music for aerial silks, complementing the feminine and sexy qualities of the fabric". Featuring the glittery visuals of Susan Walsh and Jacinta Jardine and also the costume made by Jacinta Jardine for the PaperDolls production, we also incorporated footage from the live show filmed by Bob Gallagher in the Complex during our run of "Paperdolls" at ABSOLUT Fringe 2011. The result is a spectacular culmination of an ongoing cross-disciplinary collaboration, the documentation of a previously live event, the creation of something new from that initial production and a collection of really precious personal memories of a wonderful experience and time in my life. I hope you enjoy it too!

Filmed by

Murray Cummings

Conor McCague

My friend and fellow collaborator Donal Foreman

Live footage by Bob Gallagher

The single, which originally featured in PaperDolls show last September, is now available for free download:

Laura Sheeran - Forever Love (FREE download) by L A U R A S H E E R A N

PaperDolls Process: Soul Juncture

A little montage I enjoyed putting together of all our rehearsal videos during the development of our new piece Soul Juncture which we performed at Belfast Circus School as part of 'Fancy, A Cabaret' and Picturing the Soul at the Back Loft in Dublin last month. Fun fun fuh-un!

EA / DA (2011)

"Here is a little film I made over a year ago with the wonderful Emily Aoibheann - the first, spontaneous experiment in an ongoing collaboration..." 

Donal Foreman, film maker and awesome person! Featuring music by one night only band The Boom Boom Parade, which I was part of.  

The video auto-plays so I took it down, but you can watch it here: http://vimeo.com/36572574

"Ambition, intelligence, terrific momentum and genuine creativity" - The Irish Times ****

For many reasons, news of PaperDolls has been a little slack round here, but news there is. The amazing PaperDoll Elaine McCague (our Rope girl) put together a promo video of our mammoth ABSOLUT Fringe show 'Paperdolls', which captures the quote unquote "kinetic" marvels of our extraordinary creative adventure which made 2011 a hurricane of grand proportions for me personally and for the group. The video also captures the brilliant composition by beautiful, talented, wonderful composer Laura Sheeran which was such a fundamental part of our show's success, and some of the gargantuan amounts of work that went into producing this show with contributions from over 20 artists not to mention the support we received from fans, family and our amazing creative friends. More reportage to follow - just let me get my bearings on the new year and all it brings!

For Ever Love: A collaboration.

I love working with people who fulfill their intentions and musician Laura Sheeran is one such person - an absolute creative dynamo who follows her creative inclinations through to the end. We were shooting a video for Laura's single 'For Ever Love' from her upcoming album What the World Knows. For Ever Love was originally featured in 'Paperdolls' as my solo music for aerial silks, complementing the feminine and sexy qualities of the fabric. We spent Thursday shooting elements of my aerial routine, incorporating the visuals by artists Susan Walsh and Jacinta Jardine which were created for my character in the 'Paperdolls' show. Here are some pictures of our work, with a clip of Laura's track below (Many thanks to Oisín Davis and the staff of the Sugar Club, Conor McCague, Murray Cummings, Donal Foreman, Jack and Erin who participated in different ways to the day's production!) Video coming soon:

Photos by Laura Sheeran

Forever Love /// preview by L A U R A S H E E R A N

The Parameters of the Gothic

(photo: Lisa-Marie Johnson)

All the way back in 2009 I was invited to perform alongside artist Lisa-Marie Johnson in a piece called 'The Parameters of the Gothic'. This was my first jaunt into the realm of performance art and apart from a few experiments, I haven't had much of an opportunity to explore the discipline further as a practitioner. I've certainly read a lot about and been inspired by the ideas and visions generated by women performance artists - Amanda Coogan has been a huge inspiration to me in particular. I came across these images recently - above, the National College of Art and Design end of year show in March 2009 which took place in the since closed Light House cinema in Smithfield and below, performing in the vast Shunt Gallery, London, June 2009 as part of a MART ensemble exhibition. During the performance I got to randomly shave my head! It was art, clearly! After the performance in London, a woman approached me and said she was a scout for Eastenders and was very impressed by my performance. That was almost as bizarre as the performance itself.

Lisa-Marie says of her work at the time:

My work considers the notion of public space how we as inhabitants of our dwellings consider consumerism,it carries conditions like a human condition, a very real facilitation of a new island or state belonging, space and site has the ability to be transformed into an urban natural, in that, it can be looked at, it can be thought about and understood, it can even be traded as cultural capital, it can be experienced in all these ways and yet also realised it is residues of a homeland , my home my land .This work is to do with social change and how we evolve in an urbanised context .While also questioning a form of public art, what public are we affecting and how much and how does live art deal with this direct public response /relationship.

Kathleen Doherty

First of a two part story about a performance artiste on a mission to find a performance space in Dublin in 2011, starring the wonderful, talented, inspiring, gorgeous Kat Doherty who is currently working as rehearsal director and movement mentor with PaperDolls. She also performed with us at Body&Soul. She's an amazing dancer and I absolutely adore this little film. I admire how cleverly the creators make their statement about the survival of arts in the city. Can't wait for the next part!

Kat as an Eccentric Lady of the Wood,
performing with PaperDolls at Body&Soul Festival, June 2011

PaperDolls: Eccentric Ladies of the Woods, a taster.

Eccentric ladies of the woods from ela mc c on Vimeo.

Bunny's Hutch!

Bunny's the Hutch from St. Blackbird on Vimeo.

A fan video/promo for 'Bunny's Hutch' drag and cabaret show which happens every Friday (previously each Tuesday night) at Panti Bar, Capel St, Dublin city.

Filmed and edited by Emily Aoibheann

Music: The Pulpit

Featuring:
Bunny
The Pulpit
Coin Operated Girls
Oscillate Wildly
DialEmma!
Azaria Starfire and Tom Riddle of The Lovecats
Tallula Boom Boom

And more...

Ship Ahoy!: Bella A Go Go's Steampunk Show

Some memories and insights...

Bella's Steampunk Show from St. Blackbird on Vimeo.

On matters visual.

This weekend Robyn of electronic band Catscars celebrated the launch of her debut, self recorded album entitled, 'Construction'. During the Summer a few years ago, Robyn and Niamh (a.k.a. Angkorwat) spent an afternoon letting me boss them around while I took photos and videos on the roof of my house, an image of which is featured in the sleeve of the record. The video became visuals for my Cixous Ghost project as posted about here. It's been ages since I've taken any photos or had time for film making, but I'm currently resurrecting a few video projects from the last two years and giving them an airing.

Lisa's Binding Television, a video piece created in collaboration with Jane Austen R.I.P. (Angeline Chirnside and second member of Avanti Maria!) featuring performer and activist Lisa Connell, will be screened as part of 'Turn The Light On' one day art and film festival taking place on the 6th of March in the Exchange, Dublin.

Here's the blurb:

A video piece with numerous soundtracks, Lisa's Binding Television (2010) was originally filmed in collaboration with musician Jane Austen R.I.P. as visual accompaniment for two shows in Japan and her native New Zealand. The film depicts Lisa Connell, a drag and cabaret performer and a gay rights activist, binding and unbinding her breasts in a ritualistic fashion as is common for male impersonators in preparation for performance. Edited to the rhythms of a random playlist, snippets of the editing process are accidentally captured in the final cut, emphasising the various synchronous possibilities of interaction between visual and audio and the organic interconnection of both.

Lisa's Binding Television

by Emily Aoibheann

The Exchange, Dublin

March 6th, from 10am

Screenings from 14.30pm until 15.20pm (provisional)

Significant discoveries.

From Finland:

Video artist Salla Tykkä
Here is one of her videos, 'Lasso'
http://www.sallatykka.com/
She has some very clever, refreshing photography too.
Here are some stills from her short movies:

'Lasso'
'Airs Above The Ground'
'Power'

And from Sweden:

Ingmar Bergman, 'Fanny and Alexander' (1982)
Anyone who enjoys a literary nerd-out should read Shakespeare's Hamlet before watching this film. I have never seen a film quite like this, a five hour epic of engaging ideas, words, visions. Utterly inspiring.

Somethin' Specials!

Somethin' Specials from Meabh Redmond on Vimeo.

Somethin' Specials was an all-female live group performance devised by artists Meabh Redmond & Niamh Murphy and was co-curated by Amanda Coogan for The Straylight Performance Weekender as part of the Darklight Film Festival 2009.

The piece was developed in collaboration with twenty performers, a mixture of actors and non-actors and was the result of the process of call and repeat. This method asks that the learning of the piece be by the repetition of an audio recording rather than from a written script. The piece was built using a minute long audio sample taken from a How-to-learn-New-York-accents CD and was performed on Smithfield Plaza for the opening of the festival in October 2009.

2.13 and 2.33 babies!

Tightrope walker in FULL COLOUR

Some wonderful shots of the video shoot I did with Bob Gallagher and Colum O'Dwyer, mentioned here and here. Most of the photos were taken by Colum, but I took the last four, if not the last six, of which I'm proud - I like when point and shoot turns up good.
(As for the shoot, it looks better in colour, shhhh!)