Friday 26 June 2009

Burlesque: The Art of Making Cheesecake - Marianne Cheescake

Marianne Cheesecake is an international burlesque performer with a name that brings smiles and sudden cravings for dessert.
She is an exotic beauty from the orient – a forbidden sweet for those who dare to indulge upon.

Combining traditional burlesque, dance choreography and physical comedy, Marianne captivates her audience with elegance, provocation and humour. Marianne gives an eastern twist to the popular character types she recreates from silent films, old Hollywood classics, and even past advertisement campaigns.

Marianne Cheesecake has performed in established London venues such as The Bloomsbury Ballroom, Bush Hall, Café de Paris, The Comedy Store, Hayward Gallery, Leicester Square Theatre, Madame JoJo's, and Volupte Lounge. Marianne has recently been published in international magazines, such as Playboy France (December 2008/January 2009) and That's Shanghai (January 2009).

photo by Mike Crawley.

Thursday 25 June 2009

Roaming: Oliver Hymans

Oliver Hymans is a theatre artist, performer and a teacher.

Oliver is interested in the spaces in which performance happen, and is committed to exploring work in unusual or non-theatre spaces. He is the co-founder and artistic director of animate:SPACE, dedicated to infusing life in the forgotten spaces of the city.

With the company, Oliver was recently commissioned by the Barbican, in collaboration with their blockbuster show ‘Seduced: Art and Sex from Antiquity until Now’, to create a new performance (‘Draw Me Baby’) in the unique space of The Window Gallery, in Central London.

Past projects include: video design on ‘The Cows Come Home’ by Zeb Fontaine (Udder Belly @ Brighton Fringe Festival 2008); production assistant on ‘The Other is You’(Brighton, Berlin, Groningen; 2007) with internationally renowned performance company Station House Opera; scenographer for ‘Palm Grove Tales’ (Kerala, India 2006); designer and director for animate:SPACE: ‘Draw Me Baby’ (Barbican / The Window Gallery London 2007), ‘Spillage’ (Act Art 5 2006.


Music: Blue Rose Code

Think John Martyn meeting a young Van Morrison and you’re in the Blue Rose Code alt-folk sound- space which has a growing legion of fans that includes James Yorkston, Lou Rhodes, James Yuill and Polly Paulusma.

Formed in Edinburgh, now based in London, Blue Rose Code have honed their song writing talents on the folk circuit, often playing at the excellent Electroacoustic Club and the Union Chapel, as well as many other folk venues in the UK.

"John Martyn's inspiration is easy to hear in Blue Rose Code, an outfit whose youth belies the maturity of their sound. Tight melodies and jazzy flourishes make their sun-kissed sound one to listen out for." The Herald

"Gorgeous Celtic-inflected acoustic folk outfit." Time Out

"Really gorgeous little 7", both compositions really stand out from the acoustic troubadour playing field, making Blue Rose Code something worth keeping an eye on." Boomkat.com

Performance: Tentation and Com-mute - Madarms

Madarms is a group of performers who first met and worked with New York-based sound artist, Marina Rosenfeld, in 2005. We compose, play and perform outside the constraints of ‘traditional’ musical forms, using graphic scores, recorded sound and live accompaniment.

Tentation: a timely and surprising 21st century work, choreographed by Anja Doll, with pre-recorded score by Mariko Otake, featuring six tents that move, breed and consume. Tentation draws on contemporary themes from news footage of misplaced peoples to battlegrounds, suggesting the environmental fragility of our world.

Com-mute: shot through with layered images of shadowy, wordless passengers and ebb and flow of tidal waters that wash over repeated patterns, the visual score of Com-mute is a poetic metaphor of the journey of life itself. With string accompaniment.

Wednesday 17 June 2009

Performance: Changing Pace - Rosalind Parker

Changing Pace looks at the desire to move forward versus the attachment to the past.

We follow a personal journey of questions and tests in this 15 minute physical poem.

Along with traditional roles, Rosalind's theatre work includes a strong history of physical performance and dance, most recently in her role in "April's Fool" - a piece devised using Grotowski inspired methods.

Tuesday 16 June 2009

Burlesque: Cary, Cary won't marry.....me - Ditsy Daisy and Domestic Doris

Ditsy Daisy and Domestic Doris declare their undying love for Cary Grant.

A fun-filled burlesque performance, exploring the relationship between Hollywood, Suburbia, celebrities and us mere humans.

A celebration of stars not celebrities, so Big Brother cast-offs are not welcome (Sorry Chantelle)