As a seasoned composer for contemporary dance, I’ve been asked a few abstract things in my time, but Ieva’s request to me this week at The Point has to go down as one of my absolute favourites!

We have a section in They Live Next Door affectionately titled the Man Waltz, because the music is actually based on an Argentinian tango (which is obviously more manly than a waltz). After running the section in rehearsal Ieva (fully assured of the rationality of her request) asked me if I could play it so that it sounded more major but still in a minor key, which I couldn't help but laugh at, particularly because it followed her direction to the dancers to speak less in order to say more.
 
On a more serious note the duet is shaping up to be a really powerful and beautiful piece, and it was lovely to get such positive feedback from our sharing with The Point staff on Friday. Nick Minns and Mark Boldin are absolutely fantastic performers.

We’re back at Pavilion Dance South West with the choreographer Ieva Kuniskis, fellow performer Nick Minns and composer Dougie Evans working on They Live Next Door. What is it going to be like, after a year and a half? Would it mean starting all over again after such long interruption of the creative process? It did take us two days to retrace our steps, but it was immediately apparent we hadn’t lost any of the ingredients crucial to Ieva’s work. The intimacy and trust Nick and I had developed when meeting and getting to know each other for the first round of rehearsals in March 2015 hadn’t been lost, in fact it felt like there hadn’t been a break at all. In my experience these kinds of connections occur very rarely in life, professionally or privately. I had truly missed our research into who these two men are.

The dwindling months of 2012 saw me sweating in the studio creating a new piece called Gone To Get Milk. 
This year went off like... erm.. a car with malfunctioning breaks (only in a good way) - a sell-out show at Resolution! back in January and a few more shows to get us going and we are now, together with Helen, Zoe and Charlie setting off to Lithuania - New Baltic Dance festival awaits us!

To help us get there a crowdfunding campaign was launched on Sponsume where all of you kind people can donate money. It's a bit like sponsoring a marathon runner, only for arts, and the distance 1265 miles longer, as the money I raise will go towards our flights to Vilnius. 

To show our gratitude to all the kind benefactors I have set up some rather special rewards and you can see them on our Sponsume page. If you too would like an orange named after you, a postcard from Lithuania or a ticket to our next performance, or simply wish to support dance, then you can donate here:
www.sponsume.com/project/gone-get-milk-flying-lithuania
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