Swansong facts Flashcards
Choreographer
Christopher Bruce
Company
Various, including Rambert Dance Company
First performance
London Festival Ballet (English National Ballet) 25 November 1987
First performed by Rambert Dance Company 12 April 1995
Dance style
Contemporary, with physical contact and some balletic movements. Includes references to social and theatrical dance.
Choreographic style
Episodic, dramatic, thematic.
Theme
Human rights; prisoner of conscience.
Starting point
The work of Amnesty International; saying goodbye (to a career as a dancer);
the experiences of Chilean poet Victor Jara and the novel, A Man, by Oriana Fallaci.
Structure
Introduction followed by seven sections. The victim remains on stage throughout and performs a solo in section 3 which has motifs that are repeated and/or developed in sections 5 and 7.
Dancers
3 dancers, normally male.
Accompaniment
Philip Chambon
Composed in collaboration with the choreographer. Electro-acoustic with digitally sampled sounds, vocals, a reed pipe and popular dance rhythms.
Unaccompanied interludes enable us to hear the tapping of feet. The score for the more lyrical solos by the victim includes the sound of a reed pipe.
Costume
Christopher Bruce
Everyday clothes associated with roles - uniforms for the interrogators and jeans and T-shirt for the victim. Interrogators also wear baseball caps and the
victim wears a clown’s red nose in one section.
Lighting
David Mohr
Overhead lighting and a diagonal shaft of light to suggest natural light from upstage left. Footlights create shadows. Atmospheric. Overhead lighting focuses on the area of the chair during interrogation and when the victim is
alone.
Set
Christopher Bruce
Bare stage except for a chair, suggests a cell. Interrogators always exit stage right suggesting a single door. The chair has many purposes and is used
symbolically as a weapon, a shield and shackles. Props (canes and a red nose) are used to degrade the victim.
Staging
Proscenium
