siobhan davies - plants and ghosts

Siobhan Davies – Plants and Ghosts

Whilst searching through the Siobhan Davies archive looking through her works, i discovered a piece named ‘Plants and Ghosts’, by just the name i was curious to find out what the piece was about. I read the analysis of the piece after i questioned myself about the piece. I was intrigued at the very beginning as there was hardly any light, and one person dancing quite quick and jerky. The lighting was intensely dark, however it had worked well with the emphasis and shadow patterns it had created.
As the piece begins to get more intense, more dancers are added to the performance, it is obvious that they are moving in relation to each other, by crossing each other’s paths but never coming into contact with one another, the use of stillness was interesting as a clear connection was made between the dancers, a great awareness had been threaded into the piece, and the dancers have really brought their personal ideas and movement into the piece.
Whilst watching the piece, i seem to get the imagery of the movement being sewn together, an idea of being repaired, as the dancers come together, instead of repelling against each other, they work in relation. However another piece of imagery that springs to mind is the sense of aliens standing in front of bright lights creating shadows and silhouettes.
As i read the analysis, after witnessing the performance, a quote in relation to the imagery that immediately sprung to mind, had been realised.

‘The piece is seeded with different ideas, and threaded with the theme of growth. It opens with small, embryonic actions which swell and multiply like cells; later, scattered jigsaw fragments of movement gradually mesh into tighter wholes.’

The piece works well with repetition and working in relation to others, as mentioned before it really shows the relationship and intensity of the dancers, whilst crossing paths and working with development. Many imagery thoughts and ideas can derived from this piece, and would also be recommended for inspiration.

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