It’s not really been that long since I received a particular voicemail which got me jumping up and down in the passenger seat of my partner’s car, and yet already it feels like we have got completely stuck into this project.
I’m a dance artist, but I work with spoken word. For the past five years I’ve been developing thoughts and testing theories on how to respond to sound through improvisational movement. I aim to work with both rhythms and the stories that a sound tells. When I met Angela, I saw a very different artist, but one who was also interested in the relationship between sound and performance. Our working relationship is continually growing and I’m really excited to be able to work with her on “Torry 24”.
Already, we’ve made our first visit to Torry, which you can see a little of in the video above. We’ve begun to research the area and I’ve felt incredibly touched by the response from the community, with so many people looking to help us. We’re here to tell the story of Torry, from our own perspectives, and also representing as many Torry residents as possible. We’ve listened to the birds, challenged people to describe the sound they make, and were greeted with the amazing response from one Twitter user – “I’m not sure I can write a seagull.”
We’ve heard some stories about Torry during WWII, we’ve gained an insight into the internal workings of oil companies just from a walk on the beach, and we picked up and interesting object which looked like a mask on wheels/”bum scooter” which we later found out was just part of a rowing machine! Not quite as interesting in reality as our imaginations wanted it to be, but I guess it’s our job to make the imaginary side come alive!
I’m feeling very enthused and optimistic about our project. Two sets of 24 hour performance is a lot to fill, but I’m confident that Torry has more than enough material to offer. If you have anything to share, please pass it on, either via the Facebook page or by using the #Torry24 hashtag on Twitter – we’d love to hear from you.
I’ll leave you with that invitation, whilst I go back to emailing a Torry Archaeologist!
Much love,
Gemma
