When it comes to hair removal, I am (to my immense irritation) unrelentingly hypocritical. It's something I've got strong views on but haven't always stuck to my beliefs in my own personal habits. On the surface, I believe it's a waste of time, money and sense. It goes right against my feminist beliefs. Knowing that [...]
Month: June 2014
Is there ever such a thing as a new interpretation of Shakespeare?
"How relevant is Shakespeare?" is one of those questions that crops up a lot. Particularly during a Theatre degree. The majority of contemporary Shakespeare productions I've seen have made the story, the characters, the language somehow relevant to modern life. From Baz Luhrmann's 1996 Romeo + Juliet to Ong Keng Sen's intercultural Asian Shakespeare series [...]
An unrivalled insight into the LGBTQ community
Puffball really got me thinking. Here's why: CircusFest 2014: Puffball at The Roundhouse Contorted, standing on a trapeze and wrapped entirely in cling film, a scantily-clad male figure tears his way out of his plastic chrysalis with a rush of red fluid. This womb-like, visceral allusion to ‘coming out of the closet’, to forging a [...]
If Play is Play…
Seeing Headspace Dance for the first time, I was in two minds about how much I liked them. As performers, they were wonderful. But I wasn't fully convinced by some of the artistic choices made. Before The Interval made some interesting post-modernist observations about dance, and it had some entertaining moments, but I wasn't enthralled [...]
It is health that is real wealth (and not pieces of gold and silver)…
A few weeks before Easter, I was struck down with a horrible, unrelenting bout of flu. I was bed-bound for the first three days, sleeping for upwards of 18 hours of the day, only waking up when the painkillers ceased working. I drank pints upon pints of squash, all the variations of tea and honey [...]
Take 2: Dating Etiquette
So... this was a while ago, and I have since had a very good dating experience, but here are my initial thoughts on joining the online dating world. There's a lot to be said for it as a new way of meeting people, but it isn't quite like meeting people in person. Dating Etiquette: Virtual [...]
Circus: Dance or not?
When I requested tickets for Circusfest 2014 at London's Roundhouse, I was working on the basis that I'd reviewed some circus in the Mime Festival earlier in the year, and though not strictly dance, circus seems physical and choreographed enough that it might just fit in... In my opinion, circus is just on the brink [...]
Creative chaos: madness or inspiration?
I found the uncontrollable, indescribable madness of James Thierrée’s Compagnie du Hanneton absolutely, bafflingly inspiring. I couldn't put my finger on why chaos would make me want to create, but perhaps Thierrée’s ability to acknowledge the chaos, to let it flourish without reigning in the madness and put that on stage with some semblance of [...]
Can you only write about what you know?
Who gives us the right to an opinion? However informed we are (there's quite a range of knowledge levels on the spectrum from no prior awareness at all to "I've got a PhD and written several books on the subject"), we are entitled to our individual opinions. One can always claim to be an authority [...]
Zhēn de Gender 