Deep Light is a performance and retreat day shared by dancers and musicians moving with the legacy of dancer Isadora Duncan and the work of dancer and musician Hayley J S Matthews. Audience may attend the performance, retreat day or both.
Together we will be unearthing the gesture of ‘deep light’. A quality, perhaps a liberation, a steadiness, that integrates in the dark, in slowness, deep in the peat bog and deep within us; within experience, silence and the body.
On the evening of Saturday 13 September we will move with this through the performance of three works: Isadora Duncan’s Funabre, Hayley J S Matthews Burial and Duncan’s Ave Maria. And on Sunday 14 September gather for a retreat day that shares embodiments, Celtic wisdom and the learning of Isadora Duncan’s Ave Maria choreography.
Ave Maria is one of the first dances Duncan made after she took a break from performing following the tragic loss of both her young children. The dance has the strength of lightness, a surprising steadiness, a deep support, and a glow that is breathtaking in the context. Reminding us that when we keep meeting life’s experience, however challenging, in a contemplative embodied way, grace can awaken.
Funabre, preceded Ave Maria, in which Duncan had a premonition of the tragic loss of her children.
And Burial explores integrating and repairing moments of feminine suppression, a live music and dance performance visioned by Hayley J S Matthews, with Alistair Simmons, Marina Avetisian and Jocelyn West on vocals, flute, drone, harmonium, percussion, violin and electric guitar.
The workshop will be led by dancers Debbie Allan, Hayley J S Matthews and Isadora Duncan legacy dancer/teacher Barbara Kane. Simple and open to all levels. We’ll begin preparing our bodies for support and yielding. We’ll continue by exploring some Celtic understandings of ‘deep light’ and some embodiments. And we’ll finish by learning a little of Duncan’s Ave Maria together.
Through these two events we will remember together that dance and music are a way to be with life’s experience, deeply and expressively. And we may experience that dance is often able to say things we have no words for, hold us, and move us through things we cannot move through alone.
The performance includes a light supper.
The artists who will be sharing these works and retreats with us are:
Jocelyn West – is a vocalist, violinist, pianist, harmonium player, collagist and teacher. She worked with David Lynch on an album of music by Hildegard von Bingen, Lux Vivens. She has made several albums with the renowned medieval music ensemble ‘Sinfonye’ led by Stevie Wishart. As a solo artist, Jocelyn recorded her remarkable debut album ‘Salt Bird’. She is a collage artist, exhibiting in London, and teaches music privately in London. She has been working with ‘Murmura’ in making sound-score ‘Burial’.
Rachel Elderkin – is a freelance dance artist/maker, writer and dramaturg. She is host at ‘Dance Dialogues Podcast’. As a dance artist, Rachel has performed in theatre, film, outdoor and site-specific works. Choreographers & companies have included Sally Marie/Sweetshop Tigers, Sonia Sabri, Watkins Dance Company, Yorke Dance Project, Balbir Singh Dance Company. Rachel was a selected artist/mentee on the AWA Dance Mentorship Programme 2020 which focuses on supporting the leadership development of women in dance, and a participating artist in SystemsLAB 2018 & 2019 (Freddie Opuko-Addaie for Dance Umbrella).
Alistair Simmons – is a drummer, guitarist, photographer. He makes territories of sound, visuals and dance with wife Hayley J S Matthews and collaborators as ‘Murmura’. He is also a passionate fly fisherman.
Debbie Allan – began her contemporary modern dance training in 1972, at the age of 11. Her love of dance, sparked in Aberdeen, Scotland, has lasted throughout her life. From an early age she was teaching, performing, choreographing, and running a modern jazz dance company. She has performed in both community and professional settings through five decades, and has continued to develop her skills in dance, improvisation, and somatic movement (she is an accredited Somatic Movement Educator in Body-Mind Centering). In 2021 Debbie joined the Sanctuary on the Faultline international dance network founded by Hayley Matthews and through Hayley’s lab ‘Dancing a Path through the Crisis’, was introduced to Barbara Kane and the dances of Isadora Duncan. In 2022 Debbie joined the Isadora Duncan Dance Group (IDDG) finding ongoing inspiration and community, while learning and embodying the artistry and natural movement flow of Duncan Dance.
Betsy Field – studied ballet from age 5 to 15 before obtaining a degree in Pharmacy. After marrying John and having four children, she resumed ballet classes and studied tap, jazz and contemporary dance, performing at various venues (including a charity night at the London Palladium) and dance festivals. On moving to London in 1999, she joined The Company of Elders based at Sadler’s Wells theatre and performed with several London-based contemporary dance companies including a project with Akram Khan at the Royal Festival Hall. Betsy discovered Duncan Dance through her meeting with Barbara Kane in 2000 and is privileged to have been able to study with her since then.
Marina Avetisyan – is a London-based, Russian-born singer-songwriter. Her own music is a blend of sweet, mellow melodies that are dreamy and ethereal. She touches listeners with her distinctive, soulful voice and heart-soothing lyrics . Marina has been working with ‘Murmura’ on bass, percussion and vocals in the making of the sound-score ‘Burial’.
all of whom have been invited by
Hayley J S Matthews -is a multidisciplinaire; contemporary dancer, Advanced Rolfer, flutist and vocalist. In 2020, she was awarded the Thea Barnes Legacy Award for female leadership in dance across the UK and US. In 2021, she was nominated for ‘Women in Dance Awards’, UK. She makes territories of dance, moving image and ambient metal music as ‘Murmura’ with husband Al H M Simmons and other collaborators. She creates and dances solos, ensembles and movements as ‘Ensemble Dans-Tank’, and works as freelance dancer and collaborator. She runs practices as an Advanced Rolfer in London, Norwich and Leeds. In 2020, Hayley founded ‘Sanctuary on the Fault Line’, an earth-wide fugitive dance movement, liberating dance into a wild feminist paradigm. Much of her current dance work takes place in the woods.
