Watching Yesterday - Jasmin Vardimon

Its been quite a while since I watched Jasmin Vardimon's creation - 'Yesterday'(19/11/09 at The Place), to now me actually getting down to write about it. I did start writing it on the 20 of Nov, which is why the date published is 20th, but the truth is I wrote it on 14 Dec! oops, could have gotten away with it! This post is written as a part of the Extend project, that I'm involved in.

The beauty of this performance was the coherence of choreography, the juxtaposition of mixed media and the coordination of the live performance event. Each and every prop used in her piece was used to its full potential and not like fake brownie points earning gimmick. Everything in the piece was there for a reason, which is hard not to eventually agree with as we as humans always tend to associate relationships to any sort of body image or space. Wayne McGregor said the same thing last night on South bank show (ITV1) hence would like to quote him here!
Since for me the most fascinating thing about her work was the use of the extras (props) Id like to discuss those in brief and the impact they had on me and the choreography. Also calling props extras may not feel right, as it felt so much a part of dance. It’s like long nails, make your fingers seem longer but are not a part of your skin. Haha can't believe I just wrote that!
Anyway her piece provided me a sense that yesterday is a memory and we went through a whole sequence of memories, and developed each memory into a choreographic section. She literally captured images on the screen (one of the many props). I remember using this technology at Camera Obscura in Edinburgh to capture our shadows for fun! How on earth did she manage to bring that into a live performance? Its truely stupendous. She also reused the screen on wheels with a moving projection in a sense that we're moving along a time line. That’s what I made of it.
The set design included these vertical white beams (blinds in common language) as the back drop. At first it felt hazardous but the piece was so well rehearsed I didn't think twice on it. Weird enough, for me it had a metaphoric meaning of having a divide between yesterday and today as the dancers moved in and out of the main stage through those blinds often.
The use of the camera, hmm, where should I start? I have seen the use of live camera and simultaneous projection in a couple of pieces before but the way it blended into the essence of the piece looked as if it had been really well thought of. For me it felt the use of the camera brought live intimacy into the piece and confronted the audience with truth, no matter where the time line is. The camera so brilliantly used projected a handmade house on a dancer’s stomach with black ink onto the blinds backdrop. The other dancers enacted the memory of the house burning down by moving in and out through the blinds, while the projection of the house was on it. Pure genius! The pillows (another prop) that came out of the burning house were used previously in a duet towards the beginning and the tearing of it as a sign of frustration towards the latter half. That makes me feel that the use of a prop shouldn't be limited to its literal function and this is the faint structure I felt was present with the use of all props in the piece. I can say that about the gun, the blank ink, the screen, the blinds but not so much for the fishing rod and trampoline, which made one time appearances. I guess to either make a statement or to emphasize. The great thing is that even when each prop had such strong metaphors, for me of course, they never clashed and flew together quite consistently.

Anyhow, I would like to conclude this post by saying that this choreography other than being a brilliant example of a well coordinated live event, had completeness of choreography, developed repetition, amazing wit, humour, sense of timing, great use of technology and of course the hard working dancers were fantastic.

Do watch the Yesterday show reel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxMx9SsHB9U