Power

Started the day with a spot of ironing to get through the bedding needing done, then we walked over to the Book festival to meet Laura and see Raynor Winn, talking mainly about her books Salt Path and Landlines.She was an engaging speaker and it was an interesting hour, although I still found it hard to understand/warm to her as a person, as I’d done when reading Salt Path. We then chatted with Laura over coffee before going in to see Claire Askew and Kate Foster. This was meant to be an event about setting crime fiction in Edinburgh but hardly mentioned that at all and the interviewer was much less effective than the person with Raynor Winn. Their books sounded vaguely interesting but I won’t be rushing to read them.
Home for lunch then we went to Summerhall for the first time this festival to see Concrned Others, a multimedia performance about drug and alcohol addiction in Scotland told in the words and voices of people affected. Some clever and effective techniques used with film, puppet masks, animation and close up filming of models, and a very moving subject sincerely portrayed, but not sure it fully came together as a piece. Channel 4 news were filming (which led to a frustrating 15 minute delay to the start) so look out for it on their news next week!
Home and nipped down to the station to collect DF who’s on her way to the western isles for a photography cruise holiday. We just had time for a cup of tea before we walked down to Rollo’s to meet up with CR and JT for supper before the ballet.
The performance started oddly with a long piece by two older women (one who’d worked with Pina Bausch in her original troupe) doing somewhat vague movements around the stage, sometimes with a long stick, at other times a couple of stones, and in the middle mumbling some words and singing Que Sera. Not a clue what was going on and whilst it was good to see older dancers at 30 mins it was easily 20 mins too long! Lots of rumbled discontent from the audience around us in the interval that followed…..although stage hands arriving to dump truck loads of soil onto the stage proved very entertaining!
The second half, with a huge cast assembled from 14 African countries, powered through Rite of Spring with Bausch’s choreography. The effect of dancing on the soil was amazing…it was kicked up, covered and stained their costumes, and we could smell it. It made the whole thing even more elemental than it always feels from the pounding music. Amazing! They got a rapturous response from the audience and we all went out buzzing, including on the bus home. Some tea and chocolate and then to bed.