From sounds of old to modern dance

Rehearsing Break In in the disused AH Reed building yesterday are (from left) Kaitrin McMullan,...
Rehearsing Break In in the disused AH Reed building yesterday are (from left) Kaitrin McMullan, Kiri Bell and Richard Wes. Photo by Gregor Richardson.
Footnote dancer Levi Cameron twirls Emily Adams in the Octagon yesterday, supported by (from left...
Footnote dancer Levi Cameron twirls Emily Adams in the Octagon yesterday, supported by (from left) Olivia McGregor, Lucy Marinkovich (obscured), Alice McCann and Manu Reynaud. Photo by Peter McIntosh.
Medieval music maker Aahmes Quince with a hurdy-gurdy. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
Medieval music maker Aahmes Quince with a hurdy-gurdy. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.

Modern movements and ancient instruments feature in the Fringe today.

Footnote Forte has landed in town with its latest production, We Have Been There (Cloud In Hand) at Allen Hall.

''It's a full-length exploration of space and relationships,'' Footnote founder Deirdre Tarrant told me yesterday.

''It's a very provocative piece. Dance is in everyone and you find a way to get it out. Shut your life out for an hour and come on a trip.''

Tarrant's son is Bret McKenzie, who won an Oscar last year for his original song Man or Muppet in The Muppets movie and is the short half of Flight of the Conchords. A disused Jetty St building becomes a theatre for three nights from tonight. Break In is set in a time where independent theatre is illegal and performed underground.

''It's about a group of ageing theatre mercenaries in their 40s and 50s living together under one roof. They're all from different art backgrounds and it's a satire about putting on a show,'' director Karin Reid said.

''It's real living-room theatre. We've only got about 30 seats a night and the play will be happening around the feet of the audience.''

I'm looking forward to Aames Quince's medieval music performance Cantigas, in the Pioneer Women's Hall tonight.

''It is pretty much a solo music concert of songs from 13th century Europe, with me playing mostly woodwind instruments and hurdy-gurdy; instruments similar to those played when the songs were written,'' Quince told me.

''It is an outcome of many years of dissatisfaction with modern mainstream western music. That led me to listen to other ethnic music cultures from around the world, as played on instruments from those cultures.''

Quince will sing in a language related to Galician and Portuguese, which is no longer a living language.

''The appeal is the different sound quality and style that is absent from much modern music. It is not music that many people are familiar with. Not only is the music unfamiliar to many people, the instruments I will be using are, as well.''

Instruments featuring in the performance include the tabor pipes, tambourin de bearn (string drum), double pipes and hurdy-gurdy, which were all crafted by Hungarian carver and instrument-maker Yuri Terenyi, at Long Beach.

''Music of the 13th century and for much of the 14th century is based on modes unlike much western music from the 15th century which is mostly based on harmonics, which means it tends to use either a major and minor scale or a combination of both these,'' she said.

''But major and minor scales are only two of the seven modes that are used in early medieval music.''

Sounds interesting.

nigel.benson@odt.co.nz

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