We have a film of our project, which seems such a long time ago now.  The film was made by climbing film-maker Ray Wood,click below to see it:

Moving Rocks film

Since the project I have worked on the dance sections of Lle/chi with Bethesda-based band 9Bach Lleuwen Steffan, the Penrhyn quarry choir and many others which was performed at Pontio on 19th April 2016.  This was an amazing experience…

Just wanted to acknowledge one of my main inspirations for Moving Rocks, the 2000 work by Slovenian choreographer Iztok Kovac, Dom Svobode.  Here is a link to a clip of the film:

Dom Svobode

I've been pondering over the feedback I got from the lovely audience yesterday, and the question of sound keeps coming back to me.  How different the sounds would have been in an operational quarry.  The sounds I heard…

Photo: Ray Wood

Artistic interpretation of quarry workers lunch break. .. 

Photo: Ray Wood

The real lunch break.  Wet, wet, wet...  Despina and Cat hanging out having lunch before…

Well I didn't manage to blog yesterday.  But we had a fantastic day today.  The sun was out, the wind dropped and we had costumes and our new, simplified structure of descent worked a treat.  The dancers have really started to get to grips with the complex task of descending a rock face facing downwards, taking on the feel of quarry workers and dancing!  Here are a couple of nice images from Ray Wood of the work we did today.  …

Well, it was the right decision to have a research and planning day - about 8 heavy hail showers - glad we weren't dangling off the rock face in them.  But it made us think about the quarrymen who would have gone out in all weathers with even more respect.  Llanberis Slate Museum is a treasure trove of beautifully put together history of the quarries. Here are just a few of the things that inspired me:…

8.30am - pouring with rain and blowing a gale.  300 metres of rope carried uphill.  A bell tent collapsed.  But then the sun came out...  Simon Edwards did a fantastic job of rigging and both he and Sally Mees lowered the team very smoothly and safely - several times.  The dancing team: Wren Ball, Despina Goula and Catherine Ryan brought the pictures in my head to life very beautifully and I'm really excited to see more.

The team:…

Just found a really inspiring film about Dinorwig Slate Quarries by Jason Jones  - here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enUeHEipHt4

There is some really good archive footage of quarrymen working which reveals the precision, danger and arduousness of their labour.  There are also some interviews with retired quarrymen which reveals the sense of community felt by the workers…

A very little update on my Wales Lab project: we have boots!

These are the boots we found up at the Caban In Dinorwig Quarries: 

And here are the boots we have found:

Bit shiny right now, but we'll…

I am in the planning stages of my Wales Lab project called 'Moving Rocks'.  

Dinorwig Slate Quarries

The rocky landscape is constantly in motion even if we can’t always see it.  Geographer Doreen Massey remarks that rocks are ‘immigrants’ which are passing through on their way…