The xx are an English indie pop band, formed in London in 2005. The band’s members (Jamie Smith, Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim) met while studying at Elliott School, notable for alumni including Hot Chip, Burial and Four Tet. In September 2010 they won the Barclaycard Mercury Prize. The xx recorded their debut album, with the title xx, in a small garage that was part of the XL studios, often at night, which contributed to the sleek, whispery nature of the album. The above music video shows their beautiful track called Islands.
The below Podcast contains the song called ‘Intro’ by The xx.
Saburo Teshigawara began his creative career in 1981 in Tokyo, Japan where he had studied plastic arts and classic ballet. In 1985, he formed Karas with Kei Miyata.
Saburo Teshigawara received increasing international attention in the visual arts field, with art exhibitions, films / videos as well as designing scenography, lighting and costume for all his performances. His sculptural sensibilities and powerful sense of composition and space fuse with his decisive dance movements and form the unique Saburo Teshigawara world.
The above video shows a fragment of Marieke Schroeder’s 45 minute dance documentary titled Still Move. It features a portrait of Saburo Teshigawara and provides an insight into his philosophy of dance and life. It shows also fragments of Saburo Teshigawara’s dance piece Absolute Zero. This piece explores the condition of total stillness. Teshigawara and his partner Kei Miyata develop an almost unnoticeable inner speed and yet everything flows to the minimalist music of Gurdjieff and Thomas de Hartmann.
Earlier this year the Vermin Twins (Micha Volders and Lotte Vanhamel) released their intriguing and innovative debute album “Exoskeleton” which was a cocktail of freestyle experimental pop, dance and electronica with an avantgarde edge. Now they have released a video for the title track of this album.
This is what they said themselves, on their Facebook page, about this new video:
“Vermin Twins made a new video for “exoskeleton” just for fun! No budget, no crew, no hifi equipment but a handheld digital camera and a lot of work!”
We think the video is a fascinating and strong piece of work and it shows that their talent also applies in the visual presentation of their music. Creating this level of work with minimal resources is something you don’t see a lot these days. With virtual no budget, Lotte and Micha manage to create the full package in this video: music, sound, dance and visuals melt into a strong and exciting performance.
Read also more about the vermin twins in an earlier post on the W&V Blog
Electric hotel was a uniquely designed outdoor dance show presented by Sadler’s Wells, London’s Dance House. A fly-by-night hotel was brought to life through dance and sound and accommodated the stage set of David Rodenberg and Frauke Requardt’s dance performance. Electric hotel featured the stories of seven character intertwined in a compelling dance and theatrical experience. We hope that this intriguing performance will get a rerun.
Another promising dance performance presented by Sadler’s Wells will be the dance performance titeled: Shoes.
Inspired by one of the great passions of the modern age, Shoes explores the gamut of footwear, from the highs of the Louboutin to the lows of the Croc. Composed by Richard Thomas, in his first large-scale production since the legendary West End and Broadway hit Jerry Springer – The Opera, Shoes features 32 toe-tappingly catchy, footwear-inspired song and dance numbers – and sees life told from street-level perspective with wit, irreverence and affection.
Shoes features choreography and direction by multi-award winning Stephen Mear. Alongside Mear, Sadler’s Wells has invited leading choreographers Aletta Collins, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Kate Prince and Mark Smith to create dance numbers inspired by Thomas’s songs. A cast of 12 dancers will perform in over 250 pairs of shoes.
The below video gives an impression of the creation process of the dance performance shoes.
Shoes will be performed at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre on Rosebery Avenue, London between the 3rd and 11th of September.
Photos and videos by Sadler’s Wells | London’s Dance House
The Vermin Twins are a very intriguing and innovative Belgian duo made up out of Micha Volders and Lotte Vanhamel. The music they make is a cocktail of freestyle experimental pop, dance and electronica with an avantgarde edge.
The description on their website about them says: ‘Vermin Twins like melody and rhythm, jumping insects and funky mysteries. Vermin Twins like to sing and dance, scream and jump or slap the bass with a big fat thumb.’
And for sure they make this description come true with their fascinating act of electronic musical “dancescapes”.
Listen below to the track called “Suffocate” from their debute album “Exoskeleton” which was released on the 25Th of March, 2010.
