Mirror 2 Mirror is a live performance exploring themes of isolation, repetition, and routine, all reflective of the human condition. In this piece, performers never interact physically or make eye contact, instead engaging in minimal routines akin to ghosts coexisting in the same space but from different realms. The work delves into the impact of covid-induced isolation on individuals.
Set to the captivating sound of John Cage's Two6 and complemented by other audio works, the performance is influenced by artists such as Pina Bausch, Merce Cunningham, and Yvonne Rainer. The movement also echoes the styles of Station House Opera, Theatre of Mistakes, Gary Stevens, Kenneth McMillian, and Trisha Brown.
Mirror2 was conceived, visualised and directed by Terry Smith with Paola Piccato, Sarah April Lamb, Randolph Matthews and Lise Boucon.
THE ENSEMBLE
Working as an ensemble and a group is a constructive, creative and rewarding method to making a new work. The workshops and rehearsals are a two way street of ideas and possibilities. I have been and continue to be very lucky to work with people of great individual talents and enormous generosity.
Paola Piccato (Choreographer)
photographer
Paola began her dance studies in contemporary and ballet at the Accademia Regionale di Danza del Teatro Nuovo, before undertaking a diploma in Set Design at the Accademia di Belle Arti, Turin, Italy. Paola then went on to study a post graduate certificate in Dance in community from Trinity Laban, London.
Paola worked as a choreographer for the Wilton Music Hall, in London for the “Scene in Time” family events, from 2014 to 2017 working with the local schools. She has also delivered dance workshops in adults’ community setting and for school children in London and in Italy.
In late 2022, Paola joined the Language of Dance Centre as Outreach Project Developer.
Sarah April Lamb (Performer)
Sarah April Lamb is a movement artist, theatre maker and movement teacher currently working across theatre, performance art and performance installation. Her work is rooted in radical tenderness. Movement Direction credits include work for Dante or Die, Sweet Beef, Doppelgangster, Scripped Up, LAMDA and LCM. Original creations include promenade performance Find me, Fool (Fieldworks, 2022); immersive installation Almost Apart (Bloomsbury Theatre, 2021); Things I Know About You (Roundhouse, 2019), and To Breathe (Summerhall, 2015). She is currently a movement tutor at ArtsEd on their BA, MA and Foundation Acting programmes.
THANKS
Rubiane Maia, Ash McNaughton, Manuel Vason, John Woolrich, Paul Cheneour, Cheryl Pierce, Chelsey Browne, Mark Prentice-Whitney
Creative Folkestone, Editions Peters and Brillant Classics and Laura Khan of the John Cage Trust
The Whitechapel Gallery
Randolph Matthews (Performer)
Photo Chelsey Browne
Randolph Matthews, the acclaimed British jazz vocalist, has garnered high praise from respected music critics and industry experts. Songlines lauded him as a "stunning, McFerrin-esque talent," while The Guardian described his sound as "cinematic vocal jazz." Jazz FM praised Randolph's "dazzling improvisational skills" and deemed him "flawless and world-class."
With a career spanning 25 years, Randolph has collaborated with an impressive roster of artists, including jazz luminaries Herbie Hancock, Richard Bona, Bill Frisell, and Will I am as well as Mulatu Astatke, Sean Kuti, Ashley Henry, Angelique Kidjo, Terry Callier, and others from across Europe, Central Africa, and America.
As Randolph celebrates his 50th birthday in 2023, he is set to release and tour his new album, Transcendence, featuring the atmospheric support of a band consisting of Alcyona Mick on piano and Andy Hamill on bass. He has established himself as one of the UK's leading contemporary vocalists and performers, with his compositions reflecting a range of musical styles, from classical to African/Caribbean rhythms, to jazz and choral.
Randolph also runs voice movements retreats for performers ,vocalists and thoughts interested in self development check out
Lise Boucon (Performer)
While her work encompasses both movement and words, her body is her main tool. She uses it as a political object to question identity: who am I? She also uses it as a place to experiment with what freedom from preconceived definitions and norms imposed by culture, gender and education look and feels like.
From personal stories to common narratives, there is no limit (formal or moral) in her research and practice, solo or in collaboration. She is going as far as her intuition leads her, or as the project needs to, pushing then her own boundaries, and exploring her non-comfort zone. This includes nudity, intimacy and duration, and the use of animals as well as natural materials.
She usually performs in non-dedicated and site-specific spaces, in a close (and often participative) relationship with the audience. She tries so to cross the line in social interactions, hoping this makes all – performer and audience – more active and engaged.
Unusual, odd, provocative and/or radical, baroque and surrealist, ritualistic, and definitely peculiar, so is her work.