Be@Gift festival- When We Were Birds

BE@GIFT FESTIVAL- WHEN WE WERE BIRDS

Today I went to the Be@gift festival in Gateshead to watch a range of pieces. One that I particularly enjoyed was a piece by Athletes at Heart called When We Were Birds. I decided to incorporate this in my blog as the piece  focuses on the importance of memory in relation to a persons identity and how the the embodiment of certain body movements can lead to the rediscovery of memories long forgotten. The concept of the piece was inspired largely by a story by Bruno Bettelheim, which analyses the way in which movement can be used as a form of self recognition. The story describes a young girl who was in a concentration camp and when a soldier found out that she could dance he ordered her to dance for him. When the girl began to dance it was as though she remembered herself once more and she reached for the soldiers gun and shot him down.
 The piece was performed by one performer named Anna Furse who took us on a journey through her past and the historical past of the 1960s. Within the piece live feed was used as well as prerecorded video. One video that was of particular interest to me showed Furse and her friend Esther visiting the school where they trained to be ballet dancers. They went into the room where they had their training and immediately remembered their position of the bar and began running through the exercises years and years after they had first trained. Furthermore there was a video of Esther performing a piece of dance from a ballet. The piece was a dance done by a peasant girl named Giselle, who had been driven made after finding out that the one she loved was in fact royalty and engaged to someone else. Esther had not performed or even practiced this dance for years, yet when she reentered the space she was able to the remember the entire piece. I found this amazing to witness and it highlighted the connection between memory and movement. This made me think about the dances I could remember from my past and its crazy to think of the all the dances I have done and how much I can remember them. This relates to everyday life in which a gesture or movement can allow you rediscover memories you thought lost and I can often remember how I was moving in a situation even if I am not sure what was said. The piece also included videos of professionals specialising in movement and memory, which opened my eyes further to the power of movement. 
I really enjoyed this piece and I have gained a new view point of the abilities of movement and the way in which is can be used to rediscover memories. The incorporation of personal and political memories within this piece, provoked the exploration of such memories within the audience members, allowing actor and spectator to be at one in the performance space and discover memories long forgotten together.