Catherine Bennett resumes the weekly look at the performing arts world, with the sad end of Jerusalem, the luck of a cabbie, and French revolt. Do you hear the people sing?
Adam Alcock reviews Nigel Kennedy playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons and his own Four Elements at York Opera House.
Catherine Bennett highlights the trends in the performing arts world today.
Jonathan Cridford reviews 'Ghosts', one of the Freshers' plays for this year.
Anna Czornyj kicks off The Yorker's new preview feature, Waiting in the Wings, with next year's Fusion team.
It burst onto campus in an explosion of colour, creativity and card games. Scarcely has the glitter been swept away from the stage of Central Hall than the new committee of Fusion has been elected and is planning the successor to one of this year’s most spectacular University events.
“Fusion is a collaboration of all things that are beautiful in the world”, says new Creative Director Mollie Liesner, and it is with this in mind that the new committee are tackling the challenge of the 2012 production. In discussing the theme of the show (scheduled for Week 8 of the Spring Term), she revealed that it was “a lot more conceptual” than previous years, with new President Bex Hiscocks adding that it was “more subtle” and “a bit more raw”. We will have to wait until the Autumn Term to finally discover what their intriguing new idea is, although the emphasis Hiscocks and Liesner are placing on publicity should make it very difficult to miss.
A criticism of this year’s Fusion event was the focus it gave to big street dance numbers, with softer and more elegant styles of dancing exhibited by the balletic Chess Scene being slightly eclipsed. This has been noted by the new committee who are keen to create more diversity in their production. The election of two choreographers (Izzy Pratt and Adrian Kong) of very different styles and disciplines will hopefully achieve this, as will the greater emphasis Liesner wants to place on the modelling and artistic elements of Fusion. In particular, she hinted at trying to create a kind of “living art” whereby expression and emotions experienced in artwork will be transferred to the stage and the performers.
Inclusivity is also high on the agenda for Hiscocks and Liesner. “I firmly believe there is something for everyone in Fusion” says Liesner, “You can be involved as much or as little as you like.” Performers will still be required to audition, but Fusion is a society with many gateways to participation, from make-up artists to the technical team, all of whom contribute to making the event as fantastic as it can be. The participation of other University societies in this year’s production has been viewed by this year’s team as a great asset to the show, and it seems they have already been approached by the University Ballet and Swing Societies about potential involvement in 2012.
Fusion’s association with RAG is clearly a massive part of the society. Hoping that this year’s discrepancies regarding ticket sales are firmly behind them, this year’s committee are equally committed to raising money for charity with the traditional fundraising events certainly being planned. Fusion is about expression but, as Liesner stated, it is “expression for a cause” which allows the creativity of the team to flourish without running the risk of becoming too “self-indulgent”.
One cannot doubt the enthusiasm of both Hiscocks and Liesner although they both admit to being scared and nervous about the prospect of following in the footsteps of the last committee. However, they are confident in their support from the previous team, though they stress that this year’s Fusion will have “a different stamp on it”. Expectations are high, but the team are enthusiastic and ready for the challenge. It is hard to know with what exactly Fusion is going to hit campus in the coming academic year, with so little being revealed about the theme, but Liesner leaves us in little doubt that we can “expect to be surprised”.
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