We Ordered Chaos

As a part of the first-year curriculum, we were given the opportunity to work alongside choreographer, dancer, and teacher Sian Rowlands as we created a piece based on Stephen Fry’s book, ‘Mythos, a retelling of an array of different Greek myths. Within our first session together, we read over and analysed the first couple of pages in the book, learning about the creation of the universe and the gods and goddesses who participated in it. The main four that were spoken about and that we focused on were Nyx, goddess of the night; Erebus, god of the dark; Aether, god of the light; and Hemera, goddess of the day. And as there were only four of us in the group, we unanimously agreed on embodying one of the gods each, creating pairs, and establishing different dynamics between us. The first practical task we were given was, after reading and analysing the first few pages of the book, to create a gestural phrase with a particular paragraph of the transcript, where either every word or every syllable has a different movement. However, because this collaboration took place during the peak of COVID, in 2021 and early 2022, there were times when we would be unable to attend sessions in person and thus had to attend online, which is what happened to me. While I was in isolation, Sian started working on a main phrase with the three other dancers and gave me the task of creating a new gestural phrase, using a new section of the book for inspiration. In order for us to progress with the many different sections of materials that we have already created and to finish the piece, Sian decided on reusing different phrases but making them slightly different. Whether that was with changing positions and formations, being stood up or sat down, or even little details like high intensity or low intensity. ((Because of the angle of the camera, I am unable to be seen during my second rendition of my solo gestural phrase; however, I am simply repeating the same movements but standing up.)) Music credit - Unknown (Please contact for credit)