Inhale and Hold is an endurance event. Four dancing men equipped with a lifeguard’s tower and miniature band attempt to perform their way across Devon, north to south, at a long list of waterside locations – lido, riverbank, moat and shore.
This is dancer Matthew Robinson’s diary of events.
July 7, 2008
So, I arrived yesterday, feeling like I’d only had three hours sleep (probably as that’s all I’d had) and we got straight into rehearsing until the evening. At the end of the day there was a desperate need to see the Wimbledon final so we jumped into the cars at 6pm and headed for the nearest television. I had to leave the tennis early as I’m always hungry so I missed the end, and then went back to where we’re staying for a well earned sleep.
Today I woke up (spider in my ear… interesting) at 8.45am, grabbed some breakfast, had a bath and then we headed back to Brendon village hall for a day of rehearsing and devising.
We started by recapping some lifesaving duets we’d started yesterday, inspired by pictures from an old-style swimming manual. It all needed to be very precise, detail was very important, the words ‘hands like blades’ were repeated a few times. Watch out for Jamie’s best fish-out-of-water impression when River picks him up, comedy moment. We then put the duets together, working by overlapping them and inserting some pauses to create a chunk of material to put into the piece.
We then revisited our solo material that works in swimming lanes, although we have no ropes to create them yet, so white cups are providing some sort of outline for the time being. A few repetitions of my solo and I’m exhausted, if you see me breathing heavily I’m probably not pretending.
After lunch (where the remains of my Chinese food from last night came in handy), we carried on putting the various parts together then did a bit more lifesaving in the form of a quartet, again inspired by pictures.
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After Hugh and Jamie left we were presented with our swimming caps… I did my best unimpressed face… haha. No, actually, they’re not THAT awful, although I do feel a bit light headed when I have mine on. I opted for the blue one, but I’ll save the image of me in a swimming cap until the day of the first performance and not post a photo of me in it.
We ended the day devising some of our own material. I was working on something using my more lyrical/fluid movement vocabulary and putting that alongside some of the strong imagery from the lifesaving and unison material.
End of the day and I’m writing this on my bed in the house we’re staying in. I’m off out to get myself some fish and chips, you’ve got to love Devon fish and chips, and then I’m going later to try on some costume.
– Matthew
July 8, 2008
I’m writing this after a bit of a sleep. One word describes me right now… exhausted. The piece is really coming together but long days and sporadic eating is taking it out of me.
I’ll just get a good night’s sleep and I should be back on it tomorrow.
Today was a mixed up day, we had to move fast as there was plenty to get done. We started by getting ourselves warm (hard in the village hall, where there seems to only be one heater that works), laid out the new lane ropes and signs and then went straight into running over the piece in some sort of form. Going over it from beginning to end is very useful as it makes it clear in my head how things run, but it really highlights the endurance needed in me for the piece.
We then worked on creating some small snippets of choreography with a more chaotic feeling, showing the breakdown in the piece towards the end. I was working with Hugh and Jamie to make a duet; I think they enjoyed being flipped upside down. After this we stopped for a really quick lunch where I got out the cup-a-soup and biscuits, a really nutritious meal…
After lunch it was on with the costumes which we tried on yesterday, apparently I look pretty good in mine (I’m sceptical), but Bev (costume designer) has done a great job with them and mine fits perfectly. Next to appear were the dreaded swimming caps – my blue one and I are not getting on particularly well. I think there is definitely a skill in putting them on. It’s just unfortunate I haven’t mastered it yet as mine takes about 10 minutes to put on… shame.
After this it was outside with Kevin Clifford (the photographer) to take some promotional shots for publicity/papers etc. I had a look at a few and they looked cool to me.
We then had a case of invisible parents, as no-one came to collect Hugh and Jamie (as they leave rehearsals early), so we soldiered on with rehearsals while they tried to get hold of their parents via the phone box (why is there no mobile reception around here?) and ended the day working with Chris (musician) trying to help him get his head round what he’s doing and work out some cues between us and him.
Right I think that’s enough. I am starving (as usual) and need to walk up to Lynton to get some mobile reception so I can call some friends in London.
- Matthew
July 9, 2008
What a day. I woke up and it was tipping down with rain and I had a bit of pain in my shoulder, but nothing too bad. I got my stuff together (as we were moving from where we have been staying) and then headed for the car. On the way this small pain in my shoulder/back became a massive pain (in terms of 1-10 I’d say it was about a 8), and by the time we got to the village hall I could barely move without feeling very ill.
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So I got into the hall (looking like some comedy zombie from ‘Shaun of the Dead’) and slumped in a chair in my hoodie. I managed to put some tiger balm on it, had some soup to try and warm up, and then dosed up on ibuprofen. But it has meant all I’ve been able to do is mark over stuff today, very helpful on the last day of rehearsals.
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We started by trying to put together the end of the piece, which has a chaotic and choppy feeling to it. I think it works well, and the very end is really effective. Hugh and Jamie have been great today, they’ve really worked on remembering stuff and they’re going to be fantastic in the performance.
The rain never subsided so we weren’t able to rehearse outside, which was a bit annoying, but we’re meeting early tomorrow to have a go at some stuff. It would have been crazy be outside though, I don’t know what’s happened to summer round here but it feels more like October, lets just hope it warms up because I haven’t got a coat and only have one jumper. When I left London it was hot.
After lunch, which consisted of more soup and plenty of tea I was able to get my hands on a hot water bottle (which Sarah went home to get – THANK YOU!!) and put that on my back for a while which I think helped; although it might have just been the ibuprofen kicking in (pain was about a 6 now). We then just kept running the piece beginning to end with notes from Sarah in between.
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The last two times we ran it were in costume so the swimming cap was out again, you’ve got to love the swimming caps. My blue one is still not playing ball, although I have mastered putting it on in one go. It just feels like my head is full of helium every time I wear it. Another problem is my shoes which have decided to fall apart (cue the super glue). I’ve only had them a couple of weeks, probably worn them about three times, not impressed.
Anyway as I said I’ve now moved and am staying in a bed and breakfast in Lynton where they make the BEST cooked breakfast (I’ve stayed here a few times), and I hopefully will not wake up with anymore spiders in my ear… or with a bad shoulder (pains about a 5 now)! Let’s just hope I feel a lot better tomorrow and that the weather clears as it’s the first two performances! Hopefully see you there.
- Matthew
July 10, 2008
So today was the first day of performances. I got up where we’re staying and had a great breakfast, the full English (although no fried bread… who likes that stuff?!) and plenty of coffee. I’ve been missing my fresh coffee lately, I swear I drink it like water in London. Anyway, we left and headed to Brendon to pick up all the equipment and load it into the production van, which is driven by the Claire (the project manager who I met for the first time yesterday at a late-night planning meeting for today) and then we head straight for Lynmouth, at which point the rain started.
At Lynmouth we set up, and then the clouds came over and it gradually got worse and worse. So we headed back to Sarah’s house to prepare for the performance. Conditions just seemed to get worse, and we walked to the pre-performance holding place all suited and booted in the rain. We held off for a bit and the rain seemed to slightly clear so we just went for it, thinking the worse had passed. But as we ran towards the performance area another downpour started, which made the experience interesting, but I actually really enjoyed it, even though I was soaked.
We did some post-show stuff for the BBC then headed back to the house, where I got my soup out. All the costumes needed washing and drying, so they were ferried off somewhere for that while we went back to Lynton to have some lunch before heading to Ilfracombe.
On arrival in Ilfracombe we set up again and then got ready in a corridor by the toilets in the Landmark theatre. Classy. This performance was another interesting one for a few reasons. One was the surface, which was sand so balancing was a bit of a challenge, and two was the crowd, who I don’t think had much idea what was going on, but we got through it and I had a good laugh to myself afterwards, covered in sand walking through a coach party.
So it was a late finisher of a day, I got back about 7.30pm. Had some dinner, which I’ve got to say was pretty nasty, and now I’m going to bed. We’re on the road tomorrow, and staying somewhere else tomorrow night. Lets hope the weather holds out for us. See you at a performance. I’ll be in the blue cap.
- Matthew
July 11, 2008
On arrival we began setting up the performance space, but were told we might scare a horse?! We weren’t to keen on having a horse running us down, so we decided to move a bit further up the canal. Although this did mean my lane in which I first dance turned into pretty mountainous terrain (ok, I’m exaggerating slightly). We got ready in the country park ranger station and I dosed up on coffee and ibuprofen (my back/shoulder was bad this morning) and covered my back in tiger balm before getting the swimming cap on for the first time today – it doesn’t get any easier.
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The performance went well. It was a great setting; Sarah described it as ‘very English’. The audience was very welcoming and I enjoyed Ernie trying desperately to join in. After the show we were called in for the obligatory press shots, fun as always, before de-rigging and packing up to move onto Hatherleigh this evening.
Between shows we found an M&S Simply Food. I think I bought half the shop, I was starving and have been living on pretty rubbish food for the last couple of days. We then headed for our new B&B, an interesting place called ‘Betty Cottles’, it’s full of comedy moments and the mention of the name makes me laugh every time. On arrival the B&B had not booked us in, so there was lots of confusion. Then we got to our rooms, and Chris had been given one the size of a small wardrobe, unlucky Chris! On using the bathroom (the one which about five rooms share) I got stuck and almost had to call for help – I did manage to get myself out though.
Moving on, we got back in the cars and headed for Hatherleigh. We arrived at the community centre where the local festival’s ‘day of dance’ has been taking place and set up again to be the opener for their evening mixed bill of dance. I really enjoyed this performance. The conditions were perfect and the surface we were dancing on was really good. I felt this was definitely my best performance yet, I felt able to take risks as my back was feeling a lot better as the day went on.
We headed for the pub after the performance before heading back the ‘Bettys’. We now think Chris’ room was the sauna when ‘Cottles’ was five stars as it has a radiator which wont turn off and Chris’ room is unbearably hot, what a place.
Anyway more performances tomorrow, these blog posts are stacking up and I really need to send them but internet access is becoming a problem. I hope this gets posted soon.
- Matthew
• To get in touch with the dancers, email: inhale_and_hold@peoplesrepublicofsouthdevon.co.uk
or just comment in the box below
• To get in touch with the dancers, email: inhale_and_hold@peoplesrepublicofsouthdevon.co.u
• Inhale in Hold is part of Big Dance and Dance-ing Devon.
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