Reflection on Spark in London
Signdance Collective International and Middlesex University, London, UK
Directed by Pedro DeSenna
November 23, 2012
by Isolte Avila
The reading of SPARK at Midlesex University, London, with the company Signdance Collective International was very interesting!
The Language in the play is curious to British ears and as a company of Deaf and hearing performers, the piece presents a challange even upon reading it, BUT the SPARK. Reading was a hit! AND ... Everyone LOVED it ... The students and the company. Most of the company managed to use sign/theatre all the way through. The soldier/feminine sort hero of the show was greatly appreciated and there was much discussion about how refreshing it was to have a soldier girl presented /represented.
Some of the songs /cadances and prose were managed beautifully I think by sdc's combo of signtheatre and improvisationary nature of our work .
I could see space for dance in the show, even the stage descriptions and objects coming from signdance:
The house,the storm, the rain the heat ...
The cadances from the army, the lovepoems to and from a dead mamma ...
BEAUTIFUL.
The only problem was that we should have given ourselves a break in the middle, as it was quite exausting esp.with the deaf , hearing combo, going all the way through in one go!
THANKYOU ... and a BIG Congratulations
Isolte Avila is the dance director/dance/dance educator of Signdance Collective International. Isolte trained with the Cuban Ballet and The Netherlands Dance Theatre. She has a degree in Dance from California Institute of the Arts, where she won a scholarship from the Disney Foundation. She is fluent in BSL grass roots signing and is learning international sign. She has worked with choreographers: Ismael Ivo 1995-1998, Stuttgart Ballet, Milton Meyers, Alvin Ailey since 1985, Carlos Orta Limon Dance Company 1997-1999 and Ornella D'Agostino Carovana SMI 2002-2008.
Her acting experience includes playing Freda Kahlo in Liz Crow's award winning film. Recently she has been working alongside BBC Radio 4 as associate artist on A Small Piece Of Silence, and Dragonfly directed by Sue Roberts, as well as Shall I Say A Kiss directed by Polly Thomas
She is the founder of the art form signdance, managing and developing the signdance trust through from 1987 - 2000 .
In 2001 she formed Signdance Collective with actor David Bower. Isolte tours and performs internationally with SDC.Within the U.K She has lead several education projects for the Cultural Olympiad and for London 2012 including the ICARUS Project with Driving Inspiration and an Opening Ceremony Project for London 2012 .