Charged

Rosemary Lee

1997 – 2008

A special programme devised by Rosemary Lee and Alexander Balanescu for the South Bank Centre. which included Exhale, The Galliard: every morning before breakfast and Silver which toured nationally.

“We wanted to find a way of working where both our mediums met and shared the stage together and where the staging of the music itself and the Quartet’s physical presence were considered.”
Rosemary Lee

Exhale

1994

“Inspired by Balanescu and Connor’s Mother and by their source material- laments of women at funerals in Eastern Europe, and performed when I was six months pregnant with my daughter. I wanted to limit myself to one square metre of stage and fill the rest with candles and approach the highly emotive subject material in a restrained and formal way using the structure of the music and a minimal range of movement material.”
– Rosemary Lee

Credits
Commissioned by the Norfolk and Norwich Music Festival and premiered at St Andrew’s Hall Norwich. Revived in 1996 as part of HEART HOME REVISITED an evening of existing solos and a work in progress at Union Chapel in three different rooms-audience promenaded. Revived in 1997 for tour of CHARGED.

Music “Mother”: Alexander Balanescu and Clare Connor
played live by the Balanescu Quartet
Costume: Abigail Hammond
Solo performed: Rosemary Lee

The Galliard: every morning before breakfast

1994

“The Galliard, every morning before breakfast was created for Gill Clarke, whom I had watched and admired for years. I was keen to explore a range of her movement qualities more rarely drawn on and to match the driven, fiery energy of the music. The title refers to Queen Elizabeth the first’s fitness regime.”
– Rosemary Lee

Created for Gill Clark and specially revived to be part of the gala evening of British work opening the Greenhouse Effect Conference in 1998.

“Clarke gave a tremendous performance, relentlessly twisting and turning her body, ducking and diving and then tempering her attack with quiet drizzles of movement.”
Emma Manning, The Stage, 1997

Credits
Commissioned by the Norfolk and Norwich Music Festival and premiered at St Andrew’s Hall Norwich.
Revived in 1997 for tour of CHARGED. Revived 1998 for gala performance at Greenhouse Effect Conference Yorkshire Playhouse Leeds.

Direction: Rosemary Lee
Music commission: Alexander Balanescu, played live by the Balanescu Quartet
Solo made for and performed by Gill Clark

Silver

1997

“Silver was created for performer Simon Whitehead and the Balanescu Quartet. Simon’s past as an athlete, images of horses, and ringmasters influenced this work; the quartet became menacing figures with their bows, instruments and music becoming threatening as well as uplifting. Balanescu himself moved throughout the piece, challenging the dancer to a movement and musical duel.“
– Rosemary Lee

Credits
First presented as a work in progress as part of Heart Home Revisited in 1996. Performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, SouthBank. Toured with The Galliard every morning before breakfast, Exhale, and two instrumental pieces by Alexander Balanescu as an evening of live music and solo dances entitled Charged.

Direction: Rosemary Lee
Music commission: Alexander Balanescu played live by the Balanescu Quartet
Performed by soloist Simon Whitehead with the Balanescu Quartet
Costumes: Louise Belson
Lighting design: Martin Bailey