Grin
by Mele Broomes
GRIN is a dance performance originally conceived in a theatre context by theatre maker and choreographer Mele Broomes, in collaboration with dancers Divine Tasinda, Levant Nyembo and others.
It was first presented at Tramway in 2017, a fringe run in 2018 and again at Tramway for Dance International Glasgow festival in 2019. When the work was selected for the Made In Scotland 2021 showcase, I joined the Grin team to help deliver a film version of the work.
The exciting thing about this process was that the work already existed, had already been seen, and we had to now add new creative layers to it - cinematography, editing directing for screen etc. For such an impressive and established piece of work, I’m not going to pretend that wasn’t intimidating…!
Clips from Grin (silent)
GRIN, a visceral performance of sound, visuals and choreography which subverts hyper sexualised notions of African and Caribbean dance. GRIN is a masquerade of dance sculptures where body and costume are accompanied by a pulsating sound score. Research into community-building, refusals, friendship, support and networks of care grounds the development of GRIN, which both holds and is held by a cohort of friends, including but not restricted to artists and choreographers Mele Broomes, Divine Tasinda and Levent Nyembo. GRIN's significant focus on black love and other experiences of interiority feels essential in considering how we can build empathy and reconstitute networks of solidarity. Structured around generosity and care for audiences and corps, its score resists falling into the realm of a passive spectacle. Instead tensions related to ideas of generosity embedded within performance practices are questioned alongside moments of refusal from the corps. Conversations with Grin’s director and choreographer Mele Broomes are punctuated with expressions of hope - hope that the performance can expand collective dreaming, hope that the work can be generous and caring to both audience and artists and hope that the work can prompt a greater critique into solidarity and anti blackness. These hopes are manifested amply in our multiple experiences of GRIN.
Words of Alberta Whittle
Excerpt from GRIN featuring Divine Tasinda
Excerpt from GRIN featuring Kemono L. Riot
We knew that we didn’t want it to just look like a filmed theatre show – it should have at its disposal all the conventions of cinema to give rise to the story, the performances and aesthetic beauty. But we also didn’t want the film to be too much of a departure from the live piece.
As such, the motivation for each shot or camera movement is questioned and unpicked. Our conversations about the audience’s experience of the live work, and how their focus would shift, would often influence camera movement and positioning decisions. The work itself already explores and subverts gaze in a variety of ways, and the presence of a camera, and its’ perspective, introduces a whole new layer of tangible gaze that we had to make work for us rather than against us. Certain sequences demand respectful distance, others invite a closer gaze, and some intentionally restrict the gaze in a way one might not expect. But even yet, there was still a lot of room for improvisation. Some of the sequences are actually improvised in the moment, in terms of dancing and lighting, so the camera is also improvised here. A contrast of extremely planned, precise shots and very loose, improvised shots lends itself well to the form of the piece as it already existed.
I really enjoyed taking the time to figure this out with Mele, and I’m very glad we didn’t just blunder in there with some cameras.
As the project was originally conceived for stage, there is a lighting designer, and the gorgeous lighting design by Dav Barnard was taken over and updated beautifully for the film version by Michaella Fee. This meant my sole focus was the shots, angles, movement and the rhythm of the edit, and only small adjustments to the lighting design to make it translate better for film
Director and Choreographed by Mele Broomes
Dancers and Collaborators Kemono L.Riot, Divine Amy Tasinda & Levent Nyembo (previous collaborator)
Music Composer Patricia Panther
Featuring "Five Rand Airtime nama-eveready: 4000 degrees" by SPAZA
Director of Photography & Editor Daniel Hughes
Lighting Design Michaella Fee
Costume Design Zephyr Liddell
Photography Tiu Makkonen
Production Stage Manager Zephyr Liddell
Supported by Tramway, Project X and Creative Scotland
