Cast: Liz Aggiss, Jane Bassett, Virginia Farman, Ralf Higgins, Sian Thomas
Commissioned by Zap Arts, this is a political satire on Mrs Thatcher’s
years of power. The music is composed using samples from her political
speeches and brought to life by a quintet of Thatcher look-a-likes. Ironically
or is it tragically, this work premiered on the evening she resigned. The
final section was swiftly reworked with the wall of Maggies transforming
into five John Majors still intoning relentlessly from Thatcher’s
speeches.
Premiered 22nd November 1991 The Zap Brighton.
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‘Margaret Thatcher is minced up; her gestures, her sayings are deconstructed
in self contained sections, re…re…Re…Repeated, then
the scentences aree entirely recomposed. Five dancers in strict suits
and black
stillettos bring to life the authentic stroboscopic qualities of a grating
English prime minister.’
Sylvie Sueron Liberte de L’est
‘Soon there won’t be contemporary dance any more and no-one will
complain. There will only be dance and that can’t be a bad. Liberated,
free from ‘Big Ideas’ which have shaped choreography for more than
20 years, todays choreography is a science of the soul as much as pof
the body. Whether or not there’s life in traditional forms of choreography,
it appears that some people cannot take it seriously.
The proof: six dancers from Divas company, the most radical witnessed
for a long time. It’s true, since Decoufle and Chopinet, when
they, like Divas were at the Salle Molliere: provocative, assured,
first class in
everything; humour, frenetic movement, nerve and presence.'
Lise Ott Montpellier France
Aggiss, L. Cowie, B. Bramley, I Anarchic Dance (2006) Routledge
Bowen, C. (1991 May 27). Dance of a Culture Vulture. Scotsman.
Brennan, (1991 May 25). Liz Aggiss and Divas Third Eye. Glasgow Herald
Phillips, A. (1991 Spring). Dadadance. Dance Theatre Journal. 8 (4),
46-47
Sylvie Sueron. (1990 December 3). Mimetheatropera….Wow! Liberte de
L’est.
L’Est Republicain : Danses a Epinal Divas et Castafiore 3/12/90
Hutera, D. Divas Time Out 15 march 1991
Ott, L. Les Divas a l’opera Quoi, la danse? Montpellier France
Extracts available of the studio version, on DVD, in the book ‘Anarchic
Dance by Liz Aggiss, Billy Cowie with Ian Bramley (Routledge)