Piece of 5 performers
Duration: 60min
Premiere – 27 November 2024 at Fruitmarket – Edinburgh
Part of Deep Time, Fruitmarket’s festival of new music
“Mitchener is a genre-crossing virtuoso.” Financial Times
“Dam Van Huynh is in his own very stylised world, and has perfected the art of drawing an audience into it.” CriticalDance
Dam Van Huynh concept, choreography & direction
Elaine Mitchener vocals, movement, music direction
Michael Picknett sound artist
The Rolling Calf:
Jason Yarde saxophone, electronics
Neil Charles bass, electronics
Xhosa Cole flute, saxophone
Photography: Wendy Huynh / Tessa Veldhorst – Musical Utopias
Texts by: Julius Eastman, Jeanne Lee, John Coltrane, Jenny Holzer, bell hooks, Françoise Vergès, Stuart Hall, Mitsuye Yamada, Renee Levine Packer
“But now music is only one of my attributes. I could be a Dancer, Choreographer, Painter, or any other kind of artist if I so wished.” Julius Eastman
Moving Eastman is a new dance and sonic performance that takes inspiration from the intersectional life of the Black American composer Julius Eastman.
Eastman, who died in 1990 aged just 49, is a key figure in late 20th century American music, but was marginalised during his lifetime. A black, gay, contemporary music composer, he lived every aspect of his identity to its fullest. His attitude was a total assault on the status quo.
Inspired by his life and legacy, the show responds to Mitsuye Yamada’s quote “invisibility is not a natural state for anyone”, sparking a discussion on who controls the narrative and who possesses the authority to tell their stories.
The piece embodies Eastman’s unconventional approach to making art across genres and disciplines in a quest for artistic freedom. The performance is led by British Afro-Caribbean vocalist, movement artist and composer Elaine Mitchener with original concept and choreography by Dam Van Huynh. Elaine is accompanied by her long-time collaborators The Rolling Calf: Jason Yarde, Neil Charles, Xhosa Cole.
Supported using public funding by The National Lottery through Arts Council England.
Moving Eastman was commissioned by Fruitmarket as part of Deep Time, Fruitmarket’s festival of new music. With further development support from the Barbican, Hellerau – European Centre for the Arts – Dresden, Musical Utopias – The Hague, Britten Pears Arts, Centre 151 and EMProjects.
“Mitchener doesn’t so much dance to the electronic music (…) as become a pulsing embodiment of it, an astonishing fusion of a cappella song, ragged breathing and shaking limbs. Repeating Eastman’s lines about ’emancipating myself from myself’ and being ‘black to the fullest, a musician to the fullest, a homosexual to the fullest’, she inhabits him and his questing, blurring and symbiotic approach to different art forms (…)” The Wire
“British Afro-Caribbean singer-dancer Elaine Mitchener doesn’t dance to the music but as it: a possession, an Eastman.” AIR MAIL
Previous dates:
27 November 2024 – Fruitmarket – Edinburgh (Premiere)
Part of Deep Time, Fruitmarket’s festival of new music
9 January 2025 – Korzo – The Hague
Part of Musical Utopias
3-4 April 2025 – Barbican – London
8 April 2025 – Hellerau – Dresden, Germany
Part of Dresdner Tage der zeitgenössischen Musik (DTzM)