Early Weaves

Early Weaves 

By Ascension Dance

Date seen: 16/02/2025

Venue: Ludlow Assembly Rooms

“Stepping back into the world of imagination”

Early Weaves is a story of imagination and creativity. It is a non- verbal show accessible for anyone of any age. It takes the audience on a journey to see the imaginative side of life. With only two performers, we watch what wonders they can create with only a few props, made entirely out of willow, and the stories they can tell. I watched a ‘relaxed performance’ of Early Weaves, and afterwards I had the opportunity to talk with the performers and learn more about the piece. 

“The beauty of children’s entertainment , it can be enjoyed as a child but also as an adult.”

When Ascension Dance first toured the production, they followed a set storyline but the performers found it was holding them back both physically and creatively. Overtime the production evolved to become more of a looser piece. When speaking with the performers they explained “It has a narrative naturally and it’s in its own realm/ world and that is actually enough.” So although there is no set narrative, we’re taken on a journey across, water, land and into the sky. The athletics and skills of the performers kept the audience members rapt and engaged throughout the whole show. The friendship of the performers meant that we felt ‘at home’ with them, as if they were our friends and we were on the adventure with them.

One of my first questions was “How does a relaxed performance change the way you perform?” They explained how they only use subtle differences to create a more relaxed performance, for example they change their physicality by softening their movements, making them not as sharp and erratic. As well as lightening their vocal tones and how they change their interactions on the day depending on the how the audience reacts to the piece. 

 When we first entered the space we were met with calming sounds of birds tweeting and nature sounds, with soft yellow lighting. There was an array of coloured cushions scattered across the floor, encouraging young children and their parents to take a seat. There was a simplistic set of woven wooden structures almost like walls, that were later used, by the performers, to ‘hide’ behind. And a rope almost creating two different “worlds” between the performers and the audience. When talking to the dancers I discovered that the main set and props are created using Willow and wherever they travel they take a prop from that country with them to use in their next show. They have toured the show in England as well as internationally in places such as Egypt and Cyprus. 

 Another one of my questions to the performers was “how much of your piece was improvisation”. They described the piece to me as a ‘structured improvisation’ where they follow a similar base storyline each show but change the building block components, for example the beginning of the show I saw was all created from improvisation as well as a few of the middle sections but they said what they do depends on the "day, audience, set, lighting etc." (The main fixed choreography aspects are the lifts due to the technicality.) They both continued to say they enjoyed performing it like this because it makes every show unique and keeps it exciting for them as performers. The beauty of this piece is it changes every time, their performance changes to fit with different environments for example they have performances outside where instead of small willow sticks they use 6ft poles.

 As an audience member watching Early Weaves you feel a sense of calm and relaxation. Surrounded by sounds of the dancers speaking together in their own made up language and the sounds as they explore the use of different props. I really enjoyed watching this production and how the audience interacted with the performers. It was lovely to see kids using their imagination to create different storylines and putting skills they have just witnessed the actors doing into reality. We live in a generation now that kids don’t have that same imaginative opportunities due to technology so to see the children interacting with the performers and the woven props was lovely. For the parents it is so special for them to witness the children acting in this way and is especially exciting for the children as it feels like they are entering a world for an hour that they then leave with those lasting memories.