‘I got to see a place which seemed to me empty, silent and uncared for. Then I got to talk to people who work there. For the people who work and use the market, I had the feeling that the perspective of ‘tomorrow’ seems to be something vague and empty, a bit frightening, there is a feeling of not knowing what will be.’ – Willi Dorner 2005 ((Pinchbeck, M (2005), Nottdance 2005 Toolkit. Dance 4: Nottingham))
Above, Wili Dorner, a widely respected choreographer, comments on his first experience of Sneinton Market in Nottingham. His interest in the site was of redevelopment, particularly noting the ‘empty, silent and uncared for’ ((Ibid.)) atmosphere to the market.
The feeling Dorner expresses resonates hugely regarding our own work. The Grand Stand is a place in limbo due to it being under protection by the Lincolnshire Act, meaning the building can not be developed unless it is confirmed by the council and funding is available for it. There have been many suggestions for the future of the Grandstand, from a Clubhouse for golfers to a skate park (see http://lincolngrandstand.com/4.html for full list) but with a site full of potential and saturated with history and former life it has found itself in an indeterminate state. As a group we are realising the importance of both past and future being celebrated within the perimeters of the site. In particular, the liberation of women through time and specifically how both World Wars, but predominantly World War II, allowed a new lease of life for the daughters, wives and sisters of the men fighting on the front line. The challenge we face is transforming this revolution, within the site, using installation pieces, for example, that commend and respect the sites past.
With this in mind we have developed the preliminary idea of dressing as war-time women, inviting audiences into the performance, serving tea and gingerbread (which was originally sold on race days at the Grandstand), before leading the audience through the piece. This was inspired by the small piece we created in class (see Site and Sense Part 1). We were all keen to enliven the senses through our performance, and also feel excited about exploring and celebrating women’s roles in war.
As aforementioned, we will be using the taste of gingerbread and smell of tea, which have many connotations, although these are personal to the individual, we hope there will be a welcoming and warm sensation induced from them. Helen Paris states that ‘smell permeates the everyday, triggering memories, transporting us through space and time even though we are mostly unaware of it.’ ((Paris, Helen (2010) ‘The Smell of It.’ In Freeman, J. Blood Sweat & Theory: Research through Practice and Performance. London: Middlesex University, p. 45.)) In this light, it seems unnecessary to bombard the audiences with smells and tastes, and feel the subtlety of introducing them will be enough to have an impact. As Paris describes, the link between smell and memory is generally in the unconscious mind. Therefore, the familiarity of being served food and tea should be elusive enough to allow for free thought.
However, Helen Paris who was part of the creation of On the Scent, wanted sense at the forefront of their performance: ‘The extraordinary power of smell to evoke memory inspired me to want to create a performance that not only used smell as one of the elements but wherein smell had a leading role.’ ((Ibid.)) Paris collaborated with Dr Upinder Bhalla, a leading expert in the field of neurological connections between smell and memory. Bhalla states that ‘humans themselves seem to be conditioned by society to ignore smell, especially in the sanitized modern world. It is interesting to see what happens when they are asked to pay specific attention to it.’ ((Ibid. p. 46.)) Taking this into consideration, would it be a more enticing performance when the senses are explicitly overwhelmed with different smells and tastes? In the context of our piece this may be excessive, as our contribution is only part of the entire performance and there is a difficulty in containing smells within a specific area. Therefore it may have an unwanted effect on the other parts of the performance.
Predominantly, we hope that the use of sense will add a more rounded experience for the audience member. We are hopeful that this will bring the past into the forefront within the Grandstand, using the senses to rejuvenate the vacant site- the smell of tea and taste of ginger- in the same light as Dorner wanting to redevelop Sneinton Market.