by Manko
On Valentines we held a very special session, which due to a popular demand we are revisiting this Sunday, March the 6th, at Resistance Gallery. Do keep reading after the break below and let the photos convince you why you should not miss it!
In preparation for this pastoral session, we hit the market to buy yards of fabric and fresh flowers, and spent hours putting together the soundtrack. We decorated the stage at Resistance Gallery with branches, and our heads with horns and flowers, in order to invoke the spring by channeling horned fauns and amorous nymphs onto the stage.
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| photo by Jason Atomic |
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| Pastoral stage captured by Jason Atomic |
When we were brainstorming poses, Carla found a painting of a Minotaur by a modern NYC painter Gabrielle Bakker, which she wanted to recreate. I couldn't believe her dedication to her job as a life model when she said she was going to hold it for 30 minutes. She did. And I still can't believe it! It's the most impressive pose I've ever seen any model accomplish, and I'm still in an absolute, incredulous, awe.
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| Left: Minotaur by Gabrielle Bakker. Right: Carla and Andrew recreating the pose on stage for 30 minutes! |
I asked Carla how it felt holding this pose:
"Everyone was worried about my neck but what was very crazy was the pain in my spine... Every minute the arch of my back was more and more bent down: I thought I was going to break. After 15 minutes I was dizzy until the end, could breath... It was a real struggle… Because in the original painting she had that beast Minotaur to support her, but I had Andrew to support me with incredible efficiency. When he realised that it was way too painful for me, he strategically hid one of his strong hands under my neck, making possible for me to support the last 10 minutes of torture! But after all I just wanted to honour that beautiful painting and thanks to the good positive vibe of the three of us that day, I did it! We did it all together."
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| Manko is dreaming about the mystic scene of mythical creatures in an amorous embrace |
Andrew wore actual ram horns throughout the session, which are a thing of beauty in themselves.
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| Andrew |
I posed with flowing locks and a flower crown as a dancing woodland nymph on pause:
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| Manko |
Carla was resplendent in the dark horns of a pagan Goddess:
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| Carla |
More images here on FB - thanks to Jason Atomic for the photos, and all the artists for letting us share their excellent work.
And don't miss us this Sunday! I, for one, am dying to give a deserving tribute to Nijinsky's Faun....
I am thrilled to announce that this Sunday, on the round two of this theme, we nailed the triple choreography pose from 'L'apres-midi d'un Faune'! I love my Collective members for humouring my ballet obsessions and turning a long still pose with outstretched thumbs and multiple spine twists into a thing of beauty:
A couple more shots of the stage and the delightfully pagan poses and props we got to play with. Long live the Spring!
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