Illuminate was a successful Library Live commission and site-specific piece by Manchester dance company, Company Chameleon in 2017 which saw Central Library and a number of branch libraries transformed through dance, movement and a mix of captivating live performance.

Ahead of the performances in 2017, Company Chameleon’s Kevin Edward Turner, who choreographed and directed Illuminate, told us more about the production and the inspiration behind the piece.

1) What does Manchester Central Library mean to you and how will it inform the production of Illuminate?

The Library has always held a special place in my heart, I have always loved the architecture of the building and when I was young I would often spend time in the building and walk around imagining myself in ancient Greece or Rome, far-away places I always wanted to travel to and explore.

The Library building is an iconic building in Manchester and it’s known and loved by the city. Its architecture really resonates with me and it will inform Illuminate the production by its very nature: the spaces that the production will occupy are informed by the layout and architecture of the building.

Where possible I will try and allow the choreography to respond to the features, spaces and architecture of the building. Its form will shape and manipulate the movement of the audience as well as the performers.

2) Illuminate is a journey of seven stories, where did this idea come and what’s it about?

The idea for Illuminate came from one of my research visits to the Library. I was thinking about what a Library is and its function, role and purpose. I started thinking about this question and the word Illuminate came to my mind. The definition of Illuminate is to bring light to, to bring understanding, like a light bulb moment or a moment of understanding or inspiration. This made sense to me as a Library is a place of knowledge, culture and learning.

I started thinking about how I could manifest all the stories and characters that are contained within the Library, as stories are one of the ways we understand ourselves, each other and the world in which we live.

I recalled reading a book at university about how all stories can be reduced down into seven archetypal stories or basic plots that are the blueprint for all stories. These seven stories or combination of these stories are the basis of all stories across all cultures and time periods – I loved the universality of that! I felt it would be something all sections of the audience could relate too and understand and would bring to life the stories that we all love and understand.

3) Tell us about the creative process of making Illuminate.

The creative process of making Illuminate can be divided into three basic stages – research; generation of material; and building up the scene by editing and refining.

Before going into the studio, I’ll have researched each story, read some examples and thought about the essence of each story so that I can create some ideas to translate the stories into movement.

I then research these ideas by workshopping them physically through improvisation, creating movement and task based exercises with the dancers.

Once I feel we have something of quality and that resonates with me and the story we are working with, I go onto stage two, which involves developing more defined movement material, situations and characters.

The last stage in the process is to take the ideas and material developed and start creating the scene by building up the structure of the choreography and taking it through a process of editing and refinement.

The process can go back and forth between stages and it is not always so linear, but that is the basic outline of my creative process for Illuminate.