DALIAN INTERNATIONAL BEACH CARNIVAL | July 11th – 19th 2007
What a blast! What an amazing experience! Hard to put into words precisely what happened! A team involving Programme Developer Mark Thomson, Film Creative Leader Jaimini Jethwa alongside Ian McGregor and The Ultimate Chill Best Band Winners 2006, Sonnet65 took China by storm… They performed to over 30,000 people, were the special guests of the opening ceremony, and were broadcast to over 6 million Dalian locals! The team also visited Beijing where they went to the Great Wall of China. On their way home they met a group of students in Shanghai who took them of a tour of the city; the students got a chance to practice their English! A film of the whole experience will be coming out soon – so keep ye eyes peeled!!
Meet the Team
Sonnet65:
Sonnet65, namely Steven Gibbons, Liam Wilkie, Ben Marrett, David Kerr and Fiona Taylor, are a fiddle embellished rock quintet from Kirriemuir in Angus. They got their name from William Shakespeare’s 65th sonnet, a poem inspired by a lover's drive to capture the fragile beauty of life in ink. Sonnet65 influences are diverse: Idlewild, Incubus, Hope of the States, Death Cab for Cutie; the epic-ness of Muse, the popiness of Ben Folds… Sonnet65's music is a contradiction in terms - up-tempo yet dark, dancy yet moody. The diversity of their material, interlaced with furious fiddling makes them both attractive and engaging. They have been together since 1999 and have sold out an eponymously named record and two albums named A Thousand Voices Share My Head and Lost by an Echo respectively. Sonnet65 are a committed and hardworking band who has a large loyal fan base. They won The Ultimate Chill Best Band 2006 competition – a growing band with a growing reputation...
Mark Thomson:
Mark Thomson has been writing and performing poetry for over six years. He has been involved with national campaigns to promote language as well as taking part in a national study exploring the Scots language and its dialects. Mark works with individuals and groups from a wide range of backgrounds teaching them how exploring creative writing can open up their own horizons. He is passionate about the Scots language and his own Dundonian dialect and has performed and taught across Scotland. He is currently Programme Developer for Pure Media UK.
Ian MacGregor:
Ian MacGregor is a charismatic singer story teller from the oral tradition of the Travelling Families of Perthshire. He is also one of the Stewarts of Blair. At the age of 15 he joined his grandfather Alex Stewart master piper busking on the shores of Loch Lochy during the summer months. He has travelled all over the world with a sack of stories and his bagpipes collecting and retelling as he goes.
Jaimini Jethwa:
Jaimini studied Film and Photography specialising in scriptwriting at the University of Westminster in London and then went on to complete a MA (PgDip) in Screenwriting at Northern Film School in Leeds. Her first feature film was short-listed for The Chesterfield Screenwriting Competition in America, and her acclaimed short film "The Interview" was screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2004. Since graduating from University she has been working primarily in community media, and has developed a proactive process that harnesses the power of the moving image to transform minds, change lives, and inspire creativity…
Our Partners
- China-Britain Business Council - details to follow…
- Ricefield Arts and Cultural Centre - details to follow…
- stARt Festival - details to follow…
- Strathmore Woollen Mill - details to follow…
LADY WHITE SNAKE
‘In the current technological environment, physical movement is no longer necessary to effect cultural change as ideas, cultures and ideologies are now brought in closer contact on a wider scale than ever before. The rate and reach of its impact on individuals and culture is of an extent that one need to speak of it as a state of cultural migrancy rather than an act of cultural migration.’ – Felicia Chan.
The proposed performance, which will last for no longer than an hour, is adapted chiefly from a Chinese legend, Lady White Snake, and incorporates elements of Scottish folklores and Greek mythology. Taking the theme of East Meets West, the adaptation incorporates Chinese and Western culture through artistic presentation: choreography, music, set and costume designing, text, etc, and thus is a collaborative project that involves artists from both cultures across different art forms. We intend to take the linear text and translate it into a multimedia performance that will resonate in both Scottish and Chinese cultures.
A planned second trip to China to research the legend of Lady white Snake is planned to occur later on this year. Keep ye eyes peeled for updates…
ARTIST EXCHANGE 2008
We hope to invite a number of Chinese artists in 2008 to participate in our IGNITE roadshow in Scotland. This initiative also aims to involve the Chinese community in Scotland whose input will be sought to inform the development of future East meet West projects.