Dance was introduced to the stage of Theatr Brycheiniog as part of the Brecon Baroque Festival for the first time last year. I was privileged to be able to create a piece to Bach’s Orchestral Suite in D, as played by the Brecon Baroque Festival Orchestra, using 2 young Brecon-based dance students about to embark on their dance careers. I must confess that although I was very pleased to have this opportunity, I was also somewhat apprehensive about the effect of introducing this new element into the concert scenario, and whether it would be well received by the audience. Thankfully, the new “visual” addition to the programme was greeted with great enthusiasm, which has led to a second collaboration between the Baroque Festival and myself for 2010.

Having established a working relationship in 2009, Rachel Podger and I were keen to work more closely together for this year’s piece, so we have developed the idea for a piece involving solo violin and solo dancer. We are fortunate that much of the Baroque repertoire is suitable for dance, indeed many pieces were originally written as social dances. Rachel introduced me to the Telemann Fantasies for solo violin, which to my ear were an obvious choice for choreography of an intimate nature. I was particularly drawn to Fantasie no.6 in E minor, which is divided into 4 movements, each with a distinctive character. 

I think it is the different moods within this beautiful piece that made it the right piece for Rachel and me to perform together. We have much in common artistically, as well as surprisingly similar life histories and a shared birthday. Inspired by Rachel’s extraordinary playing, I am exploring within the piece the different sides to our personalities - whether pensive, joyful, sober or mischievous – but also the pull towards and pull away from the other person that is always present in any two-person relationship. The piece is entitled “Zwilling”, the German word meaning both twin and Gemini, the sign of the multiple personality under which Rachel and I were both born. This piece of choreography, although an intensely personal piece, will, I hope, appeal to the wide-ranging and well-travelled audience which comes to enjoy Baroque music here in the beautiful town of Brecon.

Katy Sinnadurai 2010