Performer Laura de Vos gives an insight into rehearsals for An Anatomie in Four Quarters

After two years we are back in the rehearsal studio for An Anatomie in Four Quarter’. 

The first steps in the studio on Monday morning felt like we have never left - same rehearsal space, familiar faces, and drawings and pictures of bodies hanging on the wall. But we can’t ignore that two years is a long time where people, life, way of thinking and daily routines and bodies change.  

In the first days Suzy took the time for us to understand the material again through long improvisations and exercises working on group dynamic.

Today, there are 10 performers on stage of which four are unfamiliar with the piece. Nevertheless, they engage greatly with the work and the new group dynamic refreshes the piece, taking it to a different level. 

An Anatomie in Four Quarters still exists in the same framework, but filled with different stories and knowledge we have now and didn’t before, which will evolve the piece.

In the first week we gained understanding of the structure of ‘An Anatomie’ and the movement vocabulary of each quarter. 

Next week, we will focus on giving the piece more ‘body’!  Deepened improvisations, solos and group work will flesh out the piece. Developed music, new improvisation tasks, different group dynamic and the times we live in now will all have an influence on the performances. 

Not forgetting Cardiff itself, which will play a major part in the performances – a different country, theater, culture and language. 

Laura de Vos

Laura trained in Holland but lived in London for 3 years where she worked as a freelance dancer, recently she moved back to Holland. 

She has worked with choreographers such as Hofesh Shechter, Fernando Hernando Magadan and Akram Khan for the Olympic Opening ceremony in 2012. Laura joined Clod Ensemble in 2011. 

She did her Master of Art at the London Contemporary Dance School and wrote her dissertation about the performance of Clod Ensemble; An Anatomie in Four Quarters. 

Besides performing she enjoys teaching dance, choreographing and exploring various facets in the arts.