Festival Previews Video Blog

Dream A While
A Recital by Jenny Hofton at St Mary’s
on Wednesday 28th November at 1.00 pm
Accompanied by Mark Richey
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Melissa Western is considered “pocket dynamite” in her native Brisbane, Australia. She delights her audiences with her vibrant voice, seamlessly interconnecting the worlds of jazz, cabaret and theatre. Melissa produced a Virtual Flyer at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and you are immediately struck with the power of her voice and her natural ease on stage. I just had to catch up with this talented young performer and interview her for 10 Questions.

1. What made you become a performer/artist?

I think I was born a performer! It certainly helped that both my parents and extended families are involved in music and performance. My early childhood years were spent in clubs and musical theatre groups in the UK watching my Dad perform. To be honest the thing that tipped me over the edge in terms of performing in front of people was a dare from a friend at a party to sing when I was about 22 - were it not for that I might never have got the courage up to sing in front of an audience. It’s been about 8 years since I first started performing and for the past four years I have made a living solely from performance work.

2. What is your show and what should the public expect from your show?

The show “Melissa and the cunning accompanist” is going to be a pretty fun night out for the public. Since it’s a cabaret show there will be lots of interaction with the audience and there’s sure to be some outrageously spontaneous activity. The music and singing will be super amazing and I have been known to glam it up pretty intensely too … people should expect a wild and very satisfying night out!

3. What is your favourite Festival or Fringe and why?

The Edinburgh Fringe is definitely my favourite. You just cannot compare the size and variety of activity that happens there with anything else. The whole city commits to a month of madness and it’s just an amazing place to be alive in August every year.

The Woodford Folk Festival is a brilliant one too - in a very Australian kind of way!

4. What’s your best advice for aspiring artists/ performers on the Festival/Fringe circuit?

Make sure you have all the skills necessary to make your experience at a festival work for you. Know what you want to get out of it and be prepared for really hard work. There’s no chance to be a sensitive “I just want to focus on my art” artist unless you’ve got huge financial backing and a team of people who are prepared to give their time for nothing to help you and your project. Festivals are hard work but they are incredibly rewarding. Be realistic about what you can achieve and always see the festival as an investment in your career/profile. Most importantly, be passionate about your art. You might lose heaps of money and have no audiences so be prepared to love what you do enough to make those hard experiences pale into insignificance because YOU know you are contributing to the world through your work.

5. What is your funniest and also, your worst experience performing or attending a Fringe/Festival?

Arriving at the Edinburgh Fringe to a half-constructed venue was pretty full on! It all worked out in the end but seeing a veritable hole in the wall on the day of my tech rehearsal was a lesson in positive thinking!

My worst experience was performing my worst show in the season and then realizing afterward that a reviewer from the major paper was in that night … yeah that was TERRIBLE!

6. As you travel performing at different festivals/ fringes, what is your favourite place to vacation and chill out and why?

I think the best place to just chill is definitely in Asia where the sun is warm, the beaches are hot and the food and accommodation is cheap! Coming from Australia there is always the opportunity to stop in Asia on the way and that is where I would do my chilling as opposed to the very beautiful but much more expensive European experience!

7. Who is the person you most admire/d and why?

At the Edinburgh Fringe I really admired the guys from Seven Fingers who did the show Traces. Talk about amazingly talented AND we saw them out sinking pints on more than one occasion - that was impressive considering that they had to get up the next day and jump through 5 metre high hoops!

8. What is the best tip you have ever been given?

Don’t leave things till the last minute (haven’t quite mastered that one yet!) and never discount anyone as being above you or below you … you never know when someone will overtake you, or drop below, so always be kind and treat people like you would like to be treated!

9. What is the best book you have read and why do you like it?

Recently it is Charlotte Joko Beck’s work “Nothing Special” and “Everyday Zen” … it’s good to remember the power of being in the moment and not being captive to your thoughts. In the Western world we could all use a bit more awareness of our minds and bodies!

10. If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?

Just a little more love and understanding, that’s all!

For more information about Melissa, check out Melissa’s website.

Shakti, “The Dancing Phoenix”. I first came across Shakti when a French writer friend of mine mentioned her exquisite dance routines at the Avignon Festival. I sought to find out more about Shakti and how she finely blends her traditional eastern dancing with yoga to western jazz and contemporary rock music to spiritually sculpt her mezmerizing dance movements.

Photograph courtesy of Jorg Hacker

Shakti is also Artistic Director of The Garage International which has now expanded into Avignon (France), Adelaide (Australia) and Montreal (Canada). She is embarking on new ventures which she tells us about in her,10 Questions.

1. What made/inspired you to become a writer/performer/artist?

My mother was a dancer; my father was a yogi so I was brought up that way. I started dance and yoga as soon as I was brought into this world and it is a way of life and not a career. I want to express my beliefs through my dance. I want to reveal and (more…)

In our efforts to bring you techi-topical information, check out the newly launched video based matchmaking website called Stag and Dove. It is UK-based and primarily designed for “young creative arts professionals” including film, graphics and marketing types.

Tony Littler, comic song writer performer and an Englishman in Aberdeen is first off the mark to answer 10 Questions. Tony’s shows are not for the faint hearted, no PC stuff here! His Virtual Flyer for the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe Festival highlights his talented genius so we just had to track him down and find out more about him.

What made you become a writer/performer/artist?

I learned at an early age that if two men walked in to a pub, one with a set of Porsche keys and the other with a guitar, the women (more…)