Chimera: Blurring the Lines Between Reality and Imagination

Upon entering Reference Point on the night of ‘chimeras’, visitors could not help but admire their surroundings. The space had been transformed into an immersive stage; long pieces of fabric hung from the ceiling, clothing draped over them, with designer pieces of jewelry resting in the bookcases. Without most of the crowd realising, the dancers taking part in this performance had started moving amongst them, climbing onto chairs and tables, interacting without ever fully making contact. With no defined stage, no clear beginning or end, and no limitations or boundaries separating the audience from the performers, this three hour performance unfolded beautifully, as a fluid, uncontained experience. 

Production art for chimeras by Tala Lee-Turton.

The first hour and a half of the performance focused on immersion. Visitors freely moved around the room, some sitting down and some ordering drinks at the bar or chatting away. Sounscape played in the background, with musicians drifting in and out from the arranged stage, delivering an entirely live performance. Dance artists walked amongst the crowd, sometimes stepping onto tables and chairs, forever in movement. At times, they converged on a loosely defined stage circling one another, their movements captured by photographers. The second half was more structured. The musicians continued to play whilst the dance artists performed together in an artistic relay - they danced and played around each other, sometimes merging their bodies, sometimes moving in harmony with the music. In the middle of this act, Roxanna Albayati sat down and played the Iranian ghaychak, a musical act which left the public astounded.

Tala Lee-Turton and Roxanna Albayati in Reference Point. Photograph taken by Emma Cormier Simola.

Tala Lee-Turton and Roxanna had been collaborating for two years when Tala produced and wrote the dance libretto for  chimeras, bringing Roxanna on to the project to develop the sonic elements of the show. In addition, she also brought along the design collective Alta Store who curated the evening’s looks. The resulting performance sits at the intersection of  social reality and imagination. 

Presented at Reference Point, the work became a merging of traditional practice, contemporary performance art, all elevated by the entwining of the potent energy of fashion week. Upon being asked about this liaison, Roxanna told New Wave “tradition and innovation meet inevitably, because everything that is traditional was once innovative”. 

But time, space, and resources were tight. Tala and Roxanna had only one month to put everything together; the act, the crew, the music and the venue. This led them to combine certain aspects of the creative process. Tala and Roxanna  told New Wave about combining character development work with fittings for the designer pieces. Cast members were encouraged to create a persona for themselves that they would embody during the performance, using the designer pieces and the concept of the performance as an inspiration and starting point. “Participating in an immersive performance is like going into a state of meditation,” Roxanna explained. Despite the challenges of limitations, Tala and Roxanna didn’t see these constraints as setbacks, instead it provided them with more structure and thus more freedom. “It’s important to not be able to do “anything”,” Tala shared. “Otherwise, everything becomes too available, and it’s chaotic.”

Production still from chimeras of Roxanna Albayatiby by Chris Driver.

Because of their backgrounds in classical music and ballet, both were used to delivering long and physically demanding performances, but Tala noted that chimeras required a different type of endurance. “In a ballet,you know your entrances and exits, when you have long breaks etc. But with this piece almost everything was improvised, with sections potentially expanding or pivoting completely so it was demanding”. The improvised aspect of their performance was one of the things that made it excellent; it felt natural and flowed in an organic way. Every time the public thought they had seen it all, something new would spring up and surprise them further. Because of the immersiveness of the venue, with sound effects, lighting and props, the audience was sucked into a meditative state. Everything felt in movement; the light projectors changed colors, the music felt like it was flowing all round, and the dance artists moved intuitively with each other, in a constant state of movement.

Moreover, because boundaries of time and imagination were challenged, there was a real breach between what is real and what is not. The audience was constantly wondering if the immersive part of the act was still going on, or if we had moved on to the structured performance. With the dance artists amongst the crowd, it was a real game of trying to figure out who was an observer and who was an artist. 

Production still from chimeras of Tara Lee-Turton by Chris Driver. 

Tala Lee-Turton and Roxanna Albayati, with their performance chimeras, invited the audience into their expressions of identity and storytelling. With a rare boldness, they delivered a three hour long improvised performance, which will rest in the memory of those who have seen it for a long time to come.

Production still of  Roxanna Albayati, Nicko Mroczkowski, Marat Ingeldeev, Tala Lee-Turton, Jordan Ajadi, by Chris Driver.