Soda Lake (1981)

• Stimulus: Nigel Hall’s abstract sculpture ‘Soda Lake’ (1968) is based on the Soda Lake in the Mojave desert in South America.
• Choreographer: Richard Alston
• Date of premier: 1981
• Dance company: Michael Clark (soloist)
• Lighting designer: Charles Balfour
• Composer: Silence
• Set designer: Nigel Hall
• Intention

  • To show the shape and lines of the sculpture
  • To reflect the landscape of the Nevada desert and lake (in terms of creatures or land mass or heat/stillness)
• Theme

  • Sense of Expanse
  • Shape
• Structure

  Continuous flow of movement does not necessarily make sections clear

  4 sections (shown through changes in movement and position to sculpture)

  1. Awakening (floorbound)
  2. Tracing the shape (links to sculpture)
  3. Major section (travel)
  4. Epilogue (focus on sculpture)