Bean Sídhe
On my last post I said I would open up a story behind my Bean Sídhe routine, and reasons for making changes to it.
It was somewhat a year ago when I started to talk about how I would love to challenge myself and create something with a darker tone. I got my inspiration from a Irish folklore (suprise!) legend of Bean Sídhe (Banshee). But.. What is a Banshee you may think.
"A Banshee is said to be a fairy in Irish legend and her scream is believed to be an omen of death. The scream is also called 'caoine' which means 'keening' and is a warning that there will be an imminent death in the family and as the Irish families blended over time, it is said that each family has its own Banshee!"
I wanted this routine to be dark with some classical elements as well as references to Ireland and Celts. I chose music that I thought would support my story and made a costume as minimalist as possible, I bought silk fans and natural size crow for props. I had that story of howling old lady that omens death on my mind, when starting to rehearsal this routine. And it all felt good and right, until it didn't.
I took this routine on stage in a small UG event and realized two things. For starters, story didn't convey to the public, and secondly, I didn't feel right when telling it. So I put it on hold and left it there for a while...
Few months later I started to think it all over again. I studied more deeply what legends say and I found few sentences to support the structure of the routine. At this point I abandoned silk fans and changed them to Isis wings, I also made a lager head piece and few changes to a routine. I signed myself to Olivia Rouge's coaching classes and we started to figure things out together with her and other attenders. Definitely the hardest thing so far has been finding the right music, and I've really had to think about how I want to portray the character in order to find music. More I read about this character, more clear it became that to me, Banshee is not an angry, scary or evil figure, but more of a sad, lonely and loving. I now think that I have found the right music that has both sorrow and doomsday feeling. I just need to hear what my coach thinks before I can really give it a go. And just to say, been able to have this coaching has been a valuable thing!
I'm very impulsive and quite often start to do things right away, without really giving them a good thought. I have wild imagination but not necessary skills to turn those imagines live. And this lesson I've learnt during my Bean Sídhe process: Do your homework, seek different perspectives, talk to someone, think and then think again. Don't start with full speed even though it would feel right, take your time and think first.
After all, this routine is now coming along nicely and steady, and hopefully hops on stages later this year!
(Picture above serves as a source of inspiration for myself although it presents Morrigán, Irish Goddes of war.)