Forgetting Natasha by State of Flux

Have you ever wondered how it would be to lose memory and forget your past, and who you are? Forgetting Natasha is the result of Heather Eddington's wonderings. When Natasha discovers that she’s affected from dementia, she writes down her life, only to forget where she put it.

The relationship between memory and identity is at the core of this show directed and choreographed by Eddington, who says, “This work was a journey. It began with an interest in my own memories and how they have shaped who I am today and continue to affect me on a daily basis. This quickly progressed on to thinking about what would happen if I did not have my memories and what this would mean for me”.

Natasha’s memories are enacted through both dance and poetry. Forgetting Natasha is not a traditional contemporary dance show: dance, poetry and projections combine to in narrate the story of Natasha's crumbling memory and sense of self. For this production, State of Flux has collaborated with video artists KMA and poet Anna Mae Selby.

Video is essential to State of Flux, which defines itself a “dancefilm company”. As artistic director, Heather Eddington specialized in Dance for Screen: the fusion of dance and film is a trademark of her work.

“It is natural for me to combine dance with film or projection. However, for this piece I knew I wanted to explore how the dancers could interact with the projected images and therefore collaborated with the highly skilled KMA. In this particular work the use of video has allowed me to express the idea of memories and them slipping away in a more abstract way rather than ramming the concept down the audience’s throat”.

Poetry is also crucial to Forgetting Natasha. “I felt a traditional script would be too harsh and rigid against dance and wanted something more fluid and open. Anna's style of writing was just what I was looking for with its striking imagery, and feminine feel.” says Eddington about poet and collaborator Anna Mae Selby. “Anna wrote the most beautiful poetry but was perfectly happy for me to pull it around, change the order, remove bits until I had created a script I was happy with and one which I thought told the story of Natasha’.

Forgetting Natasha is the first full-length show from State of Flux. Its experimental fusion of dance, poetry and video is something worth looking at, and so is keeping an eye on this promising company.