THIS IS THE MACHINE.

Dedicated to bring you selected news about events, shows, festivals, performances, workshops, performing and other artists, as well as other related and inspiring content, mainly around the Performing Arts.

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This is the Machine: Goodbye Tumblr blog – Hello new website 

Dear Tumblr friends,

This is the Machine is happy to announce that it has moved to a new website with more features and tools that I hope you will find better for your navigation. You may also like to follow This is the Machine in Facebook and Twitter. 

So, I'm afraid this is the last post here in Tumblr and I would like to thank you for your interest and support. See you around! 

Visit This is the Machine NEW website and follow in Facebook and Twitter

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Magali Charrier: How my hands got to know my feet 7 May-23 June, The Place, London

Magali Charrier works with a range of media, creating a unique fusion of animation and dance film. "How my hands got to know my feet" is an exhibition of her new works, hosted by The Place. Magali spent three months as a silent observer of the daily basis activities at The Place's dance studios, "learning" bodies and the space in which they move, and created a series of works investigating choreography and the embodied experience of dancing.

More details about the exhibition Magali Charrier on Vimeo

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Professor Vanessa's Wondershow 23-29 April, Roundhouse, London

CircusFest 2012 is still on at Roundhouse in London. Five weeks of the best contemporary circus from around the globe, including Professor Vanessa's Wondershow, which will take you to an immersive carnival experience of the golden era of circus, where you will walk through a lost world of original vintage circus side-shows dating back to the 1930s-1950s, featuring hair-raising aerial performances, contemporary cabaret and illusion. Tagged tweets #circusfest. (Image: David Pickens)

More info and tickets at Roundhouse website Watch the trailer and find more about CircusFest 2012

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Narya Duo

Anne-Marie is a young circus performer with a career in gymnastics and passion for hand to hand. She completed her training at the Circus School of Quebec, where she met her hand to hand partner, Diego Rodarte. At the age of 20, Diego decided to devote himself to his real passion for circus. Among the places that he was trained at are Cirko de Mente in Mexico, the National Circus School of Cuba and the National Circus of Montreal. Diego and Ann-Marie are the hand-to-hand Narya Duo and have been working on various shows, as well as with companies in Quebec and around the world among which Eclyps, Omaterra, Cirque Éloize and The 7 Fingers.

Have a look at their website

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Drag Show Workshop 17 - 22 April 2012, 19:00 - 22:00, Aniline Studio, Thessaloniki Greece

If you don't know X-Vanda, you should. Alexandros Gountinakis from Aniline Dancetheatre (aka X-Vanda) will be teaching this workshop and will show you how it's done! X-Vanda will run through basic techniques of transformation and drag character creation, in order to create a complete performance of Drag Queens and Drag Kings (yes, for girls!) at the end of the workshop. Shoes, makeup, lights please... Price: €100 or €20/session.

More info on the f/b event page (greek language content)

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Aniline Dancetheatre: Party Italiano 31 March - 8 April, Aniline studio, Thessaloniki Greece

Italy 1960. Cinecitta is in bloom. Its black 'n' white shine charms all over the world. What is true and what is not? The Italian family, the movie stars, a teenager fan. L'amore? A journey through memories. Music and dance, the Mafia, flash lights and paparazzis. What's hiding behind the flawless glow of an ideal era? Just before the lights go out... And the party goes on...

Aniline Dancetheatre f/b page (greek language content)

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Unnamed Soundsculpture

"Produced by onformative and chopchop the “unnamed soundsculpture” is a project by Daniel Franke & Cedric Kiefer. For the piece the artists asked a dancer to interpret a musical piece (Kreukeltape by Machinenfabriek) and recorded her motion using 3 Kinect cameras and Processing. The images were then combined to produce a 3D point cloud, which the artists used to create a digital body that is made up of 22,000 points. The resulting representation of the 'sand soundsculpture' is truly stunning." Words by SHOWstudio

Watch the video and find more info about the project and the creators

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Spring Loaded 2012 17 April - 23 June, The Place, London

24 performances, 16 premieres and 10 new works. Get ready for Spring Loaded 2012, supported by The Place. The full listings include Robert Clark/Darren Ellis, Reel Lives with Jonzi D, Sofia Dias & Vitor Roriz, James Wilton, Goddard Nixon, Jose Agudo, Smith Dancetheatre, Gabriele Reuter, Giuliana Majo, Gecko, Made By Katie Green, Francois Testory & Simon Vincenzi, Rahel Vonmoos, Vera Tussing, Company Chameleon Dance Theatre, Colin, Simon & I, Zoi Dimitriou Company, Bloom! and Hofesh Shechter Company.

Find more at The Place website Spring Loaded 2012 photo calendar on Facebook

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Pet Shop Boys & Javier De Frutos: The Most Incredible Thing 25 March - 7 April, Sadler's Wells, London

"Following its sell-out success in 2011, pop legends Pet Shop Boys and maverick choreographer Javier De Frutos bring their Evening Standard Theatre Award-winning contemporary ballet, The Most Incredible Thing, back to the main stage. This modern fairytale based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fable, adapted by Matthew Dunster, centres on a contest to produce ‘the most incredible thing’, with a prize of half the kingdom and marriage to the princess at stake." (Words: Sadler's Wells)

More info and ticket bookings Watch the making of The Most Incredible Thing

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Blue Meadow (Μπλε Λιβάδι) by Bucco-Noi 26 March - 23 April, Knot Gallery, Athens

A dark performance by the theatrical company Bucco-Noi, founded by awarded writer and director Panayiotis Kalyvitis. Blue Meadow (Μπλε Λιβάδι) is a tale of existential questions through the story of a child and a family, an individual and a society, a man and a fate, about the pre-determined isolation in the centres of power and manipulation and the abolition of identity and self-determination. More info through the links below, but only in Greek...

Press release Bucco-Noi facebook page

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Royal Conservatoire of Scotland: A new identity

Since September 2011, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) operates under its new name, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Colin Bennett at Stand was called to design the new logo and visual identity that would support the variety of courses on offer at the Conservatoire. Bennett's approach was to find a constant - a visual link between the disciplines. The result is this vertical blocks representation of the letters R, C and S.

More about at Colin Bennett's website Read RCS's related article Find more about RCS and degree programmes

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Ballet Preljocaj: Snow White in Jean Paul Gautier 10-12 May 2012, Sadler's Wells, London

French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj returns to Sadler’s Wells with his award-winning 2008 adaption of the Brothers Grimm fairytale, Snow White. A spectacular production of contemporary ballet, in Jean Paul Gaultier costumes, which tells the classic story through Preljocaj’s characteristically physical choreography in the dark, magical and dramatic sets designed by Thierry Leproust.

More info and ticket bookings at Sadler's Wells website Watch the clip (01:16) or a longer cut (05:42) Ballet Preljocaj website

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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Royal Ballet 17 Mar-16 Apr 2012, Royal Opera House, London

Alice and a wonderland of characters, costumes, designs and optical illusions come to The Royal Ballet in a revival of Christopher Wheeldon’s full-length work. Each step is matched by Joby Talbot’s music and Bob Crowley’s phantasmagoric designs. Faithful to the original story and curious characters, Wheeldon's choreography blends Carroll's world with the formal demands of a classical ballet, in a contemporary and humorous way. The result is a magical production for everyone.

More info and ticket bookings at the ROH website Watch a scene from the performances in 2011 Watch the Queen of Hearts by Zenaida Yanowsky in 2011

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Stilled: Dance meets Photography 17 Mar (London), 12-13 Apr (Cardiff), 17-18 Apr (Coventry), FREE Entry

An unusual performance of dance and pinhole photography is on soon in London, Cardiff and Coventry. Created by Fevered Sleep, Stilled offers a free experience of an expanding dance installation with live sound and lighting, during which the audience can move around the performers, while pinhole cameras take long-exposure photos of the dancers' movements. These photos are taken, developed and displayed in real time as part of an event that combines art and science in such way.

More at Fevered Sleep's website Sneak preview video

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SHOWstudio: In Your Face Until 9 March 2012, London

A few days left if you don't want to miss the latest exhibition In Your Face in the SHOWstudio Shop space in London. The unique exhibition space devoted to fashion, film and fine art, currently hosts works by Marina Abramović, Franko B, Luis Bunuel, Chris Crites, Lucy & Bart, Little and Whitehead, Stephen Jones and many more. Included, the iconic photo of model Devon Aoki in Alexander McQueen (Visionaire, issue 20, 1997), by top fashion photographer and SHOWstudio's founder and creative director Nick Knight.

Visit SHOWstudio's website and find more about In Your Face exhibition

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Tell No One

Tell No One is the collaboration between the writers and directors Luke White and Remi Weekes. Luke and Remi experiment with video cameras. They also shoot promos, commercials and fashion films and their work has been exhibited and screened in institutions around the world, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the British Film Institute in London. Their video "Seaweed" was selected as one of the top 25 YouTube videos ever at CNN. Image from "Dynamic Blooms" video, in collaboration with Nick Knight and Alister Mackie for AnOther magazine's S/S 2011 issue.

Tell No One website Tell No One vimeo channel

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Who's this Ladydust?

Ladydust is the stage name and official trademark of Marina Tsigonaki, Greece based radio producer, disc jokey, actress and model. Along with her long career in modelling, Marina currently runs her own radio show "Planet Ladydust". As if this is not enough, the last years she also turned into acting and participated in various leading roles in theatre and cinema productions. Her numerous profiles in social networks have thousands of visits and messages from fans all over the world. (Photo: Original shot by Iznogood, edited by Jigoku Nohara)

Find all about Ladydust's world at ladydust.com Direct link to Ladydust's flickr photo sets