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Presentation

 

THE NAME

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Quite a long time went by before I finally found a name that suited the number.  I had been collecting words, poems and sayings I liked into one long Google document. There was material from figures like Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol and Jimi Hendrix. It was nice to have a place to put all my crazy thoughts and ideas regarding the act and what I wanted to portray on stage. I also had a list of names I had brainstormed and ,,Riot'' stuck out to me because it's short and simple, but has a lot of history and depth behind it. Other strong options included ,,candor'', ,,virtue'', and ,,homage''. This document is also where the description of the act was born.

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MUSIC

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LIGHTING

 

I had a very strong vision regarding the lights right from the beginning of the creation. I chose lights from right above to create lots of shadows and a mysterious, powerful, dramatic and intense feel. As the music changed to 'Purple Haze', the side lights changed to a soft yellowish-orange colour, while the shadow effect stayed present.

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See 'Technical' from the menu above for the full lighting plan.

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COSTUME

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In the beginning it was very hard for me to figure out what to wear. I didn't even think about my costume that much and stupidly didn't realize how much it mattered and added to the number. First things I tried out were way too bland and not rebellious enough. I was being told that I need more colour and more craziness so I tried my best. My teachers suggested I wear something military related to tie in the concept of the anti-war protests and movements going on in the 60s, and one even gave me a jacket to try out. I realized that it could actually work very well. I begun the act with it on and then took the jacket off once I was on the rope. In my opinion it worked because (a) the moment I took it off was also the moment the music changed to 'Purple Haze' and the scenery became more colourful, and (b) doing rope with the jacket on would've been quite complicated.

Other than that, I was wearing a marbled dark grey body, dark green shorts and a tie-dye print shirt. I liked the contrast between the colours in the shirt and the darkness of the bottoms. Overall I think my costume was alright, and I was happy with the end result.

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HAIR & MAKEUP

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For my hair, I ended up wearing two small buns on each side of my head. I like the look because I think it gives off a bit of playfulness but also like I'm ready to attack someone with tiny horns.

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My makeup was lots of fun to experiment with. I ended up trying something a bit different each show, even though the base colours stayed the same. For the eyeshadow I got inspiration from Jimi Hendrix's album covers (seen above) by using the same colours. I also tried to make my features pop out as much as possible using strong eyeliner and red lipstick.

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jimi album cover.jpg

Cover of  'Machine Gun' from the Fillmore East First Show 31/12/1969

jimi album 2.jpg

Cover of 'Are You Experienced'

Later I decided that there should be another song in the

beginning to ease in the idea I wanted to convey.

At first I was planning to use a voicemail recording I had found online, in which a man was talking about stuff that goes on in your head and how you can get things strangely confused in your mind. I tried it out but it didn't work because the audio quality wasn't great and the idea didn't feel right. From there I went back, listened through Jimi's discography, found 'Machine Gun' and knew immediately that it was the one I was going to use.

It had a powerful, mellow beginning and fit perfectly.

Since the only recordings of this song are from his live concerts, every recording sounds different and has it's own specific adlibs. I had my eye set on the first concert of The Fillmore East, which happened to be the rarest one of all the versions. After searching high and low for the downloadable version I finally found it. 

The song ,,Purple Haze'' was the starting point, driving force and supporting structure of this whole act. I love music from the 60s, 70s and 80s and as I was listening to a rock'n'roll mix while doing something at home when Jimi Hendrix came on. I had of course heard the song before but hadn't thought of it as a potential number. I fell in love with how I could use the dynamic and lyrics of the song. It was almost as if it took me to another world and I love when music can make you feel like that. I knew I wanted to create something to the track, and I'm happy I found the right place to do so.

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