Yearning – Director’s Statement, Full Texts, and Cast Biographies
Brief synopsis
A re-imagination of the poem, Yearning, by Gertrud Kolmar
Ebbing and flowing between torment and bliss, the longing for fulfillment, unrequited.
Yearning is not as simple as a recall of memory or a ‘want’. There is, in yearning, both truth and fantasy. Time holds no weight. It merges ecstasy andagony in a dream-nightmare-like state. But whilst carrying this, we might find ourselves resigned to simply pulling back into ‘ordinary’ life as we continue along our path.
“My starving soul
Mutters one word, only this one:
“come…”
Oh come…”
(Gertrud Kolmar)
Director’s Statement
Daisy Brodskis
Yearning is first and foremost inspired by the poem of the same title by Gertrud Kolmar. A poem expressing the pleasure, pain and want for love, now unattainable.
Composer Julian Marshall, already developing a portfolio of work based on Kolmar’s poetry, approached me to co-create a dance piece inspired by the poem Yearning. As soon as I read Kolmar’s poem, images flooded my mind and it became clear to us both that the way in which to convey our ideas was through film. We were extremely fortunate to build a creative team who were able to bring ideas to reality: firstly with dancer Hannah Rudd, whose experience, expressiveness, and exceptional skill helped develop our thoughts through movement. And then with the multi-talented Miguel Altunaga, as cinematographer, to transfer ideas and visions onto film.
In addition, we commissioned the poet Emily Louise Bland to create her own reimagination of Kolmar’s poem and this became the beautiful libretto for Julian’s score. We worked in collaboration, with integrity and respect making sure not to stray too far from our source of inspiration. The film was created with this small team, within the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic, on a micro-budget. This was a new venture into film for us and we embraced our lack of experience wholeheartedly – allowing intuition and experimentation to flow.
As well as Yearning I considered Kolmar’s whole poetry cycle, worlds, (from which Yearning is taken) as well as her life, religion, and sensibility. Her poetry is of breath-taking luminosity – work brought all the more starkly poignant as the true intent of the Nazi regime became abundantly clear. In 1943 she was deported to Auschwitz where she was murdered.
I questioned what it means to yearn and the environments in which it is created. We yearn for love, a haven, utopia, or even simple, human touch and connection. With the addition of so much loss, pain, disruption, and displacement through war, pandemics, and unjust discrimination, I believe it is an emotion so many feel although commonly buried beneath our busy, demanding and distracting daily activities.
Nature is very present – both in Kolmar’s work and our ideas. We chose Suffolk for our locations for its wonderful variety and contrasts between the landscape and the churning sea. The uprooted trees on Covehithe beach are, for me, symbolic of the uprooting of so many of us – be it by choice or necessity, in current life, or ancestrally. The sea horizon is both a boundary and a bridge to other lands, cultures and memories, the water a carrier of emotions, wishes, and desires. The kitchen, often thought of as a place for women, can be both a refuge and confinement.
It was essential to me that we, as a team, were emotionally engaged throughout the process and I am so grateful that we absolutely achieved this! The environment and the sensitivity to the creation of our film shown by all involved moves me greatly. This was an experience that will stay with us all in permanent memory.
Yearning
by Gertrud Kolmar
I think of you,
I think of you always.
People spoke to me, but I didn’t take heed.
I looked into the deep Chinese blue of the evening sky from which
the moon hung as a round yellow lantern,
And mused upon another moon, yours,
Which became for you the dazzling shield of an ironical hero, maybe,
or the soft golden discus of an exalted thrower.
In the corner of the room I sat then without lamplight,
day weary, veiled, given entirely to the darkness,
The hands lay in the lap, my eyes fell shut.
But onto the inner septum of the eyelids was painted your picture
small and blurred.
Under stars I strode past quieter gardens, past the silhouettes
of pine trees, shallow silenced houses, steep gables
Under soft funereal coat, which was only occasionally
seized by wheel grinding, tugged by owl screech,
And I talked silently of you, beloved, to the noiseless, to the white
almond-eyed dog, which I led.
Engulfed nights, drowned in everlasting seas!
When my hand bedded itself in the down of your chest to slumber,
When our breaths blended into an exquisite wine, which we offered
to our Goddess, Love, in a rose quartz bowl,
When in the mountains of darkness the druse grew and ripened for us,
hollow fruit of rock crystals and lilac amethysts,
When the tenderness of our arms called fiery tulips and porcelain blue hyacinths
from wide undulating earth reaching into dawn,
When, playing on twisted stem, the half opened bud of the poppy like
a viper flicked blood-red over us,
Balsam and cinnamon trees of the east lifted themselves
around our bed with quivering leaves
And crimson weaver finches intertwined our mouth’s breath into
floating nests. –
When will we flee again into the secret’s forests, which, impenetrable,
shelter hind and deer from the pursuer?
When will my body be again white fragrant bread for your hungry
beseeching hands, the split fruit of my mouth be sweet to
your thirsting lips?
When will we encounter each other again?
Strew heartfelt words like seeds of aromatic herbs and
summer flowers
And fall silent happier, so as to hear the singing sources
of our blood?
(Beloved, do you feel my small listening ear resting on your heart?)
When will we glide again in the barque under lemon coloured sail,
Rocked blissfully by silver foamed dancing wave,
Past palms adorned by a green turban like the scion
of the prophet,
Towards the fringe reefs of distant islands, coral reefs,
on which you want to founder?
When again, beloved, ... when again ...?...
Now my path sinters
Through wasteland. Thorn scratches the foot.
Streams, cool, refreshing waters, murmur; but I don’t find them.
Dates swell, which I don’t taste. My starving soul
Mutters one word only, this one:
“Come ...”
Oh come ...
From Philip Kuhn’s & Ruth von Zimmermann’s translation of Welten - published by Shearsman Books.
Ending
Libretto by Emily Bland
Last night I dreamed of a dissolving world, a colourless planet
Where the moon eased itself into the sea and dark waves slid over barren earth into black lagoons
Dazed stars lost their footing and unspooled into the inky blue
Only silence echoed and unpredictable leaves fell
How desolate the landscape between the shores of your soul and mine.
Our love, a once-beating thing of insects and warm afternoons
And fields where flowers sang their sweet reassurance
Now only white bones scattered across a dead city.
We sowed cinnamon on unsoiled earth
and planted trees which yielded fruit that never fell
We built mountains of smooth, red sand
And decorated them with long-horned antelope
Which unfastened themselves and leapt
Mute and insistent, from rocky edges.
Last night I walked barefoot along a gravel path
And in a dark window saw my mother looking back at me
While unbeloved drunks drifted through abandoned buildings, staring into empty skies
Somewhere, a child’s cry was silenced in the stiff, shadowless air
And our hollow-eyed future slipped from us, like a last breath.
Cast Biographies
Daisy Brodskis
Now living in London, Daisy was born in Norfolk. She grew up surrounded by creatives and artists, and at a very young age, chose dance as her medium. After training at the Royal Ballet School and a career as a Ballet dancer, Daisy now teaches movement to people from all walks of life. With creativity always at heart, Daisy has been dreaming up scenes and moving images for as long as she can remember but it only recently became clear that film is the way in which she can develop and share her internal visions. Yearning is her film directorial debut, and this incredible experience has affirmed the path to learn, create and express through film.
Hannah Rudd
Born in the UK, Hannah is a professional dance artist, creative and teacher. She received her training at The Royal Ballet School, beginning her career aged eighteen. Throughout her career she has danced with The Michael Clark company (2006-08), Scottish Ballet (2008-10) and Rambert Dance Company (2010-2021).
In addition, throughout this time she successfully freelanced independently throughout the UK and Europe in both classical and contemporary works. Hannah has explored her own choreographic work and has presented in festivals, film and theatre. Within her work, she desires to facilitate human connection through the expression of dance and frequently collaborates with other artists in a range of mediums, musicians and creatives. She also works regularly with Fallen Angels Dance Theatre, and Outside edge Theatre, companies that specialise in dance and theatre as means of healing and transformation, for those who are recovering from addiction and mental health challenges.
Hannah is also a masters student and qualified Yoga teacher, and teaches this as well as dance, independently and within various dance institutions. Currently, Hannah is an independent artist working in the UK and internationally.
Miguel Altunaga
Born in Havana, Cuba, Miguel is a Dancer, choreographer, and self-taught photographer. After training at the National School of Art he danced with the National Contemporary Dance Company of Cuba as a principal dancer before joining Rambert in 2007. He is currently dancing with Hoffesh Shechter Company.
As a choreographer and movement director Miguel has created work for Danza Contemporanea de Cuba, Rambert, Phoenix Dancer Theatre, Simply Red, Carlos Acosta, The Royal Ballet, and most recently for Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Alongside this, he has utilised his attuned skill for observing, directing, and performing movement for photography and videography. Through this talent, he received a commission from Dance Umbrella, was engaged as image and film content producer for Rambert, as well as producing photographic content for Lloyd Newson’s re-staging of Enter Achillies. Parallel to his own artistic practice, Miguel works closely with independent dance artists on photographic projects and has collaborated with filmmaker Dan Lowenstein and Poetry Film Productions.
Emily Bland
Emily Bland is a graduate of the University of Bristol and the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance, where she gained an MA in Songwriting. She is currently working as an Assistant Psychologist while continuing to pursue her passion for poetry and songwriting through collaborations and solo work.
Miranda Ostler
Miranda Ostler is a London-born soprano, currently studying for her Masters in Vocal Performance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance under Sophie Grimmer and Rob Bottriell. In January 2022 she will create the role of Kael in Edward Jessen’s new operatic sonic theatre work, Syllable, with Trinity Laban Opera in collaboration with Bastard Assignments. Most recently Miranda has played Third Shepherd in Blow Venus & Adonis with Blackheath Halls Opera, the title role in scenes from Massenet’s Chérubin with Trinity Laban Opera, and Cherubino in Puzzle Piece Opera’s online, Covid-safe production of Mozart The Marriage of Figaro. Her recent work as a concert soloist has a very baroque flavour, including Handel Messiah for Platinum Consort and Scott Inglis-Kidger at St John’s Smith Square; Bach Weihnachts-Oratorium for the German Choir of London and Barbara Höfling; and Bach St John Passion and numerous cantatas for the Oxford Bach Soloists and Tom Hammond-Davies at New College Chapel, Oxford.
Miranda has recorded for film and television with the Eric Whitacre Singers, among others, at Abbey Road, Air, and Strongroom Studios, London, and regularly deputises at many churches around London. Miranda holds an undergraduate honours degree in Music from University College, Durham in 2015, where she was a choral scholar. Alongside her singing, she works as a freelance graphic designer and enjoys baking cakes and practising yoga in the comfort of her living room.