“I work with businesses on what, why and how they write. It’s quite an ambition achieved to see my words on display in a London gallery as part of a creative venture with not just other writers, but visual artists too.”
For the past six months Kaye’s been collaborating with artist Brenda Berman on a project that’s brought together 26 pairings of writers and artists to explore the potential of 26 randomly chosen words – one for each letter of the alphabet.
“Brenda and I were given the word battement, and have had a wonderful time exploring the world of ballet,” says Kaye.
As the wordsmith of the pair, Kaye’s job was to take battement – the French term for a controlled, repetitive movement of the feet in dance – and use it as the starting point for an original piece of writing that would in turn inspire a striking image.
“I set myself three challenges.” Kaye explains. “Firstly, it was important keep it short, to give Brenda plenty of space to work. And thinking about what I wanted to say, I knew I had to capture what audiences so love about the ballet; the joy and the heartbreak of those captivating stories.
“I also needed to give a sense of the years of relentless and often painful daily practice that make each dancer’s performance quite unique.”
In the end, after many drafts, Kaye crafted a short sentence of just 11 words.
In this beat lives the firebird, in that dies the swan.
“It’s not quite poetry, but there’s a lot in there to unpack.” Kaye explains. “My inspiration came from two of the best-loved characters in ballet, the Firebird, and of course, Odette, from Swan Lake.”
Artist Brenda Berman then took her cue from the colourful traditions of Russian ballet and Russian folk art to set Kaye’s carefully crafted words in a delicately drawn print, featuring a vibrant and intricately patterned firebird on stage beside the ghostly shadow of the dying swan.
The 26 Words exhibition opens at London’s Free Word Centre on November 25, and will tour the UK before crossing the Channel for a residency in Bruges.
Read more about Kaye and Brenda’s collaboration.
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Doing Words founder and Creative Director, Kaye Coleman-Rooney, is a former BBC journalist and radio producer and has more than thirty years of business and media experience. Contact her on 07593 058748.
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How ballet and birds capture the DNA of language
22 November 2013
Next week Cambridge business writer and strategist Kaye Coleman-Rooney will achieve an unusual professional ambition. When the exhibition 26 Words: exploring the DNA of language, opens on Monday (25 November) at the Free Word Centre in London, Kaye’s words will be framed and for sale.