)
By Liz Wood, Director of Dance and Drama
In November, Chhaya Collective, who specialise in providing dance performances which amplify the female voice, performed Ophelia in our library and led a couple of student workshops.
It was a dramatic and technically fascinating event. Our Sixth Formers in particular explored new ways of moving through improvisation tasks, while also gaining insight into the Chhaya Collective style. As you’ll see below, they found the experience deeply enriching. We also invited others involved to share their perspectives.
Chhaya Collective - Kay Crook (Artistic Director)
We were delighted to bring Ophelia to Bedales and to share our immersive dance-theatre work in the extraordinary setting of the Bedales Memorial Library. Performing among the timeless shelves and beams allowed us to re-imagine the space as Ophelia’s world. The Library’s charismatic architectural space transformed our performance into something deeply atmospheric, a place where the shelves, light and historic structure itself helped bring the story of Ophelia to life. It was a joy to lead workshops with such engaged and thoughtful students, whose curiosity and creativity brought new energy to the work. We are grateful for the warm welcome from the Bedales community and thrilled to have shared Ophelia with you.
Rosie Nash (Dance Teacher, Bedales Prep)
Block 2 and 3 (Year 8 and 9) dancers enthusiastically participated in a contemporary dance workshop led by Ruby, who taught them flowing movements and dynamic jumps. Through dance, they explored how Ophelia navigated themes of love, control, and survival.
They experienced some challenging material, such as Zulu movements and high technical ballet warm-ups, but they all rose to the challenge and worked to support each other, finishing with some improvised movement games that used voice and travel, which opened their eyes on how to use words in dance.
All of Block 2 then attended an immersive performance in the Bedales Memorial Library, which told Ophelia's story through narrative and movement. For many students, it was their first contemporary dance experience. They were completely captivated, responding differently to what they were seeing, but appreciating the technique and strength the dancers held throughout.
Performance of Ophelia - Sophie (6.2 Dance Don)
On Monday 24 November, Chhaya Collective performed Ophelia in the Bedales Memorial Library. This contemporary dance and physical theatre duet reimagined Shakespeare’s Hamlet, focusing on the relationship between the characters of Ophelia and Hamlet.
I found it an emotional, dramatic and highly imaginative interpretation of their love story. As well as studying Dance A Level, I am studying the text as part of my English Literature A Level. I found this production particularly engaging as I could understand it on a deeper level, appreciating the layers and artistic choices within the retelling.
Further, the site-specific piece worked perfectly, with the audience seated in a circle around the central part of the library where they performed, adding an immersive and intimate layer to the piece, making it more engaging.
The piece reworked the classical narrative to give voice to the often-silenced Ophelia, transforming her story into one of female empowerment. It perfectly encapsulated her emotional arc, from innocent love, gradually progressing into suffering under Hamlet’s manipulation.
However, the modern twist made a hopeful and empowering ending, where Ophelia asserted her power by mocking Hamlet. This was conveyed with continuous fluidity and playful movement sequences, capturing the first fleeting feelings of love, including intricate, challenging lifts which they made look effortless. This was contrasted with forceful, sudden movement, to show their emotional turmoil.
Physical theatre was used throughout, through their facial expressions, gestures and spoken text, which often referenced Shakespeare’s famous original text. The storytelling was vivid, such as using the ‘to be’ line to centre Hamlet’s solo, showing him progressing into madness.
Workshops with Chhaya Collective - Tilly (6.2 Dance Don)
A Level Dance students were lucky enough to take part in a workshop led by Ruby, who is involved with the production of Ophelia. The workshop was fast paced, making it engaging and exciting.
Having watched Ophelia the evening before, we already had an idea of the style we would be exploring: physical theatre. We began with improvisation to get our bodies moving, focusing on engaging the spine and core while moving smoothly in and out of the floor.
Afterwards, we worked on some traveling sequences across the space, such as familiar slides and cartwheels. Then Ruby introduced to us more challenging movements and tricks we had never tried before. This really pushed us all out of our comfort zone and made us take risks.
We then learned several phrases of physical choreography, inspired by the show’s repertoire. Using the material, we split into groups and were each assigned a character, Ophelia or Hamlet. Our task was to use the phrase we had learnt and interoperate our character from the storyline, through movement. Overall, this workshop was such a great opportunity, as it challenged us and pushed us through the fast-paced and physically demanding choreography of Ophelia.
Here are a few things other audience members said about the show
"Poignant."
"A deeply moving portrayal of mental distress, interesting phases of movement, the adaptation and use of the beautiful library setting."
"Evocative."
"The portrayal of emotions and mental health were spectacular. So real. So effective in an immersive setting."
)
)
)