UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 27 JULY 2022
Director Sam Lockyer of independent production company Iconic Productions has created Movement Inspired, eight short films that bring together gymnasts and musicians from across the West Midlands to show how gymnastic movements can inspire jazz improvisation and composition as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival.
The soundtracks for the films have been composed by lecturer in Music, composer, arranger and bandleader Ed Puddick.
Each film represents one of the eight apparatus used in artistic gymnastics: floor, vault, high bar, parallel bars, uneven bars, rings, pommel horse and beam.
The musicians were RBC students and alumni Sarah Farmer (violin), Lee Griffiths (saxophone), Alex Clark (saxophone), Alicia Gardener-Trejo (bass-clarinet), Aaron Diaz (trumpet), Dave Sear (trombone), Nick Jurd (bass) and Jonathan Silk (drums).
Gymnasts were all from the City of Birmingham Gymnastics Club, and included World and Olympic champion Joe Fraser, World Down Syndrome Champion rhythmic gymnast Zara Turton, European gold medallist and Architecture student Joshua Nathan, and Commonwealth and European gold medallist Dominick Cunningham.
The films were premiered on 30 July at the Electric Cinema as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival and will also be shown next month at the following locations:
- Victoria Square Festival Site - Friday 5 August, 2.30pm
- Smithfield Festival Site - Friday 5 August, 4.30pm.
Ed said: "I really loved the filming sessions where we took improvising jazz musicians into the City of Birmingham Gymnastics Club and had them interact with the gymnasts as they trained. It was really exciting to see how the musicians reacted to what the gymnasts were doing, and how the gymnasts reacted to the musicians whilst they trained. We wanted to show the life of the gym club and that includes the toddlers who are first learning all the way up to elite Olympians.
"We are hoping to take the films to a wider audience, with the potential of them also having an online home. The gymnastics World Championships are being held in Liverpool later this year, so we are hoping the films can be shown there too."