Where The Veil is Thin | Late Night Concert

BRÌGHDE CHAIMBEUL, MAËVA BERTHELOT AND TEMITOPE AJOSE
Scottish musician and composer Brìghde Chaimbeul ("Artist in Focus" September Me Festival), along with performance artists Maëva Berthelot and Temitope Ajose, presents "Where the Veil is Thin," an ode to Cailleach Bheur, an enigmatic character from Gaelic mythology.

Chaimbeul's beautiful playing on the Great Highland bagpipes and Scottish smallpipes brings these ancient instruments back to life. Following a folk tradition that stirs the soul and feet, Chaimbeul's attentive compositions drag the drones of the bagpipe from an ancient habitat to a place that feels utterly contemporary. The project Where the Veil is Thin captures this contemporary nature in a collaboration with choreographers and performers Berthelot and Ajose.

The performance explores what it is to be a creator and a destroyer, to be both feared and revered, based on the figure of Cailleach Bheur - a mythological one-eyed giantess who lived for centuries on the Scottish island of Erraid and who is said to be responsible for creating the landscape and harsh winter weather. Together, these artists share a story that evokes the eternal friction dance between a landscape and those who are part of it.

'Where the Veil is Thin' was developed in residence at Somerset House Studios and supported by The Open Fund for Organizations at PRS

CREDITS
compositions, bagpipes - Brìghde Chaimbeul

choreography, performance - Maëva Berthelot, Temitope Ajose

Photo Brìghde Chaimbeul - Camille Lemoine
Photo by Maëva Berthelot - Paul Calver

BRÌGHDE CHAIMBEUL
Brìghde Chaimbeul -Artist in Focus during September Me 2024- is a leading composer of experimental Celtic music and plays the Scottish smallpipes; a balgan-driven bagpipe. She has mastered an entirely unique way of arranging for bagpipes, emphasizing the rich texture of the instrument's drone; the contingent sound that creates a trance-like atmosphere. Chaimbeul plays the instrument with seductive virtuoso fluidity.

MAËVA BERTHELOT
Maëva Berthelot is a choreographer, performer and teacher whose practice unfolds on the borderline between experimental, performative and collaborative approaches. Born in Paris, of Guadeloupean and Greek descent, she obtained her MA in contemporary dance from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris in 2003. However, it is abroad that she pursued her artistic career for 20 years.

TEMITOPE AJOSE
Winner of the Bonnie Bird Choreography Award (2005).Temitope Ajose Cutting has created and staged works for venues such as Royal Opera House and ROH2. She has been commissioned by The Place Prize Bloomberg, dance producer Eckhard Thiemann of Woking Dance. Her works have been performed at DanceXchange, RichMix, Dancebase in Edinburgh, Swindon Dance and Soho Joyce (New York). As a dancer, Temitope has worked with Punchdrunk, director Carrie Cracknell at The Gate Theatre and The National, Theo Clinkard and Protein Dance Company, among others.