Last updated Thu 16th August 2019
Looping: Scotland Overdub By 7Oito. Text produced in collaboration with Kieran Hurley. Restaging Dramaturgy: Joan Clevillé Working Script August 2019 1. WELCOME TORBEN:
Chorus (different combinations of these lines): Welcome, everybody. One, two. One, two. Good evening. Check. Check. Check. Óscar’s in the house. That’s right. Welcome, this is right here, right now. Thank you for coming/being here. We are about to start. We have already started.
Blocks: A Welcome to Friday night Dundee (Welcome to the Edinburgh Fringe). We are Scottish Dance Theatre. We come from everywhere, and we live in Scotland. We come from Scotland, and we live everywhere.
B Thank you for being here. 1
Last updated Thu 16th August 2019 Thank you for being part of this crowd. Thank you for joining us, at this time. In these times.
C
We are here, because you are here. We are here, because you are here. We can be here, only because you are here. We are here because of front of house staff, box office staff, bar staff and technicians. We are because of amplified sound and artificial light. We are because of collaboration. We are here because of the movement of people to share cultures and ideas. We are here because of artists who have come before us. We are here because of arts funding. We are here because of generations before who struck for welfarism. We are here because of generations before who partied in spite of authority.
D So, welcome. Welcome all. Fugitives, welcome. Immigrants, welcome. Travellers, welcome. Roma, welcome. Europeans, welcome. All peoples, welcome. Young people, welcome. Old people, welcome. Queer people, welcome. Straight people, welcome. Women, welcome. Men, welcome. Gender-fluid, welcome. 2
Last updated Thu 16th August 2019 Gender-queer, welcome. Transgender, welcome. All genders, welcome. Those who identify as disabled, welcome. The able-bodied, welcome.
D People of all classes. People of all classes. People of all classes, here, are welcome. The Gaelic speaking, fàilte. The Scots speaking, welcome. The Polish speaking, welcome. Mówiący po polsku, witaj (“Moovianse popolsku, vitai”) The urdu speaking, welcome. The English-speaking, welcome. The black and the brown and the white are welcome. Outcasts, welcome. Freaks, welcome. We are here, because you are here. We are here, because you are here. We can be here, only because you are here.
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2. SPEAKERS IN THE SPACE
ADRIENNE: Good evening Dundee. Thank you for being with us tonight, we are Scottish Dance Theatre and this is Looping. Looping is a dance party, a ceilidh, a gathering, a rave. Looping is a temporary autonomous zone. Looping is an occupation. Looping is a lock-in. Looping is an empty.
In here, you don’t need to stay at the margins. But you can. In here, you don’t have keep your head down. You don’t need to watch and listen. In here, you don’t need to know your place.
We are the fellow travellers, na drobhairean. We are drawing a new map together. We are learning to walk together. We are learning to be together.
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4. START AND STOP
JOHANNA: Here, in Scotland, everyone wears a kilt, except those who do not. In Scotland everyone lives in the Central Belt (“Glasgow and Edinburgh� in international contexts), except those who do not. In Scotland everyone has Gaelic ancestors, except those who do not. In Scotland everyone is white, except those who are not. In Scotland we are all middle class now, except those who are not. In Scotland everyone is valued by the government, except those who are not. In Scotland everyone speaks English, except those who do not. In Scotland everyone is a dancer, except those who are not. In Scotland everyone is British, except those who are not. In Scotland everyone is a migrant, even those who are not.
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6. MARCH AND RUN TOGETHER
DANCER 5: In Scotland, the oppressor is always someone else, except when it’s us. Is that the same where you come from? Scotland, the dual identity: the victim, the coloniser. Let’s rebuild it. Let’s do better. No Gods. Precious few heroes. Another Scotland is Possible. Another world is possible. Another now is possible. A rat race is for rats. We’re not rats. We’re human beings. Let’s do this.
.
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8. LANDSCAPE
Roch the win i the clear day's dawin
Rough the wind in the clear day’s dawning
Blaws the clouds heilster-gowdie owre the bay
Blowing cloud billows heaving across the bay
But thair's mair nor a roch win blawin
But there’s more than the wind ablowing
Thro the Great Glen o the warl the day
Through the great valleys of the world today.
It's a thocht that wad gar our rottans
It’s a wind that would cause our masters
Aa thae rogues that gang gallus fresh an gay
Tyrants who think themselves so fine and gay
Tak the road an seek ither loanins
Blow away to some distant island
Wi thair ill-ploys tae sport an play
Where no more will they have their way.
Nae mair will our bonnie callants
Never more will our country’s finest
Merch tae war whan our braggarts crousely craw
March to war at some liar’s hollow cry
Nor wee weans frae pitheid an clachan
Nor will children from town or country
Murn the ships sailin doun the Broomielaw
Mourn the men sailing off to fight and die
Broken faimilies in launs we've hairriet
Broken families in lands we conquered
Will curse 'Scotlan the Brave' nae mair, nae mair
Will curse Scotland no more, no more.
Black an white ane-til-ither mairriet
Black and white will be one together
Mak the vile barracks o thair maisters bare
Strike the slums and their landlords sore.
Sae come aa ye at hame wi freedom
So come all you who love your freedom
Never heed whit the houdies croak for Doom
Don’t believe those who preach their tales of doom
In yer hous aa the bairns o Aidam
In your house all the children dwelling
Will fin breid, barley-bree an paintit room
Will find bread, drink and generous room. 7
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Whan MacLean meets wi's friens in Springburn
When MacLean comes home to greet us
Aa thae roses an geeans will turn tae blume
Rose and cherry will blossom in the morn
An a black laud frae yont Nyanga
And a black lad from old Nyanga
Dings the fell gallows o the burghers doun.
Breaks the cruel power of the tyrants down.
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9. CHORUS
Indian writer and political activist Arundhati Roy tells us that, “quote”: The dismantling of democracy is proceeding with the speed and efficiency of a Structural Adjustment Program. While the elite journeys to its imaginary destination somewhere near the top of the world, the dispossessed are spiraling downwards into crime and chaos. This climate of frustration and national disillusionment is the perfect breeding ground, history tells us, for fascism. Meanwhile, the countries of the North harden their borders and stockpile weapons of mass destruction. After all they have to make sure that it's only money, goods, patents and services that are globalized. Not the free movement of people. Not a respect for human rights. Not international treaties on racial discrimination or chemical and nuclear weapons or greenhouse gas emissions or climate change, or -- god forbid -- justice. So this -- all this -- is “empire.” This loyal confederation, this obscene accumulation of power, this greatly increased distance between those who make the decisions and those who have to suffer them. So how do we resist “Empire”? Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness -- and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we're being brainwashed to believe. The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling -- their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability. Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.
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10. PARTY
GENEVIEVE: Another world is not only possible, she is coming. I can hear her breathing. Her breathing. She is coming.
We are here because of those who sung before us. because of those who danced before us. We are here because of care, courage and imagination. We are here because you are here.
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