Alternative Hair Creatures: Royal Albert Hall
Trip Start
Oct 13, 2007
1
Trip End
Oct 15, 2007
London,
United Kingdom
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Entering the Royal Albert Hall was like a dream come true. I gazed in awe at the height of the ceiling, the numbers of seats, the stage itself, the enormity of space... The place exuded grand nostalgic charm and history, and it was briefly calm, a last gentle intake of breath before the impending onset of another major event
Alternative Hair Creatures: Royal Albert Hall
. A rehearsal was being walked through on stage but it was inconsequential in light of the hall's cavernous morning interior.We got to work. The backstage was divided into shared rooms for 25 of the world's top hairdressing companies, selected by invitation only. The aim was to gain coverage and prestige in the eyes of the sold-out 5000+ audience, not to mention television and the international hair world, with 3.5 precious minutes on stage.
Throughout the day backstage preparations picked up a kind of whirlwind momentum from which all manner of wierd creations took form. Sweat gathered on the collective foreheads of hairdressers, make-up artists and stage managers whilst models and artists relaxed into becoming works of art, being fervently worked on, laughing at each other's costumes, practising choreographies, preparing for their call... The audience's view included three massive screens on which live-feed from the shows was projected. The audience would be able to see every small detail of each character on stage.
I saw and mixed with hair of every possible colour, length, shape, bouyance and volume imaginable, each piece painstakingly fretted into a flurry of human fur at its finest, into a coup d'état of all that post-modern hairdressing, if there is such a thing, has to offer
Alternative Hair Creatures: Royal Albert Hall
. There were neo-punk girls with various kinds of boots attached to their heads, professional dancers styled to perfection, women in almost see-through plastic raincoats, smoke devices built into garments, precocious props, vivid characters vivaciously styled...Our creative costuming crew had opted for underwater fantasy characters that turned heads everywhere we went. We seemed to be the most non-human characters in the whole show, and the tallest. We felt sure we'd make a big impression on stilts...on stage. The show went down perfectly and the audience loved it. So did we.
I have to plug Easy Hair Fehringer. They really are a world-class hairdressing team with the creativity and means to produce shows and hairstyles you'd only dream about. Footage from the Alternative Hair awards and our show can be seen on a personal flatscreen while enjoying the comfort of your own Easy Hair haircut. Go down to the Donauzentrum in Kagran, Vienna, Austria today and see for yourself.
Credits go to: Easy Hair Fehringer, world champion body painter Gabriela Hajek-Renner and Phoenix Productions who produced a sensationally eye-catching show for the Alternative Hair Awards 2007. Show direction by Florian Berger. Artists: Florian Berger, Nathalie Kushirenko, Miriam Zwillink, Stefanie Höggerl and myself.
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Alternative Hair ∼ www.alternativehair.org
Easy Hair Fehringer ∼ www.fehringer.at
Gabriela Hajek-Renner ∼ www.specialmakeup.at
Phoenix Productions ∼ www.phoenixfiredancers.com
