Music
5 Things We Learned From FKA Twigs' Congregata
RBMA have a rare interview with FKA twigs as she prepares for a unique show. Here's what we learned.
FKA twigs is now widely recognised as one of the UK's most important new performers.
FKA twigs - Congregata
© Red Bull Content Pool
Her gripping live shows are as much contemporary dance performances as they are pop concerts. They're spectacles in the truest sense: a selection of the world's best dancers bounce off each other, with twigs at the centre, contorting in breathtaking ways.
Last night RBMA published a rare interview with twigs herself, conducted in the run-up to this week's specially commissioned Congregata shows. The series, hosted at Brooklyn Hangar as part of the Red Bull Music Academy Festival New York, saw twigs finally given the freedom to produce the live experiences she wants, unburdened by the restrictions of touring. The interview follows twigs and her collaborators as they prepare for the events. Here are some of the key things we learned.
1. Twigs is no dictator...
The live project is a democratic one, in which multiple choreographers collaborate and dancers have a chance to freestyle. Even members of the band, which appears so fiercely regimented, have the opportunity to play as they wish within set parameters. Tic, one of twigs' favoured producers, rejects the idea of himself as a "band director." Wet Wipez founder Dominant says: "She just manages to give everyone freedom, down to the band. They have their structure, but it’s free how they play."
2. ...but everything is tightly controlled
Within that democracy, though, twigs retains her singular vision. According to lighting and stage director Tobias G. Rylander, while the artist might not know exactly how to execute an idea, she always has a strong sense of how the performance should turn out. Even the ad-libs throughout the show are planned, with twigs incorporating them into rehearsals.
FKA twigs - Congregata
© Red Bull Content Pool
3. The show is built on friendship
"It takes time to build a family," twigs says. "To be able to put that on stage, it cements all those years of training, all the laughter we’ve had together, all those stories that we have. And then people can see it’s real." As the dancers wind down outside the venue, they run through routines to a playlist that "includes Bobby Shmurda, A$AP Ferg, R. Kelly and dancehall." Twigs says she has seen those routines in London many times before, "under a bridge, in the rain." The crew are, she says, her "besties."
4. She's single-minded, but her influences are diverse
Twigs' dancers are drawn from a broad range of genres and disciplines. Krump features heavily, but some of the choreographers, including Rihanna collaborator Aaron Sillis, are drawn from the top tiers of pop. Vogue is also at the heart of the show, with four of the scene's biggest stars battling during the performance while twigs takes a back seat. But the different styles mix easily, rather than remaining discrete. As Dominant says: "Instead of having that boundary where you categorize something and you don’t mix...you can share [different styles] because you can all connect in the same way. twigs is the connection."
5. The shows can only get bigger
Congregata was developed after twigs grew tired of the limitations of conventional shows. "I just knew I had so much more inside me that I wanted to give as an artist," she says. "So I started thinking about my dream show: What would it entail? What type of dancing? Who would I have in it?”
The project gave twigs the freedom to make her vision real. As she continues to cement her position as the country's most vital live performer, that vision can only grow.
