review of Coglenet by Pamela Yau

Coglenet

On The East London Line

By Pamela Yau

On the lazy Sunday afternoon of May 23rd, as London welcomed the opening of the East London Line, an extension of the London Overground connecting Croydon to Hackney, a colorful collective of performance artists, musicians, and dancers known as Akleriah waited to board at New Cross Station on the edge of Goldsmiths College’s campus.

Led by two Goldsmiths College art students Anna Kompaniets and Lenka Horakovas, Akleriah is a motley crew of multi-talented and slightly off the wall performers that aimed to excite all the senses of their unsuspecting audience in one fell swoop, with inspired music, original poetry, contemporary dance, and quirky couture costumes.

As the story goes, on the 31^st of March 2010, while their friend Ryanai (Ryan Murray) was abducted by aliens, an alien known as Cogle appeared to Ankariah (Anna) and Lenkariah (Lenka) reciting poetry about the reunion of aliens and earthlings. Ryanai was later returned to his friends, bringing with him poetry that would be recited in celebration of the reunion on the 23^rd of May, the opening day of the new East London Line. The opening is symbolic of new connections being made by the East London Line, as it literally connects parts of London for the first time that had never been connected before, making it easier for denizens to move about and to ultimately connect with one another as the aliens and humans had in Cogle’s story.

To translate this elaborate storyline to what happened on the day, Anna and Lenka gathered their collective together to come up with a collaborative piece entitled Coglenet that would incorporate performance artists as well as musicians and dancers. The musicians included two guitarists, a classical violinist, and an African drummer, came together to compose original pieces specifically for this performance as dancer Omari Carter interpreted the incidental music through improvisation and contemporary dance. In a corresponding act, the artists recited poems by a local poet, the poems themselves were intertwined and were meant to be recited together in turn for the full effect. They would then take this act to the stations and train carriages of the East London Line.

Passengers would probably notice when they gets on the new London Overground trains that the new carriages are slightly wider and that passengers can walk from one end of the train to the other without obstruction. As beauty is in the eye of the beholder, to Akleriah, this continuous aisle becomes stage that needs to be filled with their art.

Now imagine as a passenger getting on a train carriage and being greeted or rather bombarded by an all encompassing experience of fashion, music, dance, and titillating all the senses, the sight, sound, touch, and even smell of the perfume of the performers.

Their performance took Akleriah from New Cross Station to West Croydon, during which they performed on the train as well as at both stations to the wonder of commuters and passersby. As the band played, Omari Carter danced with fluid and imaginative movements and would later demonstrate an ingenious use of the space of the train cars, utilizing the many surfaces of the carriage, along with the handholds and poles of the carriage, at times suspending himself upside down during the routine and continuing to dance in that position. An all-female contingent dressed to the nines recited poetry up and down the aisles, as the musicians stuck together at one end of the train.

During the day, Akleriah was also able to make their way to the other end of the East London Line to Shoreditch High Street Station, where they commanded the main foyer of the station and continued their act before boarding the train again for New Cross.

Unsuspecting passengers quickly came to embrace the performance as many pulled out their mobiles and IPhones to record the action. Some of the most enthusiastic viewers were families with their children, who gravitated towards and performers as if they had fallen under a spell. Akleriah was able to radiate an infectious sense of wonder throughout their performance that they projected to their audience, bringing people together through their enjoyment of the show.

The collective projected a “carpe diem”, seize the day, attitude to the travelers of the East London Line, as Akleriah was able to show a train ride can be anything but ordinary.