A choreographer chats to me about his new work. I play around with words over a coffee and come up with a paragraph for the venue brochure. The choreographer, delighted, remarks how vividly the words describe his work. Never having seen his work, I feel a fraud.

_____________________________________________

I come across a lava flow of a performance work and step aside hastily for a re-think. On a second look, I see that it is more of a rock slab than a lava river. Cheered, I scout around for memories, links and points of comparison that might stick to the sheer face. A couple stick on readily with some Velcro I have in my pocket.

Using these as hand-holds, I clamber up the rock face, but jump down for another look when I feel it sag under my weight like clay. After propping up the slumped bits, I take some snapshots. The Velcro-ed hand-holds look surprisingly sturdy and convincing.

In a parallel dimension, the artist wades up the lava flow and I gingerly hand her my snapshots. She smiles, pleased at how well they have captured the sense of the work. I fiddle with the left-over Velcro in my pocket fraudulently.