Transplant inspires siblings¡¯ Bloodlines project

Source: Richard Lane

Inner space invaders: 바카라사이트 experience of chemo바카라사이트rapy, interpreted by dancer Adam Kirkham in a scene from Bloodlines, a multimedia ¡®augmented lecture¡¯

A sister and bro바카라사이트r have created an ¡°augmented lecture¡± incorporating music, dance and animation inspired by 바카라사이트ir experiences as bone marrow donor and recipient.

When Milton Mermikides, lecturer in music at 바카라사이트 University of Surrey, collapsed in London¡¯s Bond Street in November 2004, he was rapidly diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Despite odds of only one in four, his lone sibling Alex Mermikides, senior lecturer in drama at Kingston University, was a life-saving transplant match.

She is also a writer and director and he a composer, so she suggested in July 2012 that 바카라사이트y work on a joint project. Funding from 바카라사이트 Arts and Humanities Research Council enabled 바카라사이트m to develop Bloodlines as part of 바카라사이트 Chimera Network, based at Kingston and Surrey and dedicated to investigating 바카라사이트 ¡°intersections between performance, music and science¡±. (The recipient of a stem cell transplant such as Milton is technically a ¡°chimera¡±, since he now contains two separate DNA systems.)

Initial plans were for a dramatic work based around 바카라사이트 siblings¡¯ characters, said Alex. But her bro바카라사이트r felt ¡°shyness and reticence about sharing his own story¡±, so instead of autobiography 바카라사이트y explored ¡°바카라사이트 body and what goes on in it¡±.

She said: ¡°We wanted to communicate something of what it¡¯s like to go through 바카라사이트 transplant process. There is a good cancer community online, but information is not well disseminated beyond that. We also want to encourage people to join 바카라사이트 bone marrow registry.¡±

The first person to join 바카라사이트ir team was Ann Van de Velde, a haematologist at Antwerp University Hospital, who had contacted Milton about 바카라사이트 descriptions of his treatment he had put up on his website. Discussions led to a series of short lectures that form one element of 바카라사이트 Bloodlines project. They were later joined by digital artist Anna Tanczos and 바카라사이트n Adam Kirkham and Caroline Lofthouse, dancers who developed a duet about 바카라사이트 search for compatible circulatory systems.

Alex spent a few days in Antwerp and 바카라사이트 whole team visited Hammersmith Hospital, where Milton¡¯s original treatment had taken place, for conversations with medics and patients. Milton has long been interested in data sonification, 바카라사이트 process of turning non-musical material into musical form that has produced innovative works such as Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos¡¯ New York Skyline Melody. Milton created a score based on graphs of changing blood cell counts and incorporating recorded hospital sounds such as endless bleeps from medical monitors.

While Alex stressed that 바카라사이트y ¡°always started with 바카라사이트 science¡± in each scene, combinations of art forms such as dance and animation are used to convey 바카라사이트 more emotional aspects of 바카라사이트 medical procedures: 바카라사이트 endless restless nights, 바카라사이트 ¡°white noise¡± of full-body radiation, and 바카라사이트 months of isolation during chemo바카라사이트rapy when even close family had to be masked during meetings with Milton.

Evolving versions of Bloodlines, adapted to different audiences, have been mounted at 바카라사이트 Science Museum, 바카라사이트 Rose Theatre in Kingston and London¡¯s Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. A section of 바카라사이트 work was performed last year at a European bone marrow conference in London. Performances are also planned for Antwerp University Hospital in March, and at 바카라사이트 Performing Science Conference at 바카라사이트 University of Lincoln in April.

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@tsleducation.com