Kate Bush & Mime

Those of you who are of a certain age will possibly remember Kate Bush dancing to her own song, Wuthering Heights.  I vaguely recall the video (they were called Promo Films in those days, lol). Kate wears a red dress, and her lips are covered in a smudgy, vivid red lipstick – she moves to the music of her song.  I was looking for an adjective to insert between ‘moves’ and ‘to’, but I couldn’t think of something fitting, and I felt that the word ‘dancing’ was also wrong.  The best I could come up with was ‘beguiling’, which I still don’t think quite fits.

As I didn’t remember the video very well, I went on to You Tube to remind myself, and I was astonished at what I saw.  To me, Kate Bush looks terrible.  Her make up and clothing are terrible, and her movement is clumsy and untrained.  Yet, I can see what she was aiming at, and I can see her use of mime.  As far as I can work out, by the time she filmed the video, she had been having mime lessons from Lindsay Kemp for a year.  I can definitely see what she was aiming for with the movement side of things.

Internet sources of information say that Kate had some dance training under her belt before she trained in mime, but I don’t know any of the details.  To my mind, she would move a lot better if she was more proficient in movement.  But if you want raw emotion and energy, with or without finesse, then she does give that.

And she was only 19.

I will attach a link to the You Tube video.  Please have a look and let me know what you think.  If you search further, you will see that she re-recorded the video – the one where she is wearing a white dress.  The difference is stark.

She has been professionally styled – and it works.  Her appearance is that of a star, rather than of a raw performer – but her soul remains true.  Her movement appears more polished, and is helped by clever camera work and special effects.

What do you think about her use of mime, her quality of movement, and of her transformation?