Meryl Tankard’s Furioso premiered July 8, 1993 at the Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre for Meryl Tankard Australian Dance Theatre.
Furioso was choreographed shortly after Tankard became director of Australian Dance Theatre at the beginning of 1993. With its aerial choreography in which the dancers were attached to ropes and harnesses and were airborne for large sections of the piece, Furioso reflected Tankard’s interest in the new space available to her in Adelaide after the small, confined area in which she had worked as director of the Meryl Tankard Company in Canberra. Furioso was toured nationally and internationally between 1993 and 1999. [Text from Australia Dancing.]
credits: choreography and direction Meryl Tankard, set design Regis Lansac, costume design Meryl Tankard, lighting design Toby Harding, assistant to the artistic director Janet Bradley-Bridgman, music Arvo Part, Elliot Sharp, Henryk Gorecki, photography Regis Lansac, Original cast: Prue Lang, Mia Mason, Rachel Roberts, Tuula Roppola, Michelle Ryan, Vincent Crowley, Grayson Millwood, Shaun Parker, Gavin Webber and Steev Zane. Subsequent performers: Victor Bramich, Peta Bull, Sarah Jayne Howard, Mia Mason, Kate McIntosh, Shaun Parker, Michelle Ryan, Peter Sears, Luke Smiles, Gavin Webber, Steev Zane
performances: content forthcoming
articles/reviews – realtime
free from steps
anne thompson, realtime 21, october-november, 1997
basic instinct on the loose
debra craine, the times, may 6, 1999
dancers offer a galumphing bore
clement crisp, financial times, may 6, 1999
dance: furioso
judith mackrell, the guardian, may 6, 1999
give her enough rope…and she’ll tie herself down
jann parry, the observer, may 9, 1999
all hanging in the balance
david dougill, sunday times, may 9, 1999
subtle satire
giannandrea poesio, the spectator, may 15, 1999
circus gimmicks
giannandrea poesio, the spectator, may 22, 1999
the impossibilities of the dance body: the work of meryl tankard
adrian kiernander, body show/s: australian viewings of live performance, ed. peta tait, amsterdam: rodopi press, 2000, pp. 205-216
Stephanie Lake, Wanted: Ballet for a Contemporary Democracy, Chunky Move
photo courtesy of the artist
Stephanie Lake, Wanted: Ballet for a Contemporary Democracy, Chunky Move
Australia’s Most Wanted: Ballet for A Contemporary Democracy was inspired by the experimental works of Russian visual artists Komar and Melamid. The work evolved from Chunky Move’s survey of 2,800 members of the public about their preferences in contemporary dance in respect of style, numbers of dancers, gender, themes, narratives, costumes, lighting and viewing positions.
credits: choreography Gideon Obarzanek, set, lighting Bluebottle, composition, sound Luke Smiles, costume Jane Summers-Eve
performances: premiere The Workshop, Melbourne, May-June 2002; Energex Brisbane Festival, September 2002; Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Melbourne, April 2003; Sydney Opera House, Sydney, April-May 2003; Glen Street Theatre, Sydney, May 2003; Westside Performance Arts Centre, Shepparton, May 2003; West Gippsland Performing Arts Centre, Warragul, June 2003; Monash Performing Arts Centre, Clayton, June 2003; Klapstuk Festival, Leuven, Belgium, October 2003; Le Belluard Bollwerk International (BBI) Festival, July 2004; TANZ theatre INTERNATIONAL, Hannover, Germany, September 2004; Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspeile, Ludwigsberger, Germany, June 2005;Berner Tanztage, Bern, Switzerland, June 2005
Glow is an illuminating choreographic essay by Chunky Move artistic director Gideon Obarzanek and German interactive software creator Frieder Weiss. Beneath the glow of a sophisticated video tracking system, a lone organic being mutates in and out of human form into unfamiliar, sensual and grotesque creature states. Utilising the latest in interactive video technologies a digital landscape is generated in real time in response to the dancer’s movement. The body’s gestures are extended by and, in turn, manipulate the video world that surrounds it, rendering no two performances exactly the same. [Text courtesy Chunky Move.]
Kristy Ayre, Glow, Chunky Move
photo Rom Anthoni
Kristy Ayre, Glow, Chunky Move
credits: concept, choreography Gideon Obarzanek, concept, interactive system design Frieder Weiss, music, sound design Luke Smiles (motion laboratories), additional music Ben Frost, costume design Paula Levis, multimedia operator Nick Roux, performers Kristy Ayre, Sara Black, Amber Haines, Bonnie Paskas, Harriet Ritchie
performances: premiere Chunky Move Studios, Melbourne, September 2006; International Dance Theatre Festival, Lublin, Poland, November 2006; Sydney Opera House, Sydney, March 2007; Nooderzen Festival, Groningen, the Netherlands, August 2007; Darwin Festival, Darwin, August 2007; Melbourne International Arts Festival, Melbourne, October 2007; Chaoyang Cultural Centre, Beijing, China, November 2007; Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre, China, November 2007; Byham Theatre, Pittsburgh, US, November 2007; Awesome Festival, Perth, November 2007; Cynet Festival, Dresden, Germany, November 2007; PuSH International Performing Arts Festival, Vancouver, Canada, February 2008; The Kitchen, New York, February 2008; Adelaide Bank Festival of the Arts, Adelaide, March 2008; New Zealand International Arts Festival, March 2008; Arnolfini, Bristol, UK, May 2008; Brighton Festival, Brighton, UK, May 2008; Dance Week Festival, Zagreb, Croatia, May 2008; National Performing Arts Convention, Denver, US, June 2008; New Haven Festival of Arts and Ideas, Connecticut, US, June 2008; Geelong Performing Arts Centre, Geelong, July 2008; Fundaco Calouste Gulbenkia, Lisbon, Portugal, August 2008; Todays Art Festival, the Hague, Netherlands, September 2008; Springboard and Fluid Festival, Calgary, Canada, October 2008; Norfolk and Norwich Festival, Norwich, UK, May 2009; Cinedans and Julidans Festival, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, July 2009; RADIALSYSTEM V, Berlin, Germany, October 2009; 4 + 4 Days in Motion 14th International Theatre Festival, Prague, October 2009; Experiment Media and Performing Arts Centre, Troy, US, December 2009; Street Theatre, Canberra, Australia, May 2010; La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy, June 2010; Salihara Festival, Jakarta, Indonesia, October 2010; Seymour Centre, Sydney, Australia, October 2010; IDN Festival, Barcelona, Spain, January 2011
Mortal Engine is a dance-video-music-laser performance using movement and sound responsive projections to portray an ever-shifting, shimmering world in which the limits of the human body are an illusion. Crackling light and staining shadows represent the most perfect or sinister of souls. Kinetic energy fluidly metamorphoses from the human figure into light image, into sound and back again. Choreography is focused on movement of unformed beings in an unfamiliar landscape searching to connect and evolve in a constant state of becoming. Veering between moments of exquisite cosmological perfection and grotesque evolutionary accidents of existence, we are driven forward by the reality of permanent change. [Text courtesy of Chunky Move.]
credits: direction, choreography Gideon Obarzanek, interactive system design Frieder Weiss, laser and sound artist Robin Fox, composer Ben Frost, costume designer Paula Levis, lighting designer Damien Cooper, set design Richard Dinnen, Gideon Obarzanek, multimedia engineer Nick Roux, performers Kristy Ayre, Sara Black, Amber Haines, Antony Hamilton, Marnie Palomares, Lee Serle, James Shannon, Adam Synnott, Charmene Yap, Jorijn Vrisendorp
performances: premiere Sydney Festival, January 2008; Edinburgh International Festival, August 2008; Noorderzan Festival, Groningen, the Netherlands, August 2008; Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne, March 2009; Festival De Mexico, Mexico City, March 2009; Tanzhaus, Dusseldorf Germany, June 2009; International Festival of Arts, Salamanca, Spain, June 2009; Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, September 2009; Next Wave Festival, BAM, New York, December 2009; Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne, March 2010; Sydney Theatre, Sydney, May 2010; New Vision Arts Festival, Hong Kong, October 2010; National Chiang Kai-Shek Cultural Centre, Taipei, Taiwan, November 2010
Fish continues the story of the earth and the power of the elements that began with Ochres, taking the journey to the vast bodies of water. As disparate, as diverse as Aboriginal identity itself, Fish celebrates the seas, the rivers, the swamps and the wealth of life and mystery they contain.
Swamp: The swamps and the mangroves are still waters, deep, murky and mystical, sites of great sacredness and spirituality. Drawing on stories and traditions from Dhalimbouy, Swamp imagines the great swathes of life in the silent depths, fish as unborn souls—fearful of pain, ready for birth, awaiting their moment in the sun.
Traps: Traps juxtaposes Western ways with the ancient, challenging the notion of hooking and gutting with the slow lure and catch of old. Inspired by the craft and the intricate workmanship of the grand fishing traps from Ramingining, this most contemporary of ballets traces the fishing cycle—the drawing of fish from the water to the restoration of remains to the earth. Stark consequences flow from disruption to such a cycle, to tradition born in the time of the Dreaming. Without the ritual of return the soul is lost in time and place, grasping after stolen memories with no way of getting home.
Reef: Inspired by the Torres Strait, the vibrant blues, the rich purples, the deep dramatic greens of Reef evoke the clash and contrast of culture and colour found at the water’s edge. The salt in the air and the strength in the waves, the breath of the wind and the beat of the earth merge into one majestic whole. The exhilaration and energy of life and love are blended in a rich simplicity, as Australia’s two Indigenous peoples, the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islanders, celebrate the windswept tenderness of the reef. Stephen Page later adapted Fish for the screen, with the film showing on SBS in January 1999. [Text courtesy of Bangarra Dance Theatre.]
credits: director, choreographer Stephen Page, original score David Page, cultural design Djakapurra Munyarryun, set design Peter England, costume design Jennifer Irwin, lighting design Mark Howett
performances: Edinburgh, August 1997; Sydney Opera House, September 1997; Enmore Theatre, Sydney, March 1998; Playhouse, Canberra, April 1998
reviews/articles – realtime
timely dreaming
keith gallasch, realtime 20, august-september, 1997
Ochres, first performed in Sydney in 1995, proved a watershed production for Bangarra, leading to sell-out shows around the country and more invitations to perform overseas than the company could accept.
Stephen Page writes: “Ochres play an essential part in traditional life. Working with cultural consultant/dancer Djakapurra Munyarryun has provided us with valuable insight into the presentation of traditional paint-up and preparation.
As a substance ochre has intrigued us. Its significance and myriad purposes, both spiritual and physical, has been the driving force behind this collaboration. The portrayal of each colour is by no means a literal interpretation, but the awareness of its spiritual significance has challenged our contemporary expressions.”
Ochres is a work in four parts which explores the mystical significance of ochre, inspired by its spiritual and medicinal power: Prologue, Yellow, Black, Red and White. [Text courtesy of Bangarra Dance Theatre.]
credits: co-choreographers Stephen Page, Bernadette Walong, composer David Page, cultural consultant Djakapurra Munyarryun, lighting design Joseph Mercurio, performers Albert David, Gary Lang, Marilyn Miller, Djakapurra Munyarryun, Russell Page, Kirk Page, Jan Pinkerton, Frances Rings, Gina Rings,Bernadette Walong
performances: Sydney, Canberra, Perth, Berlin, Tokyo
In 2004, fusing contemporary and traditional dance, Bangarra Dance Theatre premiered Clan—two spectacular works, Unaipon and Reflections. Unaipon, choreographed by Frances Rings, is inspired by the life and vibrant intellect of Aboriginal inventor, writer and philosopher David Unaipon who is featured on the Australian $50 note. Reflections brings together the best of the award-winning choreography of Artistic Director Stephen Page. Excerpts from milestone works such as Ochres, Fish and Skin are woven together into one sensual and emotive theatrical experience.
In 2006 Clan returned as Frances Rings’ double bill Unaipon and Rations. Rations explores mission life in colonial Australia and a remarkable history of struggle and survival. [Text courtesy of Bangarra Dance Theatre.]
credits: choreographers Stephen Page, Frances Rings, set design Peter England, lighting design Nick Schlieper, costume design Jennifer Irwin, music & sound design David Page, performers Timothy Bishop, Jhnuy-Boy Boria, Victor Bramich, Deborah Brown, Yolande Brown, Chantal Kerr, Elma Kris, Kathy Balngayngu Marika, Rheannan Port, Frances Rings, Sidney Saltner, Patrick Thaiday, Sani Townson
performances: Adelaide Festival, March 2004; Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane, April-May 2004; the Arts Centre, Melbourne, June 2004; Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House, June-July 2004; Glen St Theatre, Sydney, February-March 2007
Elma Kris, Patrick Thaiday, Mathinna, Bangarra Dance Theatre
photo Jeff Busby
Elma Kris, Patrick Thaiday, Mathinna, Bangarra Dance Theatre
Inspired by a young girl’s journey between two cultures, Mathinna traces the fragmented history of a young Tasmanian Aboriginal girl removed from her traditional life and adopted into Western Colonial society, only to be ultimately returned to the fragments of her original heritage.
Young Mary was born on Flinders Island, Tasmania, in 1835 to the Chief of the Lowreenne tribe, Towgerer, and his wife Wongerneep. As a young girl, Mary captured the hearts of Governor Sir John and Lady Jane Franklin and was adopted into their household at Government House in Hobart. Mary was renamed Mathinna. Somewhat of an educational and charitable project, Mathinna was raised with the Governor’s daughter Eleanor and was described as a “very nice, intelligent child.”
When Governor Sir John and Lady Jane Franklin returned to England, Mathinna was sent to the Queen’s Orphan School in Hobart where she struggled to adjust. When Mathinna was sixteen she left the School to rejoin her people at an Aboriginal station at Oyster Cove, south of Hobart. At this settlement Mathinna’s life came to a disheartening end.
Mathinna became the archetype of the ‘stolen child.’ Bangarra Dance Theatre recreates her powerful story of vulnerability and searching in an era of confusion and intolerance. [Text courtesy of Bangarra Dance Theatre.]
credits: choreography Stephen Page, music David Page, set design Peter England, lighting design Damien Cooper, costume design Jennifer Irwin
performances: the Arts Centre, Melbourne, May 2008; Queensland Performing Arts Centre, May-June 2008; Canberra Theatre Centre, June 2008; Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, Wollongong, July 2008; Civic Theatre, Newcastle, July 2008; Sydney Opera House, July-August 2008; Parramatta Riverside Theatre, Sydney, February 2010; Arts Centre, Frankston, October 2010; Geelong Performing Arts Centre, October 2010; Theatre North, Launceston, October 2010; Theatre Royal, Hobart, November 2010; Karralyka Centre, Ringwood, November 2010; Westside Performing Arts Centre, Shepparton, November 2010; West Gippsland Arts Centre, Warragul, November 2010; The Capital, Bendigo, November 2010; Esso BHP Billiton Wellington Entertainment Centre, Sale, November 2010; Drum Theatre, Dandenong, November 2010
Pulling no punches, The Age of Unbeauty twists through an avalanche of potent images and unanticipated moments of quiet, sad tenderness and shattering vulnerability.
The dancers draw upon their disciplined and extreme training in gymnastics, breakdance and the martial art of Hapkido to bring Garry Stewart’s stark and heart rendering vision of a haemorrhaging world reeling under a barrage of violence to the stage.
Incredible movement, sound, lighting and lush film effects earned this work the highest accolades. The Age of Unbeauty is risky, technically demanding dance that is at once wrenching and riveting to watch. (Text courtesy of Australian Dance Theatre.)
The Age of Unbeauty, ADT
photo Heidrun Löhr
The Age of Unbeauty, ADT
credits: devised and directed by Garry Stewart, choreographed with the company, dramaturgy David Bonney, set design Garry Stewart, Gaelle Mellis, Geoff Cobham, costume Gaelle Mellis, sound design Luke Smiles, lighting design Damien Cooper, video artist David Evans
performances: premiere Scott Theatre, Adelaide, February-March 2002; Sydney Opera House, Sydney, June-July 2002; Scott Theatre, Adelaide, October 2003; Playhouse, Melbourne, October 2003; Magdalenazaal, Brugge, Belgium, January 2005; Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Suffolk, UK, February 2005; Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, UK, March 2005; Notthingham Playhouse, Nottingham, UK, March 2005; Schouwburgring Tilburg, Tilburg, the Netherlands, April 2006; Schouwburg Alphen aan de Rijn, Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands, April 2006; Stadsschouwburg Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands, April 2006; Stadsschouwburg Eindhoven, Eindhoven, the Netherlands, April 2006; CC Hasselt / De Doos, Haaselt, Belgium, April 2006; Stadsschouwburg Sint-Niklaas, Vlaanderen, Belgium, April 2006; CC De Werf, Aalst, Belgium, May 2006; CC De Spil, Roeselare, Belgium, May 2006; Schouwburg Zoetermeer, the Netherlands, May 2006; Chasse Theater Breda, the Netherlands, May 2006; De Flint, Amersfoort, the Netherlands, May 2006; Schouwburg den Bosch, Den Bosch, the Netherlands, May 2006; Theater de Vest, Alkmaar, the Netherlands, May 2006; Schouwburg Kunstmin, Dordrecht, the Netherlands; Theatre de Sete Scene Nationale, Sete, France, May 2006; L’Esplande, Saint Etienne, France, May 2006; Theater de Veste, Delft, the Netherlands, June 2006; Goudse Schouwburg, Gouda, the Netherlands, June 2006
ADT does not sell DVD recordings of any of its works due to copyright laws. The company does have a system for lending DVD kits to educational institutions. The DVDs currently available for loan to educators are: Birdbrain, The Age Of Unbeauty, HELD and Devolution.
DVDs are loaned out with a $15 postage and handling fee plus an $85 deposit. The deposit is fully refunded upon the return of the DVD. For further information and to organise a loan contact ADT.
HELD is a dance performance about photography, time and perceptions of reality. Embodying the dynamic tension between the action of Garry Stewart’s ballistic choreography and its ‘fixed’ capture by American photographer Lois Greenfield, HELD juxtaposes solidity with liquidity, heaviness with lightness, stillness with flow, clarity with illusion into an extraordinary live performance.
Using electronic strobes to photograph the dramatic explosions and propulsion of Garry Stewart’s signature kamikaze style, Lois Greenfield created the illusion of weightlessness by freezing these dynamic moments at 1/2000 of a second, projected instantaneously, revealing to the audience a moment that exists beneath the threshold of perception. (Text courtesy Australian Dance Theatre.)
Held
photo Lois Greenfield
Held
credits: concept and choreography Garry Stewart, photography Lois Greenfield
performances: premiere Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide, August 2004; Sydney Opera House, Sydney, August 2004; Monaco, December 2004; Discovery Theatre, Anchorage, Alaska, US, April 2005; The Joyce Theater, New York, US, April-May 2005; Paris, France, November 2005; Wonderland Ballroom, Adelaide, September 2006; Saitama, Japan, September-October 2006; Noisey-le-Grand, France, October 2006; Bourges, France, October 2006; Turnhout, Belgium, October 2006; Tarbes, France, October 2006; Martigues, France, October 2006; Annemasse, France, October 2006; Seville, Spain, October 2006; Champagne, France, October 2006; St Polten, Austria, October 2006; Echirolles, France, October 2006; Tilburg, the Netherlands, October 2006; Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands, November 2006; Groningen, the Netherlands, November 2006; Sadler’s Wells, London, UK, February 2007; City Hall, Sheffield, UK, February 2007; Theatre Royal, Glasgow, UK, March 2007; Wales Millenium Centre, Cardiff, UK, March 2007; Derngate Theatre, Northampton, UK, March 2007; Wycombe Swan, High Wycombe, March 2007; Alhambra Theatre, Bradford, UK, March 2007; Hall for Cornwall, Truro, UK, March 2007; New Victoria Theatre, Woking, UK, March 2007; The Lowry, Salford, UK, March 2007; Edinburgh Festival, Edinburgh, UK, March 2007
pathos, pathology and the still-mobile image: a warburgian reading of held by garry stewart and lois Greenfield
jonathan marshall, about performance 8, 2008, pp. 180-208
dvds
ADT does not sell DVD recordings of any of its works due to copyright laws. The company does have a system for lending DVD kits to educational institutions. The DVDs currently available for loan to educators are: Birdbrain, The Age Of Unbeauty, HELD and Devolution.
DVDs are loaned out with a $15 postage and handling fee plus an $85 deposit. The deposit is fully refunded upon the return of the DVD. For further information and to organise a loan contact Ros Heard.
Garry Stewart has built a reputation for pushing dance beyond convention into new realms. In Devolution he collaborated with Canadian multi-disciplinary artist Louis-Philippe Demers, UK video artist Gina Czarnecki and London based costume designer Georg Meyer-Wiel to create a unique world. Situating humans in communion with multiple robotic machines of both large and medium scale, kinetic set and lighting design, a multitude of robotic prostheses and ambulating robotic constructs as well as extraordinary video art, Devolution explores the relationship between machine and body.
Filled with symbolism and ritualised process Devolution highlights the fact that that for all of our technology we are still primitive, of the flesh and live as instinctive biological beings. (Text courtesy of Australian Dance Theatre.)
Larissa McGowan, Daniel Jaber and Tim Ohl, Devolution, ADT
photo Chris Herzfeld
Larissa McGowan, Daniel Jaber and Tim Ohl, Devolution, ADT
credits: direction and choreography Garry Stewart, robotics Louis-Philippe Demers, assistant director Carol Wellman, projections Gina Czarnecki, cinematographer Tony Clark, composer Darrin Verhargen, costumes Georg Meyer-Wiel, dancers Shannon Anderson, Daryl Brandwood, Danny Golding, Daniel Jaber, Paea Leach, Glen McCurley, Larissa McGowan, Tim Ohl, Xiao-Xuan Yang, Paul Zivkovich
performances: premiere, Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide, March 2006; Sydney Festival, Sydney, January 2007; Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide, August 2007; Théâtre de la Ville, Paris, France, November 2007; Annecy, France, November 2007
even better the second time around
peter burdon, the advertiser (adelaide), august 8, 2007
maybe we’re not human: translating actions and affects between humans and machines in australian dance theatre’s devolution
jonathan bollen, brolga 31, 2009, pp. 9-18
dvds
ADT does not sell DVD recordings of any of its works due to copyright laws. The company does have a system for lending DVD kits to educational institutions. The DVDs currently available for loan to educators are: Birdbrain, The Age Of Unbeauty, HELD and Devolution.
DVDs are loaned out with a $15 postage and handling fee plus an $85 deposit. The deposit is fully refunded upon the return of the DVD. For further information and to organise a loan contact Ros Heard.
In 2000 Garry Stewart premiered his seminal dance work Birdbrain—a wry, action packed deconstruction of Swan Lake. Birdbrain has gone on to be the most performed Australian contemporary dance work in history. In 2008 Stewart continued his use of iconic ballet works with the debut of G, a powerful reworking of Giselle. G fuses the technical prowess of classical ballet with explosive and enthralling choreography.
Sex, death, hysteria and gender, the central themes of the work, are expressed through an eclectic choreographic approach that seamlessly interplays the body in dark collapse, teamed with full tilt athleticism and rapid fire deconstructed classicism. Dislocating and transcending the ballet’s romantic narrative, G converts the dancers from characters into visceral explorations of the emotional motifs found in Giselle.
The score was created by Luke Smiles, one of the luminaries of music composition for the new wave of Australian contemporary dance.
G was co-commissioned by The Joyce Theater’s Stephen and Cathy Weinroth Fund for New Work (New York), Southbank Centre (London) and Merrigong Theatre Co. at Illawarra Performing Arts Centre (Wollongong). G was co-produced by Theatre de la Ville (Paris).” (Text courtesy of the Australian Dance Theatre.)
G, ADT
photo Chris Herzfeld
G, ADT
credits: G, conception, direction, choreography and set design Garry Stewart, performers Chris Aubrey, Emee Dillon, Amber Haines, Troy Honeysett, Daniel Jaber, Lauren Langlois, Lina Limosani, Larissa McGowan, Kialea-Nadine Williams, Kimball Wong, lighting design Geoff Cobham, composer Luke Smiles/motion laboratories, costumes Daniel Jaber, Gaelle Mellis,
performances: premiere ADT Studios, Hawthorn, March 2008; Wonderland Ballroom, Hawthorn, September 2008; Stadsschouwburg Utrecht , Utrecht, the Netherlands, October 2008; Parktheater Eindhoven, Einhoven, the Netherlands, October 2008; Het Zaantheater Zaandam, the Netherlands, October 2008; Theater de Vest, Alkmaar, the Netherlands, October 2008; Schouwburg Arnhem, Arnhem, the Netherlands, October 2008; Goudse Schouwburg, Gouda, the Netherlands, October 2008; Schouwburgring Tilburg, Tilburg, the Netherlands, October 2008; Stadsschouwburg De Harmonie, Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, October 2008; Theater de Veste, Delft, the Netherlands, October 2008; Mercat de les Flors, Barcelona, Spain, October 2008; La Rampe, Echirolles, France, October 2008; Le Toboggan, Decines, France, October 2008; Schouwburg Kunstmin, Dordrecht, the Netherlands, October 2008; CC Cultuurcentrum Brugge, Brugge, Belgium, October 2008; Teatro Central de Sevilla, Seville, Spain, November 2008; Bonlieu Scene Nationale , Annecy, France, November 2008; Le Rive Gauche, St Etienne, France, November 2008; Teatro Sociale di Trento, Trento, Italy, November 2008; CC Hasselt / De Doos, Hasselt, Belgium, November 2008; CC De Werf , Aalst, Belgium, November 2008; Stadsschouwburg Groningen Theatre, Groningen, the Netherlands, November 2008; Southbank Centre, London, UK, November 2008; Theatre de la Ville, Paris, France, December 2008; Relais Culturel Chateau Rouge , Annemasse, France, December 2008; Espace des Arts, Chalon, France, November 2008; Grand Theatre de Luxembourg, Luxembourg, December 2008; Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide, August 2009; Cergy-Pontoise, France, November 2009; Poitiers, France, December 2009; Nimes, France, December 2009; Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines, France, December 2009; Nantes, France, December 2009
the g-spot is missed by a mile: the terrible and wonderful things done in the name of dance
louise levene, sunday telegraph, december 7, 2008
life on the ocean wave: dance
david dougill, the sunday times, december 7, 2008
G, ADT
photo Chris Herzfeld
G, ADT
geed-up giselle stretches pointe
alan brissenden, the australian, august 17, 2009
reaching new heights
peter burdon, the advertiser (adelaide), august 28, 2009
g-force pushes the boundaries of dance
matt byrne, sunday mail, august 30, 2009
G, ADT
photo Chris Herzfeld
G, ADT
dvds
ADT does not sell DVD recordings of any of its works due to copyright laws. The company does have a system for lending DVD kits to educational institutions. The DVDs currently available for loan to educators are: Birdbrain, The Age Of Unbeauty, HELD and Devolution.
DVDs are loaned out with a $15 postage and handling fee plus an $85 deposit. The deposit is fully refunded upon the return of the DVD. For further information and to organise a loan contact Ros Heard.
Songs with Mara featured Bulgarian songs sung by the company and led by Mara Kiek. The original cast featured five female dancers joined by musicians Mara and Lew Kiek. Through its fusion of dance, song and imagery Songs with Mara evoked the spirits and traditions of Eastern Europe. The work was revived in 1995 for Meryl Tankard Australian Dance Theatre when it featured an enlarged cast of both male and female dancers. [Text from Australia Dancing.]
credits: Meryl Tankard Company, choreography and direction Meryl Tankard, original performers Meryl Tankard, Paige Gordon, Amanda Rogers, Tuula Roppola and Michelle Ryan, design Regis Lansac, musicians Mara Kiek Lew Kiek; initial season was dedicated to the memory of Kelvin Coe.
performances: premiere Gorman House Arts Centre, Canberra, July 1992; Barossa Music Festival, October 1993; Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre, August 1995; Sydney Festival, January 1996; Playhouse, Melbourne, November 1997; Geelong, November 1997; Ballarat, November 1997
mara marches on
alison barclay, herald sun, october 29, 1997
meryl pushes the boundaries
blazenka brysha, herald sun, november 8, 1997
perfect full circle for tankard
alan brissenden, the australian, august 10, 1998
a seduction of the senses
michelle potter, canberra times, august 19, 1998
the impossibilities of the dance body: the work of meryl tankard
adrian kiernander, body show/s: australian viewings of live performance, ed. peta tait, amsterdam: rodopi press, 2000, pp. 205-216
Lee Serle (foreground), I Want to Dance Better at Parties, Chunky Move
photo Igor Sapina
Lee Serle (foreground), I Want to Dance Better at Parties, Chunky Move
I Want to Dance Better at Parties begins as a live documentary about five individual men’s relationship to dance. These men are represented on stage by five dancers and also appear on film projected on screens suspended above. From interviews originally conducted for a television documentary in the making, the men talk about dancing, their lives and more private thoughts and experiences.
The work begins as a factual and informative demonstration about the men and the place dancing has in their lives and gradually evolves into a more subjective and expressive work about who they are. As they divulge information of a much more personal nature the dancers on stage create physical, dynamic portraits of each subject. The piece thus moves out of the realm of documentary into being a highly impressionistic dance work, composed of a series of imagined private dances representative of the subjects’ inner lives. [Text courtesy of Chunky Move.]
credits: choreography, direction Gideon Obarzanek, video projection Michaela French, original music, sound design Jason Sweeney, Cailan Burns (PrettyBoy Crossover), lighting designer Niklas Pajani (trafficlight), costume designer Paula Levis, design realisation Donna Aston, performers Kristy Ayre, Anthony Hamilton, Martin Hansen, Jo Lloyd, Lee Serle, Delia Silvan, Adam Wheeler
performances: premiere at Chunky Move Studios, Melbourne, November-December 2004; Melbourne International Arts Festival, October 2005; Brisbane Power House, October 2005; Sydney Festival, January 2006; Frankston Performing Arts Centre, Melbourne, September 2006; Whitehorse Theatre, Melbourne, September 2006; Clocktower Centre, Melbourne, September 2006; Monash University, Melbourne, September 2006; West Gippsland Arts Centre, Warragul, September 2006; Warrnambool Entertainment Centre, Warrnambool, September 2006; Golden Grove Arts Theatre, Adelaide, October 2006; Darwin Entertainment Centre, Darwin, October 2006; Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, March 2007; University of California, San Diego, March 2007; University of California, Santa Barbara, March 2007; University of California, Santa Cruz, March 2007; Dancing on the Edge Festival of Contemporary Dance, Vancouver, July 2007; Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival, Becket, Massachusetts, July 2007; Christchurch Festival, August 2007; Pittsburgh Australia Festival, November 2007; Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, Burlington, Vermont, March 2009; Crash Arts, Boston, March 2009; Dance Victoria, Victoria, Canada, April 2009
Original Home was developed by Ros Warby, Shona Innes and Graeme Leak. It is a choreography of movement and sound sculpted within an enclosed environment. The piece invites a return to original home. It is concerned with the notion of one’s place, one’s original nature. Beauty and simplicity are hallmarks of the work. Stillness and silence act as a backdrop to a collection of sounding objects that have a primal resonance (rock, plank, drum, string, stick).
Warby, Leak and Innes are mature performers who share a deep interest in improvisation in performance and are respected soloists in their own right. They also share a dry and understated sense of humour, which brings a quirky and unexpected edge to their collaboration. Years of performing experience allows them to play not only with each other but also with some of the traditions and conventions of their art forms. Warby and Medlin’s design for Original Home exhibits their understanding of the theatrical space and flair for framing the dance/performance.
As a musician, Graeme Leak is distinguished by his ability as a performer. His warm and open presence and curious physical rapport with objects provokes a bizarre sense of play for performers and audience alike.
Shona Innes is well known for her solo dance improvisations and her off-beat interpretations. Her idiosyncratic approach to movement reveals itself in her play with the rhythm and inflection of gesture.
As director of this work, Ros Warby goes more deeply into the choreography between movement and sound, to reveal the fundamental beauty of this relationship. [Text courtesy of the artist.]
Swift is Ros Warby’s internationally acclaimed solo dance work depicting the multifaceted layers existing simultaneously within a female character. Created in collaboration with her artistic team, designer Margie Medlin and composer Helen Mountfort, Swift has been developed into various incarnations over the past six years and has been hailed by critics as an elaborate choreography between theatrical elements, described by the New York Times as a “seamless blend of dance, film and music.”
Humorous, elegant and startlingly original, Swift is a kaleidoscope of fanciful characterisations, choreography and music. The solo dancer transforms from gremlin to gentle diva, exposing complex physical, psychological and emotional states experienced by the female protagonist.
Ros Warby, Swift (film) photo courtesy of the artist
photo courtesy of the artist
Ros Warby, Swift (film) photo courtesy of the artist
Stylistically Swift is a blend of filmic and theatrical aesthetics that plays with perspective and the scale of the characters. The musical score defines the rhythm of the performance. But it is the dancers’ understanding of timing, between music, film, dance and space that creates the seamless integration of all the elements. Swift premiered in Melbourne 2003 and has since toured to Europe and the US to critical acclaim. The work was adapted into a smaller gallery style version, Swift re-frame, for the Melbourne International Arts Festival in 2003 before being adapted into a 15-minute cinematic version commissioned by ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Television. The film premiered on ABC TV March 27, 2007. [Text courtesy of the artist.]
Helen Mountford, Ros Warby, Swift
photo courtesy of the artist
Helen Mountford, Ros Warby, Swift
credits: direction, choreography, performance Ros Warby, lighting, projection, set design Margie Medlin, composition, performance Helen Mountfort, cinematography Ben Speth, costume Mila Faranov, production manager Richard Montgomery, performer Ros Warby, designer, operator Margie Medlin, performer Helen Mountfort, stage manager Jean Margaret Thomas
performances: premiere Arts House, Melbourne, February 2003; Melbourne International Arts Festival, October 2003; Time-Based Art Festival, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, US, September 2003; Theatrespektakkel, Zurich, August 2004; Dance Theater Workshop, New York, January 2005; Dance Umbrella, London, October 2006; Dartington College, UK, November 2006; The Point Eastleigh, UK, 2006; Trafo, Budapest, November 2006
The main inspirations for Meryl Tankard’s The Oracle come from the haunting work of Scandinavian painter Odd Nerdum, Nijinsky’s traumatic life and the experience of choreographing Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, and the powerful images and spirit of Ingmar Bergman’s 1960 film The Virgin Spring.
A lone performer (Paul White) is revealed centre stage holding a long brown velvet cloak and wearing only white underpants and a small white medieval style cap/bonnet. He is the Oracle, the Augur in touch with the vital forces of Nature: the Seer and the Medium. But he also undergoes transformations.
Paul White, The Oracle
photo Regis Lansac
Paul White, The Oracle
He shows his adoration of the Earth. It is dawn, the dawn of humanity; a time when harmony reigned between the forces of nature and man. He is the protector of the Earth; the medium who can interpret the signs of nature. He is also the youth, the young maiden, the spring and the hope for renewal. But he has premonitions, apocalyptic visions: war, devastation, famine, drought, climate change. He becomes the earth but then he knows that he has to sacrifice himself to save the world, to bring another spring. The Oracle is a metaphor for our present time. Meditative and sensual, disturbing and wise, he is the Oracle, the interpreter of signs we cannot afford to miss. What sacrifice will nature require to renew a harmony squandered by greed and indifference?
credits: concept, direction Meryl Tankard, choreography Meryl Tankard, Paul White, set design, video Regis Lansac, lighting design Damien Cooper and Matt Cox
performances: premiere Playhouse, Sydney Opera House, September 2009; Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne, December 2009; Brisbane Festival, September 2010
Paul White, The Oracle
photo Regis Lansac
Paul White, The Oracle
articles/reviews – realtime
dance bites
keith gallasch, realtime 94, december 2009-january 2010
Enso is a trio for dance, cello and voice. The work was developed from an improvisation practice developed over eight years between Ros Warby and cellist Helen Mountfort. The work focuses on the choreography between improvised movement and sound, refining and tuning this relationship to produce a carefully crafted work, simple and sparse in structure allowing the subtle complexities of movement and sound to resonate in intimate ways with the onlooker.
In Enso, the performers are tuning to one another and the space, composing spontaneously, responding to what the environment offers, and exploiting its haunting acoustics and unusual spatial dimensions. Their journey is a meditation through movement and sound. The nature of this performance practice offers an immediacy and presence to the work that stimulates and surprises both the performer and viewer simultaneously.
Designers Ben Cobham and Simon Barley collaborate in housing this delicate trio in the Wesleyan Hall, suitable for its acoustic and spatial splendour. Directorial consultant, Helen Herbertson, brought her experience and sensitivity to help tune and craft the work. [Text courtesy of the artist.]
credits: choreography Ros Warby with Helen Mountfort, performance Ros Warby (dance), Helen Mountfort (cello), Jeannie Van De Velde (voice), design Ben Cobham and Simon Barley
performances: Danceworks, the Wesleyan Hall, Melbourne, March 1998
Monumental is Ros Warby’s award winning solo dance work, developed in collaboration with her long standing artistic team, designer Margie Medlin and composer Helen Mountfort.
Monumental is a richly layered movement piece, continuing to refine Warby’s integration of the solo dance form with 35mm film projection and solo cello. It draws from the iconic symbols of classical ballet, the swan and the soldier, bringing focus to our own sense of strength and dissolution, amidst the often irreconcilable tragedies and the sustaining power of beauty in the world today. The audience is invited to engage, through the solo dancer, with the innocent bird, and the brave, sometimes tainted soldier embedded within us all. [Text courtesy of the artist.]
Ros Warby, Monumental
photo Jeff Busby
Ros Warby, Monumental
credits: conceived and directed by Ros Warby, created in collaboration with Helen Mountfort and Margie Medlin, choreography, performance Ros Warby, lighting, projection, set design Margie Medlin, music Helen Mountfort, cinematography Ben Speth, film editor Martin Fox, costume design Ros Warby, costume design consultation Jan Whitcroft, Mila Faranov, sound design Time Cole, production manager Kerry Ireland, stage manager Bronwyn Dunston
performances: premiere Melbourne International Arts Festival, October 2006; CarriageWorks, February 2009; Dance Theater Workshop, New York, April-May 2009; Miami Light Project, Miami, April 2009; Society for the Performing Arts, Houston, April 2009; Weber State University, Utah, April 2009; Irvine Barclay Theatre, University of California, April 2009; Le Biennale de Venezia, June 2010; Linbury Studio, London, October 2010
A commuter concourse. Functional space, neither here nor there but on the way. New concrete, acrid sweet. Jackhammer chatter, rhythmic rumble. Slap of thong sandals on tile. Cough, shuffle, fit of girlish giggles, exclamations in multiple languages. Floating above, synthesised piping tones, a descending melodic phrase with creeping overtones sweeping and glancing off highly polished surfaces. The phrase repeats with intricate variation of harmonics, encroaching from above and below, rubbing up against the fundamental. Notes are suspended, break apart and shimmer through the fluorescence.
The Gravities of Sound Audio Tunnel pipes audio works from Singapore, Japan, Myanmar, Phillipines, Korea and Australia through a 10-speaker system in the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay transit tunnel. The pace at midday on a Monday is relaxed and the commuters seem ambivalent, though the sound gently permeates consciousness, at least enough for people to realise they are not listening to Doris Day or some ubiquitous generic electro-beat. The curious linger over the posters explaining the soundworks adorning the pristine white walls.
The selection for Monday October 25 is from the Philippines, Myanmar and Singapore. From the creations experienced over 30 minutes, the tonal piece described above seems to do best, the harmonic manipulations bending and bouncing around the tunnel, the work differentiating itself from the sonic artefacts of the space itself. Though the various compilations are indicated by a wall poster it's not possible to tell which work you are experiencing–which artist from the Philippines, Myanmar or Singapore? This is a common dilemma in sound exhibitions that run sequentially and over which the listener can exert no choice or control. While it works on a particular experiential level for the general public, it is a frustratingly passive experience for the more engaged listener.
Just around the corner in the vestibule between carpark and escalators to the Esplanade, Annie Wilson's video Fight or Flight plays as part of GRAVITY extended. Bodies tumble (a little too) dimly down a black screen. The choreography of flailing limbs is slower than reality, but faster than acceptable slow motion so you never feel like you have grasped the whole image. Falling is a familiar image in video works (UK video artist Steve McQueen's Carib's Leap/Western Deep a stunning example), though Wilson's work differentiates itself in the perceived casualness of the “fallen.” Some look as though they have willingly leapt, some allow forces to tumble them through the air, but no-one seems alarmed. The work is engaging in the improvisatory/involuntary responses of the body. Arms fly up whether willed or not, feet kick at the invisible, legs bend at angles only achieved when loosed from the constraints of earth, centres of gravity tip and torsos topple over delicate heads. They can be casual as the inevitable consequences of the descent are not acknowledged—these bodies exist quite contentedly in a transitional zone, like that of the Audio Tunnel concourse—in a state of process.
Both spaces occupied by the exhibitions offer significant opportunities and challenges. The Audio Tunnel functions well within the constraints of the environment—the works sometimes sympathetic, sometimes antagonistic to the site. The installation is well designed with the sound clear, loud and consistent through the 80-metre tunnel (though louder would be better). The site for Fight or Flight is less functional and thus more banal—begging for something to augment it. The installation is quite prominent although the overhead lighting diminishes its effect somewhat. But perhaps the washed out nature of the video, along with workmen's jackhammer improvisations near the Audio Tunnel on the day we visited, are the price of placing art in external contexts where it must do battle with the urban elements. Though both involve a compromise, the effect is still enlivening. More on the sound works later as they're exhibited.
Directly framed by Sherry J Yoon’s straightforward announcements as herself to the audience, My Dad, My Dog presents a fragmented story about a Canadian woman of Korean descent (Yoon) imagining how one of her North Korean cousins might live. Yoon once had a dog who, she was convinced, was her reincarnated father. She wonders what her unknown North Korean cousin would do if she experienced the same thing.
Yoon appears as herself several times, emphasizing a (possibly false) truth-fiction distinction – “It’s not a real story, but every detail in it is true.” As the Korean cousin (all characters are unnamed), she presents a slide show about North Korean culture. A Canadian filmmaker (Billy Marchenski) worries that he’s been kidnapped; his monologues are rapid. Another Canadian, a professor (James Fagan Tait) who seems to have minimal knowledge of the birds he’s supposed to be studying, develops a flirtatious but awkward relationship with the Korean cousin by talking about his obssession with pigeons. Cuts from the original Godzilla backdrop the filmmaker’s thoughts about monster movies. Sound is mostly live: performers stand stage right by a microphone to provide voiceovers for hand-drawn animated scenes; Alicia Hansen plays gentle rills on an upright piano, stage right, silent movie style.
The play is a comedy, ranging from dreamy scenes of feeding (animated) pigeons to insightful comments on Kim Jong Il’s obssession with cinema to hilarious moments of non-communication sparked by differences in Canadian and Korean expectations. But it doesn’t find its focus in the story. The filmmaker overcomes the fear that he may be kidnapped and learns that he may be too presumptuous, but what does it mean to learn something so general about oneself? The pigeon-man remains a flat character whose role is to urge the Korean cousin to talk about herself. She becomes somewhat personal with him, but gives no specifics about who her father was, or why it would matter for her dad to appear as a dog. If that conversational distance is meant to reflect to opaque North Korean privacy habits, then the significance of the dad-dog needs to appear in another way. And the dad-dog, one of Jay White’s gentle, hand-drawn animations, doesn’t get enough stage time to become anything more than entertaining (there’s a great scene where the dad-dog confesses to another animated dog that he thinks the Korean woman has bad plans for him, but he can’t really tell because she keeps speaking English).
Because the storytelling style skips all over the place – the flow between scenes is almost, but not quite tight – the set and the layers of technical innovation take over and become the heart of the performance. In a high-tech culture increasingly devoted to all things digital, it is a pleasure to enter the well-crafted world of low-tech projections that White uses to create the whimsical set for My Dad, My Dog. White’s hand-drawn animations fill a movie-size screen, so images are large enough for the performers to walk around in or, suprisingly, for White to animate around the performers. In one scene, for example, White pans down an image of a tall elevator while a performer stands still. Elsewhere, the projection is set up so he can draw a backdrop live: as he sketches on a glass panel, the lines gradually form a restaurant and fellow patrons around the two performers sitting centre stage at a three-dimensional dining table.
The simple animation techniques are deft and playful, innovative in how they surround the performers. My Dad, My Dog is fun to sit through but ultimately remains sketchy, leaving the audience charmed by literal drawings instead of metaphorical ones.
Articles & Reports
Justine Shih Pearson reports on Dance on Camera, New York, and explores the new Curtis R Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Centre (EMPAC)
Erin Brannigan interviews dance filmmaker David Hinton about his work including his latest film Nora.
Keith Gallasch talks Gideon Obarzanek of chunky move about the interactive video potentials in glow and mortal engine.
Keith Gallasch talks with Richard James Allen about his dance film Thursday's Fiction
Erin Brannigan talks with Margie Medlin about the Sciart-funded Quartet
Erin Brannigan interviews choreograher/filmmaker Sue Healey
http://www.realtimearts.net/article/issue62/7553
An archive of the the Portal feature that ran from 2007-2012 featuring critical guides to the very best websites in performance, hybrid and media arts.
Includes surveys of online resources for New Media Arts, Sound, Contemporary Classical Music, Dance film and more.
d a n s e is a project that Rosalind Crisp has been developing continuously since 2005 between Australia and France in collaboration with her company and other artists.
The d a n s e project deals with a volatile group of choreographic principles which guide the way movement is produced by the dancer. The practice is not about memorising movements, but rather, about practicing ways of sourcing movement from any part of the body, at any speed or level, with any force or direction, for any duration … at any time. It is about the body dancing.
Three fundamental scores or attention tasks are:
– As soon as one notices the beginnings of an habitual movement pathway, redirect the attention to another part of the body or employ a different speed, direction, size or effort in that movement.
– Practice constantly changing the speed, level, direction, effort or part of the body which is initiating the movement (an impossible task but one which constantly awakens one to the potential of each moment).
– Practice delaying the beginnings of movements or suspending momentarily during a movement. In this brief space one has time to notice, and potentially to make, a different movement choice than the one which was about to be fulfilled.
dance
photo Heidrun Löhr
dance
With her attention on how the movements are forming, the dancer is constantly in the present – that is, in the moment of making the movement. Through practice, as the dancer embodies these and many other choreographic scores, they become anchors for her attention, particularly when performing. The scores imprint multiple ways of exploring each moment of the dance. As the dancer’s body awareness becomes myelinated with ways of finding movement in any part of the body, at any speed, level, direction, effort,… at any time, this inevitably informs the way she perceives herself dancing and generates a fluid interactivity between the body and the imaginary, ultimately giving her a lot of freedom to play beyond the rules.
In the beginning I called it ‘not dancing’. Later I realized that this was simply a necessary process of positive discrimination towards movements of lesser ‘value’. Now any-thing is permitted, even ‘presentation’ if it comes along. Everything IS something
‘d a n s e is a modality of work that Rosalind Crisp has been developing since 2005. It is about a way of working with the body and an ensemble of unstable principles which guide the production of movement by the dancer. These principles are continually transforming, constituting a language that is both rigorously identifiable and constantly mutating.
d a n s e is not a piece but a world in constant evolution. This process of work is the basis from which pieces or performances crystallise, reflecting different moments or facets of the process, and which we term ’sites’. Each piece or performance is born of the confrontation between the practice of d a n s e , other artists, a particular space, or a specific question. Each of these meetings carves a new direction for the work, giving the particular form and substance to each site ….’ Isabelle Ginot, dance researcher
The history of the d a n s e project is inextricably linked with the first performances that emerged from this research. dance was developed in 2005 at Omeo Dance studio in Sydney and presented at Performance Space. It was the first public ‘site’ of this project.
Each dancer independently sustains a fifty minute journey through an open space. Stools are placed throughout the space for the audience. The four dancers work in silence for thirty-eight minutes. This is broken suddenly by loud rock and roll music, for 3 minutes. They keep working, the visceral impact of the music impacting on their dancing, they continue afterwards, again in silence.
‘The structure of this piece is the lightest I could find. It brings the four of us into close proximity at times, without ever addressing directly any harmonious composition of two or more bodies in the same location. The turning point for me in making this work was breaking away from frontal presentation, not a new concept at that time, but something that had not been relevant to my work since the view from here (installation piece for galleries, 2001)’. Rosalind Crisp
dance
photo Heidrun Löhr
dance
credits: choreographer Rosalind Crisp, dancer/collaborators Lizzie Thomson, Joanna Pollitt, Olivia Millard, Rosalind Crisp, video Eric Pellet, lights/production Simon Wise
performances: Performance Space Sydney November 2005, Dancehouse Melbourne (duet version Lizzie and Rosalind) November 2005
Triple Alice was a gathering around the Central Desert of Australia—a gathering of a hard space and in virtual space. Triple Alice engages with the nature of artistic practice for the new millennium and takes the Central Desert as fundamental in its mapping of the future of artistic, cultural and media practice.
Held over three consecutive years, Triple Alice convened a forum and three live, site- and temporally-specific laboratories staged over three weeks each year. The forum and laboratories were accessible through a website which was integral to the event. Triple Alice is an open-ended project that took place at Hamilton Downs on the edge of the Tanami Track in the Northern Territory. Over the three years of the project, Indigenous and non-indigenous performers, visual artists, scientists, writers, web designers and theorists converged on Hamilton Downs for the Triple Alice Forum and Laboratory to hothouse a wide range of conceptual, cultural and critical issues. Out of these interdisciplinary, collaborative laboratories new works emerged, combining dance and movement, installation, text, photography, A/V and electronic media. These works were developed and presented both on location and also at arts institutions and cultural events around the country to generate further dialogue and exchange within Triple Alice.
Triple Alice 1 brought together more than 85 artists on site each day over the three weeks of the laboratory. There were three laboratories operating simultaneously—BodyWeather, an open ended physical research workshop; Writers—poetry, literature, text and theory; and local Territory Artists & Guest Speakers—from a range of different fields. Exchanges between the laboratories and each of the disciplines represented occurred via cross participation in each others labs and via collaborations between individual artists and groupings, while a range of poetry readings, discussions, slide-showings and performance events show-cased the work of those present and engendered dialogue, discussion and the initiation of processes that fed into and between each lab.
Triple Alice 2 was a small and intimate meeting. It comprised the Alice Springs Hothouse which included a performance in the Ilparpa claypans, followed by presentations, slide showings and discussions at the Watch This Space Gallery—as well as the on-site lab at Hamilton Downs. Triple Alice 3 was the third in a series of on-going forums and laboratories to be held in the Central Desert. The purpose of the laboratories is to draw on a fertile bed of cross-cultural, interdisciplinary practice from both Indigenous and non-indigenous traditions in relation to the Central heartland of Australia. It embodies a sustained commitment by a core group of artists to uncover a new cultural practice. It was held over a three-week period. Three simultaneously interlocking laboratories brought together different bodies of practice in relation to the place, focussing on visual, physical and textual disciplines whilst building on the experiences and information gathered during the first two years. (Text courtesy of De Quincey Co.)
credits: Triple Alice 1: The BodyWeather Laboratory facilitator Tess de Quincey, participants more than 50 from all over Australia as well as from Denmark, France, Holland, Germany and the UK. The Writers Laboratory participants Martin Harrison, Gay McCauley, Ian Maxwell, Peter Snow, Julia White, Angelika Fremd-Wiese, Gerd Christiansen. The Central Australian Laboratory facilitators Watch This Space, Desart, Christine Lennard and Gallery Gondwana, participants Cath Bowdler, Marg Bowman, Joy Hardman, Pam Lofts, Kim Mahood, Pip McManus, Ann Mosey, Rodd Moss, Dorothy Napangardi, Polly Napangardi Watson, Ann Oooms, Kirin Finane, Terry Whitebeach, Michael Watts, Nokturnl and Frank Yama, Denise Allen, Peter Latz, Dick Kimber, Arthur Ah Chee, Peter Toyne and Steve McCormack. Triple Alice 2 participants Francesca da Rimini, Sam de Silva, Sarah Waterson, Sophea Lerner, Michael Schiavello, Mari Velonaki, Peter Snow, Karen Vedel, Russell Emerson, Amanda MacDonald Crowley, Essar Gabriel, Kristina Harrison, Victoria Hunt, Marnie Orr, Lee Pemberton and Tess de Quincey.
performances: Triple Alice 1, September 20-October 10, 1999; Triple Alice 2, November 10-20, 2000; Triple Alice 3, September 17-October 7, 2001
reviews/articles – realtime
triple alice
realtime, realtime 30, april-may, 1999
About Performance devoted an entire issue to Tess de Quincey’s Triple Alice project, Each of the three laboratories was facilitated and documented by staff and students from the Department of Performance Studies, University of Sydney. The issue contains essays and other artworks by participants and observers, casebooks and a photo-essay.
About Performance 5: Body Weather in Central Australia, editor Gay McAuley
introduction
gay mcauley
from observer to participant: reflections on the triple alice experience
kristina harrison
burning point: overview description of triple alice
tess de quincey
edge, desert, reticulation, information
martin harrison
triple alice 1: a participant’s perspective
sarah dunn
performance making in alice
peter snow
access all areas: reflections on triple alice 1
ian maxwell
how to say (roughly…very roughly) what sort of a thing a triple alice 3 is, having attended one
stuart grant
drawings and texts
julia white
sky hammer
martin harrison
body weather at hamilton downs: a photo essay
russell emerson, gay mcauley, garry seabrook
With absolute simplicity, two performers create a living portrait that illuminates the shape and rhythms of our inner life.
Drawing together work from three continents—Japan, India and Australia—dancer/choreographer Tess de Quincey and actor Peter Snow negotiate the eight states of human emotion, as outlined in The Natyasastra —the cornerstone of artistic practice in India.
For a captivating and intensely intimate hour, two performers are literally ‘framed’ as they create a fascinating living portrait, playing out various heightened states of emotion. The production is part of De Quincey Co’s ongoing ‘embrace’ exchange between international artists, exploring eastern and western performance vocabularies. Integral to the piece is Michael Toisuta’s evocative Homage to Ligeti which takes its inspiration from Gyorgi Ligeti’s Poeme Symphonique for 100 Metronomes.” (Text courtesy of De Quincey Co.)
credits: created and performed by Tess de Quincey and Peter Snow, set design Russell Emerson, Steve Howarth, lighting design Travis Hodgson, sound design Michael Toisuta
performances: premiere Richard Wherrett Studio, Sydney Theatre, February-March 2008; La Mama Theatre, Melbourne, December, 2009
Stuart Shugg, Stephanie Lake, Alisdair Macindoe and Talitha Maslin, Human Interest Story, Lucy Guerin Inc
photo Jeff Busby
Stuart Shugg, Stephanie Lake, Alisdair Macindoe and Talitha Maslin, Human Interest Story, Lucy Guerin Inc
Using image, sound, language and movement Human Interest Story explores the affects of the news cycle on our psyche and questions our ability to accept the reality of distant tragedy into the daily routine of our lives. Shifting between humour and anxiety it shows our varying responses to the stream of information that reaches into our domestic environments about newsworthy events in other places.
Is the news a consumer product that neutralises our ability to have a genuine reaction to the world’s suffering? Or does it permeate our lives in a deeply affecting way? Human Interest Story attempts to comprehend our responses to current events that range from switching off to heartbreak, and how this unending flow of words and images shapes us.
Presented initially as rote text where natural disasters, wars, riots and environmental collapse are interchangeable with celebrity updates, the language of news presentation devolves into a driving utterance which propels movement into a visceral reimagining of the impact of reports from around the globe. [Text courtesy of Lucy Guerin Inc.]
Jessica Wong, Alisdair Macindoe, Stephanie Lake, Talitha Maslin, Stuart Shugg and Harriet Ritchie, Human Interest Story, Lucy Guerin Inc
photo Jeff Busby
Jessica Wong, Alisdair Macindoe, Stephanie Lake, Talitha Maslin, Stuart Shugg and Harriet Ritchie, Human Interest Story, Lucy Guerin Inc
credits: choreographer Lucy Guerin, performers Stephanie Lake, Alisdair Macindoe, Talitha Maslin, Harriet Ritchie, Stuart Shugg, Jessica Wong, set designer Gideon Obarzanek, realising designer Anna Cordingley, costume designer Paula Levis, lighting designer Paul Jackson, composer & sound designer Jethro Woodward, very special newscast by Anton Enus (World News Australia, SBS)
performances: premiere Malthouse Theatre Melbourne, July-August 2010; Perth International Arts Festival March 2011; Belvoir, September 2011
l-r Stephanie Lake, Harriet Ritchie, Jessica Wong, Talitha Maslin, Alisdair Macindoe and Stuart Shugg, Human Interest Story, Lucy Guerin Inc
photo Jeff Busby
l-r Stephanie Lake, Harriet Ritchie, Jessica Wong, Talitha Maslin, Alisdair Macindoe and Stuart Shugg, Human Interest Story, Lucy Guerin Inc
Ros Warby and Stephanie Lake, Melt, Lucy Guerin Inc
photo Virginia Cummins
Ros Warby and Stephanie Lake, Melt, Lucy Guerin Inc
Melt was part of Love Me, a program of three works—Reservoir of Giving I and II, On, and Melt—which explore relationships in projected environments. Melt describes a rise in temperature from freezing to boiling with each degree explored temperamentally and physically. It is a highly focused duet for two women whose detailed movements are intensified by the mercurial medium of motion graphics. [Text courtesy of Lucy Guerin Inc.]
credits: choreography Lucy Guerin, motion graphics Michaela French, music Franc Tetaz, cast Stephanie Lake, Kirstie McCracken
Kirstie McCracken, Stephanie Lake, Melt, Lucy Guerin Inc
photo Jeff Busby
Kirstie McCracken, Stephanie Lake, Melt, Lucy Guerin Inc
performances: (with The Ends of Things) premiere On the Boards, Seattle, USA, March 2003; PICA, Oregon, March 2003; Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA, March 2003; Diverseworks, Houston, USA, March 2003; Miami Light, Miami, USA, April 2003; National Arts Centre, Ottawa, Canada, April 2003; Dance Theatre Workshop, New York, April 2003; Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, November 2003; Sydney Opera House, Sydney, November 2003; Zurich Festival, Switzerland, April 2003; Zurich Festival, Switzerland, August 2004;
(as part of Love Me) Contact Theatre, Manchester, UK, October 2005; Belfast Festival, Ireland, November 2005; Mobile States tour to Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart; Performance Space, Sydney; Visy Theatre, Brisbane; Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth, August-September 2007; Seoul Performing Arts Festival, October 2007; Southbank, London, UK, May 2009; Arnolfini, Bristol, UK, May 2009; Dance Week Festival, Zagreb, Croatia, June 2009
love me
stephanie glickman, herald sun, july 31, 2007
mesmerising
julie huffer, sun herald, august 12, 2007
exploration of relationships
shoba rao, daily telegraph, august 14, 2007
love me: lucy guerin in
oliivia stewart, the courier mail, august 24, 2007
the dancing body as a screen: synchronizing projected motion graphics onto the human form in contemporary dance
angela barnett, computers in entertainment, 7.1 (february 2009), pp. 5-5.32
Byron Perry and Kirstie McCracken, Structure and Sadness, Lucy Guerin Inc
photo Jeff Busby
Byron Perry and Kirstie McCracken, Structure and Sadness, Lucy Guerin Inc
The collapse of the West Gate Bridge in 1970 is an event that remains imbedded in the public psyche of Melbourne. Thirty-five men lost their lives when a span came down during its construction. Structure and Sadness examines the bridge as a supporting and connecting structure. Its concrete and definable form contrasts with the unknowable grief and chaos brought about by its failure. On stage, the performers construct a precarious world teetering on the point of collapse. The work shifts between practical building of supportive structures and the impressionistic portrayal of disintegration and sorrow. Structure and Sadness is a complex dance work, which examines the impressionable human body contending with the unyielding inanimate world that surrounds it. It explores an event in recent history not as a factual narrative, but through physical, emotional and visual responses to a devastating accident. [Text courtesy of Lucy Guerin Inc.]
Antony Hamilton, Structure and Sadness, Lucy Guerin Inc
photo Jeff Busby
Antony Hamilton, Structure and Sadness, Lucy Guerin Inc
credits: director Lucy Guerin, choreographer Lucy Guerin with dancers from the premiere production: Fiona Cameron, Antony Hamilton, Lina Limosani, Alisdair Macindoe, Kirstie McCracken, Byron Perry, composer Gerald Mair, motion graphics Michaela French, set, lighting designers Bluebottle: Ben Cobham and Andrew Livingston, costume designer Paula Levis, dramaturg Maryanne Lynch, producer Michaela Coventry
performances: ppremiere Melbourne International Arts Festival, Malthouse Theatre, October 2006; Sydney Festival, January 2007; Perth International Arts Festival, February 2008; Dublin Dance Festival, Ireland, May 2009; Schloss Festspiele, Ludwigsberg, Germany, June 2009; Kunstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt, Germany, June 2009; Dance Theatre Workshop, New York, September-October 2009; Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne, November 2009; Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival, Becket, US, August 2010
Sudden, unexpected events, accidents, the accumulation of fear brought on by irrational obsessions, the inability to let go of the moment when everything changed. In a place where grief becomes a way of life, life still has a way of going on.
Already Elsewhere is set on the roof of a submerged house surrounded by grass—a time capsule of buried histories. Did the roof land there? Was the house buried? What disastrous event brought this about? Seven people, seemingly unrelated, emerge on the scene each haunted by unexplainable events. A man obsessed by his role in a fatal accident…A woman bewildered by the sudden disappearance of her child…A young woman’s growing paranoia of everyday life…The guilty survivor…Why her and not her friends? The man who doesn’t trust anyone, anywhere…He doesn’t even trust the dead.
The cast of actors and dancers take command of the show’s material with equal physical and theatrical skill, negotiating the steep incline of the roof with fatalistic determination. The roof is multifaceted, at once benign and playful it also acts as a projection surface relaying images in real time that occur ‘out of sight’ to the naked eye. Finally it erupts tile by tile as an explosive metaphor to a life lived in fear.
Already Elsewhere’s aesthetics pays homage to the work of renowned American photographer Gregory Crewdson. Ingeniously designed (both lighting and set) by Geoff Cobham, this intensely atmospheric work mixes idyllic suburban states with the heightened world of unexpected disaster. With text by the acclaimed Sydney writer Brendan Cowell, sound and music composition by the versatile Paul Charlier and direction by resident artistic director/choreographer Kate Champion, Force Majeure has created a work of world class dance-theatre that doesn’t shy away from exploring the disturbing symptoms of our chronic post-September 11 state of fear. In 2005, Already Elsewhere received the Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Performance by a Company.” (Text courtesy of Force Majeure.)
credits: director Kate Champion, performers Fiona Cameron, Sarah Jayne Howard, Kirstie McCracken, Veronica Neave, Nathan Page, Byron Perry, Lee Wilson, Tom Hodgson, designer (set and lighting) Geoff Cobham, composer, sound designer Paul Charlier, writer Brendan Cowell, assistant director Lisa Ffrench, artistic associate Roz Hervey; tour to Lyon, performer Narelle Benjamin
performances: premiere Sydney Festival, January 2005; Biennale de la Danse, Lyon, September 2006
It’s not how old you are, but how you are old. Force Majeure’s The Age I’m In is a poignant, witty and revealing portrait of how we inhabit the age we’re in throughout our lives. Woven together and brought to life by Force Majeure’s distinctive dance theatre language, a diverse selection of Australians aged between 14 and 80 offer astonishingly personal responses to a range of emotive issues, creating an intimate and warm-hearted snapshot of the aging process. Directed by Kate Champion, this performance—which won Outstanding Performance by a Company at the 2009 Australian Dance Awards—skillfully combines audio visual technology, real-life interviews and a distinctive physical language to take a fresh and humorous look at generational clichés, family interactions and the complexity of human relationships. (Text courtesy of Force Majeure.)
Byron Perry, Kirstie McCracken, The Age I’m In, Force Majeure
photo Heidrun Löhr
Byron Perry, Kirstie McCracken, The Age I’m In, Force Majeure
credits: director Kate Champion, performers Marlo Benjamin, Samuel Brent, Annie Byron, Tilda Cobham Hervey, Alexandra Cook, Macushla Cross, Vincent Crowley, Daniel Daw, Penny Everingham, Brian Harrison, Roz Hervey, Kirstie McCracken, Josh Mu, Veronica Neave, Tim Ohl, Byron Perry, Ingrid Weisfelt, designer Geoff Cobham?, artistic associate Roz Hervey, composer Max Lyandvert, costume designer Bruce McKinven, sound editor Mark Blackwell, photographer William Yang, audio visual producer Tony Melov, audio visual designer Neil Jensen, producer Karen Rodgers
The Age I’m In, Force Majeure
photo Heidrun Löhr
The Age I’m In, Force Majeure
performances: premiere Sydney Festival, January 2008; Adelaide Festival, March 2008; CarriageWorks, Sydney, November-December 2008; International Tour to Dublin, Seoul and Montreal 2009; Australian Roadwork Tour (five states,16 venues), 2010
Same, same But Different takes its inspiration from our enduring ability to keep on struggling for love… whether from one relationship to another or in one, the same, relationship. The work creates lasting imagery of various states of co-dependence, frustration, tenderness and humour through a dexterous blend of film, dance and theatrical virtuosity. Within a moving set of frames, the action is exposed and edited before the audience’s eyes. Live action interacts with life-sized film imagery evoking the multiplicity of thought within each character…their fleeting desires… their unfulfilled expectations. Giant giraffes tangled in a mating ritual are background to a couple’s antagonistic, counterbalanced dance. A human race that runs in circles is a metaphor for our more desperate efforts to survive…and a marathon dance of repetition reveals nuances of intimacy that only exist through the stamina of emotional endurance. Drawing inspiration from diverse sources including the film They Shoot Horses Don’t They?, the Margaret Attwood short story “Happy Endings” and our own personal lives, the work uses movement/dance/physicality as its driving force. Same, same But Different defies categorisation with dancers who act, actors who move and film that lives and breathes through the flesh of the performers. In 2002 Same, same But Different received the Helpmann Award for Best Physical Theatre or Visual Performance and the Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Dancer (Roz Hervey). (Text courtesy of Force Majeure.)
Same, same but Different, Force Majeure
photo Heidrun Löhr
Same, same but Different, Force Majeure
credits: director Kate Champion, performers Arianthe Galani, Brian Harrison, Roz Hervey, Kirstie McCracken, Veronica Neave, Nathan Page, Shaun Parker, Byron Perry, Ben Winspear, designer (set and lighting) Geoff Cobham, composer, sound designer Max Lyandvert, filmmaker Brigid Kitchin, associate producer Karen Rodgers
performances: premiere Sydney Festival, January 2002; Brisbane Festival, September-October 2002; Melbourne Festival, October 2002; Sydney Opera House, November 2002
One-minute compilation of already elsewhere and same, same but different
Same, same but Different, Force Majeure
photo Heidrun Löhr
Same, same but Different, Force Majeure
reviews/articles – other
same, same but different
hilary crampton, the age, november 1, 2002
agenda: melbourne festival: same, same but different
neil jillet, sunday age, november 3, 2002
something in the way they move
jill sykes, sydney morning herald, january 17, 2002
Same, same but Different, Force Majeure
photo Heidrun Löhr
Same, same but Different, Force Majeure
cast changes in the power of walk off
alison cotes, courier mail, october 4, 2002
love’s beautiful dance survives many pitfalls
stephanie glickman, herald-sun, november 1, 2002
it’s the same difference, isn’t it?
deborah jones, the australian, january 18, 2002
‘the play’s the thing’ no longer: non-linear narrative in kate champion’s same, same but different
rosemary klich, australasian drama studies 46, april 2005, pp.58-69
Weaving between the work of three of Australia’s most acclaimed women artists and around writings by Julia Kristeva, dancer Tess de Quincey invites you into a feminine space, an environment where body and textuality coexist. This is a raw and edgy layering where resonances of women’s culture and female sensibility are assembled in a crosscultural, interdisciplinary synthesis.
This collaboration brings together breathtaking and provocative poet Amanda Stewart with the intense, monumentality of digital sequencer Debra Petrovitch and the subversive trajectories of new media artist Francesca da Rimini. Other contributors bring elements from Turkish, Iranian, Indian, Chinese, Arabic, French, Chilean and Balinese female forms. Visual and sonic poetry is interwoven with a choreography that is based in a synthesis of Eastern and Western dance traditions. (Text courtesy of De Quincey Co.)
Tess de Quincey, Nerve 9
photo Russell Emerson
Tess de Quincey, Nerve 9
credits: dance and direction Tess de Quincey, visual and sonic poetry Amanda Stewart, audio visual sequencing Debra Petrovitch, text Francesca da Rimini, design and image editing Russell Emerson, lighting and digital design Richard Manner
performances: premiere, Performance Space, Sydney, May 2001; Dancehouse, Melbourne, February 2002; Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth, September-October 2005; Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart, October 2005; Performance Space, Sydney, October 2005; North Melbourne Town Hall, November 2005; Brisbane Powerhouse, November 2005; Brown’s Mart, Darwin, November 2005
Triptych examines three elements—air, electricity and water.
Through dance, sonic and visual structures, framed by three large-scale video screens which envelop the audience, the piece explores the elements as fundamental modes of physicality and being in the world. This in turn reflects the contemporary and ancient spectrum of human experience spanning war and peace; the survival of species.
Linda Luke, Triptych, De Quincey Co
photo Mayu Kanamori
Linda Luke, Triptych, De Quincey Co
Triptych invites audiences into an immersive multi-dimensional, ‘holographic’ matrix of body and space. Breaking open the simple, it explores the nature of perception and relationship. It generates a tactile and richly sensorial world, an environment which touches the nonverbal, sensual knowing. (Text courtesy of De Quincey Co.)
credits: performers Peter Fraser, Victoria Hunt, Linda Luke, Lizzie Thomson, sound Chris Abraham, video and visuals Sam James, lighting Travis Hodgson, choreography, direction Tess de Quincey
performances: Performance Space, Sydney, November 2008
Peter Fraser, run—a performance engine, De Quincey Co
photo Mayu Kanamori
Peter Fraser, run—a performance engine, De Quincey Co
Run—a performance installation by De Quincey Co that explores extreme energy and motion. Run invites audiences into an unpredictable space, where objects and bodies become integrated elements of a massive, warping environment; where suspended objects oscillate between stability and chaos.
Building on De Quincey Co’s renowned site-specific performance The Stirring performed in November 2007, in Run elements from the CarriageWorks building are incorporated to create a mobile structure which is driven by, and affects, the movement of the performers. The mobile is a reflection of CarriageWorks’ history which invites a new set of relationships to the place, its origins and its future. As a study of locomotion, the performers generate movement on different planes, actually defying gravity. Media and video images create layers of meaning, while live video cameras capture, edit and project the subtle, elemental relationships of motion in space.
De Quincey Co’s ensemble of highly skilled physical performers are joined by some of Australia’s leading artists for this bold and awe-inspiring new work. (Text courtesy of De Quincey Co.)
Linda Luke, Peter Fraser, run—a performance engine, De Quincey Co
photo Mayu Kanamori
Linda Luke, Peter Fraser, run—a performance engine, De Quincey Co
credits: performers Tom Davies, Peter Fraser, Victoria Hunt, Linda Luke, musician Jim Denley, Dale Gorfinkel, media artist John Tonkin, video artist Emmanuela Prigioni, lighting designer Travis Hodgson, sculptural installation Garnet Brownbill, Bernie Regan
performances: premiere August 2009, Performance Space, Sydney
Aether is a full-length dance work which explores the integration of projection, sound and movement. Guerin generates intricate and chaotic dance that exists in a medium of signals, messages and data by award winning motion graphics designer Michaela French. It examines the overwhelming sophistication of contemporary communication and the problems that still remain with expressing ourselves in simple human interactions. [Text courtesy of Lucy Guerin Inc.]
Kirstie McCracken, Aether, Lucy Guerin Inc
photo Rachel Roberts
Kirstie McCracken, Aether, Lucy Guerin Inc
credits: choreographer Lucy Guerin, motion graphic designer Michaela French, composer Gerald Mair, costume designer Paula Levis, lighting designer Keith Tucker, dancers from premiere production Antony Hamilton, Kyle Kremerskothen, Kirstie McCracken, Byron Perry, Lee Serle
performances: premiere North Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne, March 2005; Merlyn Theatre, November 2007; Pittsburgh, US, November 2007; Sydney Festival, January 2008
(l-r) Kyle Kremerskothen and Kirstie McCracken, Aether, Lucy Guerin Inc
photo Rachel Roberts
(l-r) Kyle Kremerskothen and Kirstie McCracken, Aether, Lucy Guerin Inc
related articles in realtime
moving and shaking
sophie travers, realtime 82, december 2007-january 2008
danse (1) is a fifty-minute solo journey through a large non-frontal space with five different “stations” or environments. Rosalind is concerned in this work with how the body in d a n s e is transformed over a duration of fifty minutes, in response to different textural environments and in close proximity to the public.
The piece commences with a projection on a giant screen (or wall) of the video d a n s e by Eric Pellet. Rosalind then proceeds to inhabit the space which is installed with a large open raised stage, a light box 2m x 2m lit from underneath, a place for Isabelle Ginot with her real-time writing responses to Rosalind’s dancing projected either side of her two laptops, a rock and roll scene, and the spaces in between…
These “stations” give the audience different frameworks through which to perceive the dancing. The public can move about or sit on benches placed in and around the various “stations”. Rosalind composes the dance in the presence of the spectators, working with different modes of relationship to them, …distant, direct, indirect, peripheral, in a constant state of listening.
A very personal voyage, this solo is saturated by its environment and influences it in turn. Isabelle Ginot dialogues “live” with the dance on her portable computers. Her texts – at times commentary, at times fictional responses to the dancing – are simultaneously projected on two screens (or walls) during one part of the journey. The public thus has access to multiple points of view, both in the space and by following the view of Isabelle.
In the final minutes of the piece, the space is invaded by powerful rock and roll music, which gives yet another perspective on the dance, underlining its visceral dimension. www.omeodance.com
credits: conception and choreography Rosalind Crisp, dance Rosalind Crisp, assistant Andrew Morrish, text and ‘inside’ eye Isabelle Ginot, music Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin, lights and technical direction Marco Wehrspann, video Eric Pellet, Le Fresnoy, stage design Rosalind Crisp, Marco Wehrspann, Andrew Morrish
performances: Mains d’œuvres Saint-Ouen, October 2006; Taichung Culture Centre Taiwan, November 2006; Greenwich Dance Agency London, February 2007; Biennale nationale de danse du Val-de-Marne, Centre des Bords de Marne Le Perreux, March 2007; Performance Space, Sydney, May-June 2007; Dancehouse, Melbourne (extracts), June 2007; Soirées MC2, Grenoble (extracts), June 2009; Platform, Zagreb, September 2009; Zodiak, Helsinki, Finland, February 2010
In danse (4), Rosalind Crisp expands her project by inviting three French dance artists, Céline Debyser, Max Fossati and Alban Richard, to appropriate her choreographic materials and processes of research. Her intention was to develop multiple registers of d a n s e , renderings of the work that are very different to her own and that can co-exist. For this she immerses the dancers in her choreographic world, at the same time constantly inviting them to effect it, to transform it in their own way, and even to reinvent it.
The structure of danse (4) builds on that of dance. The work is performed in an open space with benches for the audience to sit on and move between as they wish. The dancers inhabit the space one by one. Each of them composes according to their individual relationship to the practice and within the shared parameters of the “world” of d a n s e . It is a very personal journey experienced in the immediacy of the moment. The work is structured to bring the four dancers into common spaces at times, without ever imposing a dramaturgy. Swiss rock musician and composer Hansueli Tischhauser, plays live guitar at the 38 minute mark, and later, at the end, delicate ukulele as he wanders nonchalantly through the empty space.
With this work Rosalind Crisp also extends her investigation into perception, taking the public into an experience of dance that is sensitive, visceral, alive and in close contact with the dancers. The proximity to the dancers intensifies the proprioception of the spectators, eliciting in them an interior movement. Reciprocally, this effects the proprioception of the dancers, making them porous to the presence of the people around them. The spectators are free to move through space and take different points of view on each dancer, or on the group. The dancers develop a subtle listening in relation to one another, with the public and with the space.
(Text courtesy of Omeo Dance.)
credits: conception and choreography Rosalind Crisp, dancer/collaborators Rosalind Crisp, Céline Debyser, Max Fossati and Alban Richard, assistant Andrew Morrish, live music Hansueli Tischhauser, lights and technical direction Marco Wehrspann, costumes Maeva Cunci, stage design Rosalind Crisp, Marco Wehrspann and Andrew Morrish.
performances: premiered at the June Events 08 Festival, Théâtre du Soleil, Atelier de Paris-Carolyn Carlson, June 2008; Les Plateaux de la Biennale nationale de danse du Val-de-Marne CDC, September 2008 (extracts); Condition Publique Roubaix, Decembre 2008; Festival Artdanthé Vanves, February 2009; festival Biennale nationale de danse du Val-de-Marne, Centre des Bords de Marne scène conventionnée du Perreux, April 2009
These works deal with time and timing; how we sense time, never seem to have enough of it, how we deal with the inevitable passing of it. The series comprises film, live performance, gallery installation and international collaboration; all works are choreographed by Sue Healey in collaboration with performers.
In the film Three Times (7:30 minutes) three women inhabit their own sense of time. It is a trio of temporal intrigue. Rhythm, repetition, glitching, looping—the three solos play with the slipperiness of the subject. Special mention Napolidanza Competition, Italy (2005), nominated Best Dance Film, Ausdance (2005), finalist ReelDance (2006).
The film Once in a Blue Moon (12:30 minutes) deals with themes of life-times, memory and genetic ties. This work was created for three performers and their mothers. It is linked thematically with the film Three Times.
Nalina Wait, Shona Erskine, Tom Hodgson, Inevitable Scenarios
photo Alejandro Rolandi
Nalina Wait, Shona Erskine, Tom Hodgson, Inevitable Scenarios
Inevitable Scenarios (2006) is a 60-minute live work, which was performed at the Studio, Sydney Opera House,and the North Melbourne Town Hall.
Will Time Tell? (2006) is a film (12:30 minutes) dealing with the fact that while travelling one’s sense of time is inevitably altered. This is a short story of an Australian in Japan. Each frame is choreographed with tempo and duration in mind. Will time ever tell the dancer-traveller what she needs to know? Finalist in the Dance on Camera Festival, New York (2007), VideoDansa, Barcelona (2007), VideoDance, Greece (2007), Cinedans, Amsterdam (2007), Dance Camera West Festival, US (2007).
credits: Three Times: Film (2005), performers Shona Erskine, Lisa Griffiths, Nalina Wait, director of photography Mark Pugh, composer Ben Walsh, editor Sam James, designer Sue Healey; Once in a Blue Moon: Film (2006), performers Enid and Shona Erskine, Dianne and Lisa Griffiths, Marion and Nalina Wait, director of photography Mark Pugh, editor Sam James, designer Sue Healey; Inevitable Scenarios (2006), performers Shona Erskine, Lisa Griffiths, Craig Bary, Tom Hodgson, Michael Carter, Nalina Wait, James Batchelor, Rachelle Hickson, composer Ben Walsh, lighting designer Joseph Mercurio; Will Time Tell?: Film (2006), performers Shona Erskine, Norikazy Maeda, Yuka Kobayashi, Ryuichi Fujimura, Mina Kawai, Makiko Izu, cinematographer Mark Pugh, composer Ben Walsh; As You Take Time: Installation and Performance (2007), performers Shona Erskine, Rachelle Hickson, Lisa Griffiths, Kei Ikeda Norikazu Maeda, cinematographer Mark Pugh, media artists Jason Lam and Adam Synott, composer Ben Walsh
performances: Inevitable Scenarios, premiere Studio, Sydney Opera House, April 2006; As You Take Time, Gallery 4A, Sydney, August 2007
Lisa Griffiths, Nalina Wait, Shona Erskine, Three Times Film
photo Alejandro Rolandi
Lisa Griffiths, Nalina Wait, Shona Erskine, Three Times Film
Fine Line (2004) and Fine Line Terrain (2004) are both part of Sue Healey’s Niche Series (2002-04).
Fine Line is a nine-minute dance film, which won the Best Dance Film Ausdance (2003), ReelDance Australia New Zealand (2004), and Il Coreografo Elettronico, Napolizdanza, Italy (2004).
Fine Line Terrain is a 60-minute live performance for five dancers, which explores the spaces we inhabit. The performance space becomes dissected with white lines, creating geometric ‘houses’ that connect, entangle and ultimately collapse. Intimate relationships are framed and mapped by lines, highlighting the precariousness of our relationship to the world and to each other. This is dance that explores the subtle intricacies of our relationship to the space around us. Fine Line Terrain was nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography and Outstanding Achievement for Performance by a Company, Ausdance 2004. [Text courtesy of the artist.]
Victor Bramich, Lisa Griffiths, Shona Erskine and Nalina Wait, Fine Line Terrain
photo Alejandro Rolandi
Victor Bramich, Lisa Griffiths, Shona Erskine and Nalina Wait, Fine Line Terrain
credits: Fine Line (2003), director of photography Mark Pugh, composer Darrin Verhagen, editor Sam James, designer Sue Healey; Fine Line Terrain (2004), performers Shona Erskine, Lisa Griffiths, Nalina Wait, Nelson Reguera Perez, Victor Bramich, Jacob Lehrer, director of photography Mark Pugh, composer Darrin Verhagen, lighting designer Joseph Mercurio, desig Michael Pearce, Sue Healey
performances: premiere Dancehouse, Melbourne, March 2003; Choreographic Studio, Canberra, November 2003; the Studio, Sydney Opera House, June-July 2004
Victor Bramich, Lisa Griffiths, Shona Erskine and Nalina Wait, Fine Line Terrain
photo Alejandro Rolandi
Victor Bramich, Lisa Griffiths, Shona Erskine and Nalina Wait, Fine Line Terrain
training wheels
alison barclay, herald sun, march 26, 2003
a season of research into how dance is created and perceived
larry ruffell, canberra times, november 3, 2003
no emotional traction on overworked ground
deborah jones, the australian, july 2, 2004
Fine Line Terrain
photo Alejandro Rolandi
Fine Line Terrain
navigating fine lines
sue healey, thinking in four dimensions: creativity and cognition in contemporary dance, ed. robin grove, catherine stevens and shirley mckechnie, melbourne: melbourne university press, 2005 (e-book version here, courtesy of ADT)
The Curiosities, commenced in 2008, so far consists of four works. In 2008, Healey made a six-minute film Reading the Body, a duet for dancer and animated anatomical imagery, based on a poem by Jenny Bornholds (New Zealand Poet Laureate). In 2009, Healey created a performance installation, also titled The Curiosities, in collaboration with leading scientists, new media artists and dancers. Inspired by the processes of biological development and evolution, The Curiosities evokes the feeling of a surreal natural history museum, where the body is presented as a specimen for scrutiny—homo sapiens, exquisitely adapted but curious on its fringes, fragile and flawed, ever-evolving. The following year, Healey staged Reading the Body Installation (2010), a six-minute loop as part of ReelDance installations #04. Later that year, she presented the first stage development of a major work, Variant, as part of Liveworks at the Performance Space, Carriageworks. [Text courtesy of the artist.]
Lisa Griffiths (centre), The Curiosities
photo Heidrun Löhr
Lisa Griffiths (centre), The Curiosities
credits: Reading the Body (2008), performers Rachelle Hickson, animator Adnan Lalani, cinematographer Judd Overton, composer Darrin Verhagen, choreographer and editor Sue Healy; The Curiosities (2009), performers Lisa Griffiths, Rachelle Hickson, Adam Synnott, Nalina Wait, animator Adnan Lalani, digital artist Adam Synott, composer Darrin Verhagen, lighting designer Joseph Mercurio, choreographer’s assistant Joseph Simons; Reading the Body Installation (2010), installation Adam Synott and Sue Healey, film Sue Healey and Rachelle Hickson, animation Adnan Lalani, music Darrin Verhagen, cinematography Judd Overton; Variant (2010), James Berlyn, Narelle Benjamin, Benjamin Hancock, Rachelle Hickson, Kiruna Stamell, Nalina Wait and Pat Wilson
performance history: Reading the Body, Io Myers Studio, University of New South Wales, August 2008; The Curiosities, Performance Space, Sydney, October 2009; Reading the Body Installation, Io Myers Studio, University of New South Wales, June 2010; Variant, Liveworks, Performance Space, Sydney, November 2010
Rachelle Hickson, Lisa Griffiths and Adam Synnott, The Curiosities
photo Heidrun Löhr
Rachelle Hickson, Lisa Griffiths and Adam Synnott, The Curiosities
A poetic dance and theatre essay of the schism and slippage between reality and the imaginary world as two figures slide between entrapment and freedom. [Text courtesy of the artist.]
credits: conception Helen Herbertson, realisation Jenny Kemp, Trevor Patrick, Ben Cobham, Simon Barley, performers Helen Herbertson and Trevor Patrick
performances: premiere National Theatre, Melbourne, August 1999; New Moves Festival, Glasgow, March 2000; Adelaide Festival, March 2002
Helen Herbertson, Trevor Patrick, Delirium
photo Jeff Busby
Helen Herbertson, Trevor Patrick, Delirium
reviews/articles – realtime
delirium
helen herbertson, realtime 32, august-september, 1999 (preview piece)
delirium ends at the foot of the stage
jane howard, sunday herald sun, august 22, 1999
dark depths enlighten
stephanie glickman, herald sun, august 17, 1999
herbertson’s illusions of grandeur
don morris, the scotsman, march 24, 2000
glasgow’s dance fest puts a load of emotions in motion
don morris, the scotsman, march 27, 2000
reviews
christopher bowen, scotland on sunday, april 2, 2000
adelaide festival & fringe 2002 stories of hope and healing
lisa mcintosh, craig clarke, rachel hancock, david nankervis, matt byrne, michael hill, sunday mail, march 10, 2002
nice, but what was that bit with the eel?
alan brissenden, the australian, march 11, 2002
From Morpheus, son of Hypnos and the God of Dreams, Morphia Series is a delicious morsel of text, sound, image and performance for audiences of 12 only.
A series of visual haiku, richly phantasmal and intimate, the piece works with the notion that life hovers somewhere between the ordinary and the metaphysical.
“enter pitch black, silent, an exotic treat to eat and drink
as light grows a figure in the distance, every shift exquisitely visible
a moving, audible body in the gleaming stillness of a subterranean world”
[Text courtesy of the artist.]
credits: design concept Ben Cobham, Helen Herbertson, performance, text, sound concept Helen Herbertson, light Ben Cobham, sound assistance Livia Ruzic, David Franzke, Byron Scullin, morsels John Salisbury
performances: premiere Melbourne International Arts Festival, October-November 2002; Singapore Arts Festival, August-September 2002; Glasgow, February 2003; Dublin, October 2003; Adelaide Festival of Arts, February-March 2004; Dance Massive, Melbourne, March 2009; Performance Space, CarriageWorks, Sydney, August 2009
Helen Herbertson, Morphia Series
photo Rachelle Roberts
Helen Herbertson, Morphia Series
reviews/articles – realtime
hybrid yield
keith gallasch, realtime 31, june-july, 1999
Inside a landscape of isolation and absence, two dancers inhabit a series of interconnected, physical scenes. A dense interrelationship of body/landscape, people/place mixes with the glorious sounds of live cello and violin in an intimate performance experience rich with resonance.
Long time collaborators Helen Herbertson and Ben Cobham join forces with some of Australia’s finest artists in a performance structure to challenge their collaborative history. Ever changing, unique to each performance, an active score unfolds and adjusts in front of you. Like a dream half remembered, a future half imagined, Sunstruck is a poetic elegy for light, dance and sound to slide into the imagination. [Text courtesy of the artist.]
Trevor Patrick, Sunstruck
photo Heidrun Löhr
Trevor Patrick, Sunstruck
credits: concept collaboration Helen Herbertson, Ben Cobham, devised and directed Helen Herbertson, design, light Ben Cobham, physical realisation Helen Herbertson, Trevor Patrick, Nick Sommerville, performance Trevor Patrick, Nick Sommerville, set realisation Alan Robertson, soundscape Livia Ruzic, violin, cello Tamil Rogeon, Tim Blake, production Bluebottle-Frog Peck, management Moriarty’s Project
performances: premiere Melbourne International Arts Festival, October 2008; Performance Space, CarriageWorks, August 2009; Performance Space, Sydney, August 2009; Dublin Dance Festival, May 2010; Dance Massive, Melbourne, 2011
Luke Smiles, Kristy Ayre, Brian Carbee, and Michelle Heaven (foreground), Tense Dave, Chunky Move
photo Basil Childers
Luke Smiles, Kristy Ayre, Brian Carbee, and Michelle Heaven (foreground), Tense Dave, Chunky Move
Tense Dave can be seen as one man’s moment of crisis blown apart like an exploded diagram; each of its components are separated and pushed out to their extremes. Dave journeys through strange and fractured versions of a recognisable world distorted by fears, paranoias and unfulfilled fantasies. Created by some of Australia’s most celebrated artists, Gideon Obarzanek (Artistic Director Chunky Move), Lucy Guerin (Choreographer) and Michael Kantor (Theatre Director), Tense Dave is Chunky Move’s most theatrical work to date.
The initial inspiration of the work came from the idea of simultaneous narratives, as seen in films such as Time Code, Mystery Train and Short Cuts, or in Tom Stoppard’s, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, where other narratives unfold simultaneously around the story of Hamlet. It is a way of seeing the world, where many things are happening and overlapping with each other.
Set on a continually revolving stage, the work has a certain cinematic quality, as personal spaces and domestic scenes are revealed and then obscured and Dave stumbles from one space to another, drawn into the dramas and confusion of the characters he encounters. There is a strong sense of time passing, a fear of not being able to control one’s unforeseeable future, of not knowing what is around the corner.
Sharp, edgy and darkly humorous, Tense Dave is a world in motion created by one of Australia’s boldest contemporary dance companies. [Text courtesy of Chunky Move.]
credits: choreography, direction Lucy Guerin, Michael Kantor, Gideon Obarzanek, dramaturg Tom Wright, designer Jodie Fried, composer, sound design Franc Tetaz, lighting design Niklas Pajanti, inital design collaborators Bluebottle (Andrew Livingston, Ben Cobham), performers Kristy Ayre, Brian Carbee, Michelle Heaven, Brian Lucas, Luke Smiles
performances: premiere Malthouse, Melbourne, October 2003; Sydney Festival, January 2004; Perth International Arts Festival, February 2004; Whitebird, Portland, Oregon, US, June 2005; American Dance Festival, Durham, North Carolina, US, June 2005; Jacob’s Pillow, Becket, Massachusetts, US, June-July 2005; Malthouse Theatre, April 2007; Adelaide Festival Centre inSPACE program, Adelaide, May 2007
