A Little Dance.
1 September 2005 - opening night.
And do the things/Ah, do the things/That we like to do
Performance: Colette Arnold, Rosey Feltham, Georgie Goater, Desmond Gul, Annabel Harrison, Ambrose!, Monisha Kumar, Mandy Leckie, Xiaohui Lu, Lucy Miles, Shannon Mutu, Janine Parkes, Tracey Purcell, Emily Rose, Christina Solomona, Tupua Tigafua.
Choreography: Simon Ellis with the performers
Audio Samples: KC and the Sunshine Band ("Get Down Tonight"), Hans Zimmer ("Air", "Sit Back and Relax"), and Benjamin Bitten ("Libera Me")
Sound: Simon Ellis
Light: Brad Gledhill
Costume: Vicki Slow
Thanks: Chris Jannides and the Unitec PASA Staff, Chuck Jackson, Mark and Lucy Gibson, James Mellsop, Susan Peterson, Elaine and Rod Ellis-Pegler.
Choreographing work for dance students is a tricky prospect: I feel caught between wanting to explore specific ideas whilst at the same time ensuring that the dancers are given some physical and performative challenges. It is small tug of war between choreography and pedagogy. In "A Little Dance" the dancing is not so much an embodied and/or abstract expression of an idea, but simply another part of these young performers lives; dancing is the subject more than the medium . But it is the role of dancing in their lives that provoked memories of my beginnings as a dancer, in my late teens, studying Physical Education at Otago University. Dancing became another way of "feeling good", screeching into the air, throwing caution to the wind and beyond. I was confident, strong, and fearless, but also more than a little ignorant, and my unselfconscious yearning for pleasure has left a somewhat bitter aftertaste.
This work is for these 16 very special young men and women. They have embraced and smiled at my idiosyncrasies and fallibilities, and committed themselves to the (very short) process with enthusiasm, integrity, and strength. Thank you Colette, Rosey, Georgie, Des, Annabel, Ambrose, Monisha, Mandy, Xiaohui, Lucy, Shannon, Janine, Tracey, Emily, Christina and TJ - good luck to you all in carving out a place for yourselves as performance makers, dancers, artists, and people.
20 August 2005.
End of week 2. It seems to me as if "A Little Dance" inhabits similar territory to the initial development of "Tight" for Natalie Cursio's "Album Project". In both, the dancing is what the protagonists do - it is not necessarily an embodied expression or conception of an abstract idea (although perhaps this is unavoidable in the context of a performed artefact?), but part of their lives (in "A Little Dance") or memories (in "Tight"). In "A Little Dance" these 17 dancers are doing what they have been doing (full-time) for the last three years. However, their dancing activity is also framed by a question that concerns the pleasureable or desirable aspects of dancing situated alongside other (pleasurable) activities in their lives (as early 20s adults).
19 August 2005.
The performers: Colette Arnold, Rosey Feltham, Georgie Goater, Desmond Gul, Annabel Harrison, Ambrose Hills-Simonsen, Chuck Jackson, Monisha Kumar, Mandy Leckie, Xiaohui Lu, Lucy Miles, Shannon Mutu, Janine Parkes, Tracey Purcell, Emily Rose, Christina Solomona, TJ Tigafua.
17 August 2005.
Four starting points:
1. Robert Persig's "Lila - An Inquiry Into Morals", and specifically a section that utilises the chorus from KC and the Sunshine Band's "Get Down Tonight" as an aural backdrop or symbol of (I think) decline.
2. Dancing as a metaphor or instrument of hedonism.
3. The ACT of dancing - less about the dancing being based on or expressing an idea, but more about it approximating an experience unto itself, or even a state of being. In this sense, the act of dancing becomes the SUBJECT or central concern of the work as opposed to the medium.
4. I remember, as a youngster going to (3rd/4th form) high school dances (or "formals" as they were called, even though throbbing to Blue Monday (I never did see that ship in the harbour) was hardly a formal occasion), and thinking about the old saying, "dancing is a vertical expression of a horizontal desire".
16 August 2005.
Fast. Free. Powerful. The cat's pyjamas. The bees knees. Anything, anytime, anyone. Stronger. Faster. Higher. Sublime.
15 August 2005
This is a beginning. An opportunity to (publicly) consider the various components of a new performance work involving 17 graduating dance students from UNITEC in Auckland, New Zealand. This work - tentatively titled "A Little Dance" is currently under development, having completed one of three weeks prior to its performance as part of the students' touring programme.
In simple terms, and mostly as a pedagogical device, I am attempting to make my choreographic/artistic process as transparent as possible: to doodle online.
This blog is also an invitation to these students to contribute to the 'thinking' of the project outside of the rehearsal space.