Australian Dance Theatre is getting ready to present the world premiere of their new work, Proximity as part of Adelaide Festival this month. Choreographer and ADT Artistic Director Garry Stewart has worked with Paris-based video engineer Thomas Pachoud (with the support of didascalie.net) to create an astonishing dialogue for dance and real-time video manipulation.

Here Garry Stewart talks with Dance Informa about the creation of this exciting new work.

What research did you undertake to develop the work?

My reading has been centred on aspects of neuroscience as well as philosophy of the self and technology within performance.

Professor Ian Gibbins from the Flinders Medical Centre came into ADT to speak to us about aspects of neurobiology, particularly in relation to neurological body mapping and the function of the nervous system in perception. He subsequently invited us to examine preserved cadavers in his laboratory at Flinders Medical Centre. Some of the dancers and I also attended a lecture by Baroness Susan Greenfield on the neurobiology of creativity.

What is the idea behind Proximity?

To a degree Proximity is the convergence point between conceptual concerns rising out of two of my previous works: Held and Be Your Self. Aesthetically both of these works are wildly different from each other, yet in Proximity I have created a nexus between the intellectual parameters of the two. Like Held, Proximity involves the instantaneous reproduction of the live dancing body, but instead of through the media of digital photography, in Proximity it is achieved via video technology.  The dancers train video cameras on each other and this data is immediately transformed through the ingenious work of video engineer Thomas Pachoud. The imagery is projected immediately onto a series of large scale screens, constituting an instantaneous dialogue for digital imagery and the live dancing body. The interaction between the virtual and the real is the cornerstone of Proximity.

Photos © Chris Herzfeld - Camlight Productions

Moreover, Proximity is informed by philosophical considerations of selfhood – its underlying plurality and fluidity – as well as ideas from neuroscience on the process by which the body neurologically interacts with the world around it. Proximity renders visible our invisible connections between each other and the environment we inhabit whilst simultaneously splitting open the self to reflect upon its manifold and heterogenous nature.

In Proximity the subject of selfhood is considered from the position that we are subjects located within our own bodies, but through the doppelganger of video imagery we can see ourselves from the outside and at a distance. Proximity addresses perception and ways of seeing. The act of seeing is conditioned and trained. What our brain chooses to see from the limitless panorama of external stimuli around us constitutes a form of trained blindness. In Proximity the cameras are utilised as a tool to radically shift the frame through which we routinely and habitually engage in the perception of ourselves and each other. The body is re-presented in ways that release it into alternate visual and morphological possibilities.

Tell us about the soundtrack.

The sound score is being composed by Sydney based composer Hugh Benjamin. Hugh used to be a drummer in the 80s and 90s and played for Yothu Yindi, Debra Conway, Kate Cerebrano and many other artists. He has composed music for works I have made for Ballet Du Rhin and Birmingham Royal Ballet. Recently he composed the score for the ADT work Worldhood. The music is quite different to my other works which have been at times quite brutal and bombastic. The music for Proximity is much finer and detailed, soft electronica almost like a series of ambience sonic states rather than hard, beats driven music.

How have you found working with Thomas Pachoud?

I first met Thomas early last year when I was making a version of The Rite of Spring for the Ballet Du Rhin in France. Our collaboration together on this work formed the cornerstone of the video ideas we have pursued and evolved in Proximity. Thomas considers himself a video engineer not a video artist. He enjoys collaborating with artists and responding technically to their artistic ideas.

Thomas’ work is perfectly aligned with the conceptual pursuits of this work. The materials of the body itself are used to stimulate the production of video effects that surround the image of the bodies or in some way manipulate and alter the morphology of the image of dancers. Thomas’ real time video effects become a beautiful visual metaphor for the subject matter which centres on opening up ideas about the nature of self and the invisible neurological connections that exist between ourselves and the world around us.

Do you plan to tour the work?

The plan is to tour the work internationally early in 2013.

Make sure you catch Proximity at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide from February 25 to March 3. Tickets can be bought at BASS online or by calling 131 246.

Photos: Chris Herzfeld – Camlight Productions

ADT Assistant Choreographer Larissa McGowan shares her choreographic tips on the eve of their August Ignition season.

By Deborah Searle. 

Curated by Australian Dance Theatre’s Artistic Director Garry Stewart, Ignition is a program of new works choreographed and performed by the ADT dancers, in addition to the world premiere of a new work by Melbourne based choreographer Antony Hamilton.  As Australians debate in their lounge rooms the latest routines on their favourite dancing show, Australian Dance Theatre’s annual Ignition season takes on a new space and audience in 2010 by questioning what is dance and can anyone do it?

Accomplished, cutting edge choreographer, Larissa McGowan shares her insights into what makes dance and how choreographers can succeed at their art. 

This Ignition program is called ‘But is it really dance?’ What is ‘dance’ to you?
I’m not exactly sure. It keeps changing and evolving. I think that is why the question has been posed for this years’ Ignition theme. In order to understand what we do and further progress, we need to push our ideas and challenge our reasons. I am, however, discovering what I am interested in along the way. I suppose that dance for me is about finding ways my body and other bodies haven’t moved before. Playing with the human form and seeing how far it can go, or even, how little you need to do to create an interesting image or emotional value in a movement. A work is shaped dynamically with highs and lows to create a flow that keeps an audience member interested. So all types of movement can have value within a bigger picture.

When creating choreography what should artists do first? 
It is really up to what stimulates you at the beginning of your creative process.
Pick music: Music is a great tool to influence a style of moving and sometimes evokes a response in the genre of the music. Don’t we all have a groove to a track we like?
Create the steps: Sometimes just improvising will ignite a new pathway. Or by setting movement first, you can manipulate and play with it down the track.
Pick a theme: A theme does tend to help contain your ideas and focus your research within a context.

Ignition by ADT

What would you recommend? How do you first create?
Each process changes for me. I find random things stimulate ideas when you don’t expect it. Sometimes you go into a work not knowing what it will be and at some point in the process it finds a clearer path. I love to challenge my own body pathways, so this creates interesting and new ways of moving.

Does a work always have to have a theme or story?
An audience likes to understand something within a work to read into. However, this doesn’t mean it has to be narrative. You can evoke emotions through dance that can be accessible to audiences and allows them to find their own personal connection to a work. I think space in a work allows an audience to imagine, and question its effect on them.

Should choreography be about the audience or the art?
I think it should be able to access both. Others push these boundaries, but I have always felt that by placing it on stage and in front of an audience, you are placing it as a spectacle to be observed. It doesn’t mean you make movement for a particular audience, but I hope the audience receives a performance that challenges their ideas and creates an emotional response.

How do you inspire dancers to develop unique and interesting choreography?
Opening up and listening to each other’s ideas creates a wonderful collaborative space, which naturally allows ideas that otherwise wouldn’t have been found. Communicating and remembering that everything that goes into a creative process is worth trying, to find what you really want to portray.

Ignition 2010 will have five performances in the Space Theatre, Adelaide from August 18^th to 21^st, as well as a one night season in the Murray Bridge Town Hall.

The Ignition program is generously supported by Beach Energy and co-produced by the Adelaide Festival Centre’s inSPACE program and Country Arts South Australia’s Ripples Murray Bridge program. 

For more information visit www.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au or www.adt.org.au

Ignition
Adelaide
Date: 18th – 21st August at 8pm & 21st August at 4pm
Venue: Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre
Contact: BASS on 131 246 or online at www.bass.net.au
Murray Bridge
Date:  Thursday 26th August at 8pm
Venue: Murray Bridge Town Hall
Contact: 8539 1100

Win a Double Pass to Ignition! Click here

Photos: Chris Herzfeld

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ADT’s premiere season of public classes opens the door on contemporary life … and dance.

By Paul Ransom

What if you could dance with the stars? The dance denizens of Adelaide now have that chance because ADT (Australian Dance Theatre) has announced that it will now run public classes at its Belair Road studios.

Following in the footsteps of Melbourne’s Chunky Move and Sydney Dance Company, ADT are among a growing number of contemporary companies to lift up the curtains and engage more directly with their public.

“Up until now we haven’t been able to share what we do other than through performance; and there’s never really been an opportunity to create, to a professional standard, a good education programme,” states Carol Welman-Kelly, ADT’s erstwhile Assistant Director and the driving force behind the new programme.

“With the rise of ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ and other such programmes there’s a huge public interest,” she adds. “So this really is the perfect opportunity to say, ‘okay, doors are open, come in and get a handle on what it is we do’.”

Photography Chris Herzfeld

Of course, public classes don’t merely break the fourth wall. In fact, Welman-Kelly hopes the programme will make the company’s dancers seem more human. “I’m really excited that the dancers want to be involved,” she enthuses, “because then there’s this experience where you see these dancers on stage and you can say ‘hey, I know that person’. You get more of a personal feel … and I think that can make watching a performance much more fulfilling.”

One of the teachers, Chris Aubrey, has been an ADT dancer since late 2007. He takes the point further. “It’ll make us seem more approachable. People find that ADT can be quite intimidating and if they walk in and realise that we’re just normal people, that will be a great thing.”

ADT associate choreographer Larissa McGowan repeats the chorus. “It’s really good to be inviting people into our space because it’s going to let them get to know us, so they can work out how we choreograph and how we move.”

But stop right there. This is far more than a PR exercise. By presenting a range of short, four week ‘blocks’ (including classes in contemporary technique, hip-hop and dance fit), the company is offering students a diverse and dynamic range of learning opportunities.

“It’s all about doing, not just the watching,” Carol Welman-Kelly explains. “It’s also about taking bite size chunks rather than committing to some huge thing.”

Apart from the obvious benefits to class participants, these short courses will also help the dancers enormously. The old adage ‘the teacher by the student learns’ certainly applies here.

As Larissa McGowan elaborates, “I seriously think that dancers who still teach learn a lot faster and are able to understand their bodies. I always say that teaching is one of the hardest things but that you learn more about yourself by doing it.”

Chris Aubrey is in complete agreement. “The more teaching you do, the more you’re learning about your own body. Even though you’re teaching others, you’re teaching yourself.”

However, for dancers used to the often cosseted world of contemporary, having to mingle with the un-auditioned public could well be a challenge. Fortunately for McGowan, she has plenty of experience teaching. 

“You need to be able to work with the people on the spot and try to understand them as you go,” she outlines. “With this type of class it’s like throwing everyone into the boiling pot and seeing what happens. Also, as dancers in the company we are constantly teaching each other, so I think the main thing here is that we can share some of what we’ve learnt over our careers, as well as something of what we’re still learning at the moment.”

So, much as dancing with soapie celebrities and rock stars might seem like a fun TV concept, dancing with the stars of one of Australia’s top ranked companies sounds like a much better idea.

For more information about ADT’s new open classes visit www.adt.org.au

Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide
February 27^th

By Deborah Searle.

Be Your Self is a display of the body’s form and function.  A raw and thought provoking work, Be Your Self investigates the body as a machine and discusses what makes us human? What is self?

The dancing is very isolated and exact, breaking movement down into each small twitch of muscle, tendon or bone. A section where the dancers move each individual body part to a sound score that sounds like creaking and breaking bones, is haunting, yet captivating. The audience is mesmerized as such simple movement is expressed in such an edgy way. There is nothing pretty about it, but Garry Stewart was obviously not trying to create a work that is pleasing to the eye, but one that is real and explorative.

Larissa McGowan, who is also the assistant choreographer for this work, is made for her role. She is so precise and so engaging. All the dancers are brilliant technicians and their unison is almost always exact. Troy Honeysett is a force to be reckoned with, commanding the stage with his acrobatic and martial arts inspired leaps and tumbles. He throws his body with abandon, yet precision.

At one stage the dancers all stand in a line and just breathe deeply, as we can see their chests expand and contract. It is such simple movement, yet we are all engrossed. There is something unique about what Garry has created with Be Your Self.

The work is quite sterile, without much emotion or expression by the dancers, as it deconstructs the body, movement, human moods and thoughts. At times the dancers scream, sending shivers down my spine, or they shake and stare. It is incredibly un-nerving. A section where the dancers display different moods, such as happiness and sadness in their faces, is quite comical and interesting. However, this too feels sterile, which I think is the plan. The dancers do not pull at the heart strings of the audience, but what they present is definitely fascinating and different.

Photos Chris Herzfeld

The costumes are simple, with the dancers in all white. For some of the time they wear white skirts that have exact replicas of their individual legs painted on them. These create interesting pictures as the dancers move their legs. The skirts are quite ingenious.

There is a long scene where the dancers place individual body parts, such as their arms, legs or upper back though a large white, material screen. Video projection creates swirls and images streaming from each body part. This scene takes the deconstruction of the body to another level. I feel that it lasts a little long, as there isn’t much dancing, just movement of individual body parts, but the video imagery is engaging.

One of the dancers, dressed in all white from head to toe, comes onto the stage as a manikin or mummy like figure, as dancer Kialea-Nadine Williams manipulates his body parts. I am not sure of the purpose of this character, except to ask the question of ‘are we just our bodies?’ The manikin ias expressionless and without any features and can only move if the dancers manipulate him. Later in the program one of the dancers draws a face on him and other dancers come on stage with masks on the backs of their heads, with their faces covered, creating the illusion of their heads being on back to front.

Be Your Self feels like it is part of a larger exploration for Garry Stewart, and that it might just be the beginning of something bigger. Although a little out of my comfort zone, I enjoyed the work and found the dancers to be incredibly talented. I look forward to seeing if this work evolves in the future.

Readers, here’s your chance to WIN a Double Pass to…

Frame and Circle by Leigh Warren & Dancers
For more information about this new contemporary work read the feature interview with choreographers Leigh Warren and Prue Lang. Click herewww.adelaidefestival.com.au

Dates: March 10th‐13th, 7.00pm & March 14, 5.00pm
Venue: Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre
Contact: BASS 131 246

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Garry Stewart breaks it down for ADT’s latest expression.

By Paul Ransom.

Be yourself. It’s a simple enough idea … isn’t it?

When Australian Dance Theatre debut their latest work at the upcoming Adelaide Festival of Arts the notion of ‘being yourself’ will be seriously deconstructed. Inspired by Eastern ideas about selfhood, ADT’s artistic director Garry Stewart has created a choreographic meditation on the theme of ‘I’.

Be Your Self has evolved into a dazzlingly surreal and architectural dance work.

“If we look into our interior….we can’t find anything other than our perceptions,” Garry Stewart begins. “There isn’t a thing in and of itself that we can identify as I or self. We are more like an array of perceptions that our conscious mind then constructs into a linear narrative of self … So I started the work off with the question: is the self the body?”

It’s an appropriate starting point for someone with a two decade plus track record of creating truly cutting edge contemporary dance. Indeed, Stewart’s works have been seen around the globe, with his Millennium Eve piece Housedance (performed on the outside of the Sydney Opera House) netting an estimated TV audience of two billion. What’s more, since taking over the stewardship of the internationally renowned, Adelaide based ADT in 1999 he has created critically adored works like Birdbrain and HELD.

Glittering CV notwithstanding, Stewart is not afraid to dive into the esoteric depths with Be Your Self. “I wanted to try and collapse the schism between mind and body because still in the twenty first century we think that mind, body and spirit are separate, whereas in fact neuro-biology is collapsing that separation and showing that what we consider our mind to be is very much inherent in what our body is.”

“We don’t isolate senses. We don’t just see or hear – but all of those things act in concert. It’s a total experience. And with the emotions; they don’t just happen in the mind, they happen in the body. Could you imagine fear without the dry mouth or the dilation of the pupils?”

What you sense here is an artist very much engaged with his topic and taking his work beyond mere prettiness. “How much of a construct is the self and how illusory is the self?” he continues with passion.

But of course, we are still talking art here, not just indulgent philosophising. “We are an animal of representation,” he adds. “The most distinguishing feature of being human is our ability to transform reality into a multiple series of representations. And this is never more apparent than when we make art.”

Choreographically, the challenge for Garry Stewart has been to illustrate such high end abstractions with movement. In doing so he talks about deconstructing the human body, as both physical form and cultural construct.

To this end he has collaborated with award winning New York architectural firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R). “They created a set design that allows us to show individual body parts and occlude and disguise others. So, it’s kinda like a symphony of body parts.”

In fact, it’s fair to suggest that Be Your Self transcends the dance. “It’s too limiting to describe it as a dance work. It’s more an artistic expression about the human body. You would call it dance – but somehow that word seems too restrictive.”

The concept is daring and, you might think, a little too way out for most audiences. However, for all of Garry Stewart’s attention to research and conceptualisation the idea of the audience is never far away.

“The pleasure of a visual image grants an audience access to an idea,” he states. “It’s a kind of strategy. I mean, you can make something that’s like an essay on stage but it could bore everyone to tears. I think when you’re creating art you are working in an aesthetic dimension and you have to acknowledge that, otherwise you might as well just get them to read the essay and not bother coming to the theatre.”

As he says, he creates his works “for an audience” and not just “as something for my own pleasure.” The challenge, he says, is in “finding the balance between being translatable and accessible but also mysterious; although not to point of being dismissed as obtuse.”

And here we drift onto the vexed notion of beauty, (my word choice). I can sense his discomfort as we talk about it until he comes out and declares, “It’s kinda hard for me to hear the word beauty; especially with dance, because the conventional ideas about beauty have really held dance back. It’s kinda like a dictatorship in dance.”

Perhaps there in a nutshell is the nub of where Stewart will take both the company and his audiences with Be Your Self – beyond the obvious and into profoundly stimulating, creative territory.

Win a Double Pass to the Opening Night of Be Your Self !
One lucky winner will also get the chance to Meet and Greet Garry after the show!  To enter click here

Be Your Self – Australian Dance Theatre
Date: February 20th, 23rd-28th
Venue: Her Majesty’s Theatre
Contact: BASS 131 246 www.adt.org.au
Please note: This show has strobe effect lighting and is for a mature audience

New Breed
Sydney Dance Company
and Australian Dance Theatre
Part of Spring Dance
Sydney Opera House, Playhouse
Wednesday Sept 9th

By Dolce Fisher.

New Breed was presented as part of Spring Dance by the Sydney Opera House. Spring Dance made dance accessible to the general public with all tickets at just $25 and with free dance movies screened in the forecourt. People just flocked to Spring Dance. It is great for the dance industry to be swimming in such success!

Both Sydney Dance Company and Australian Dance Theatre presented New Breed. Dancers from each company choreographed each work in the program. Both companies have explored choreographic ventures like this before with ADT presenting Ignition and Sydney Dance Company presenting The Overture Series. Without these kinds of performances the dancers would not have an outlet to explore their choreographic skills at this level. Such programs give the dancers a great opportunity.

The evening opened with ‘I Dreamt I was a Real Boy’ choreographed by Connor Dowling of Sydney Dance Company. It was a glimpse between dreams in reality and dreams in our sleep. With four defined sections in the work it was easy to follow. The piece opened with a very clear picture as the dancers mimicked people sleeping and having dreams whilst being surrounded with cables of light. It followed with three very different dances. They were different in terms of costuming and movement vocabulary. The last pas de deux was the most memorable. It was powerful as it portrayed a struggle between a couple with intense passion and anger.

‘Bending the Map’ by Emily Amisano, also from Sydney Dance Company, explored human survival and connection. The choreographic patterns and shapes were easy on the eye and the dancers were dressed in dark greys and blues. The inspiration for this work was evident and it has potential, but it could have been a little stronger. It was performed by a trio of very talented women: Janessa Dufty, Annabel Knight and Juliette Barton. Both Annabel and Juliette were both recently nominated for Helpmann Awards for Best Female Dancer.

‘Slack’ originally premiered as a solo in ADT’s 2006 Ignition season and later became a half hour work in the 2008 season. Choreographed by Larissa McGowan, ‘Slack’ had the physically demanding edge that is to be expected from ADT, but it also showcased McGowan’s own distinct choreographic voice. On a small lit platform dancer Daniel Jaber was attached by a long braid extending from his head to the ceiling. His movements seemed to control the movements of those around him. Later another dancer had a rope like braid almost three metres long. She was controlled by how the rope was moved by the dancers around her. The dancers progressed through the choreography always with an element of being controlled. The work was strong in concept and execution.

Former ADT dancer Craig Bary worked with dancers of Sydney Dance Company to create ‘Pictures of a One-Night Stand’. It looked into the lives of people who live in the now and deal with the consequences of their actions later. Using two benches the dancers created scenes depicting a night on the town including everything from getting into a nightclub, drinking at the bar, and traveling on the train. The choreography captured flirtatious glances, jealousy, lust and abuse. The work had moments of lightheartedness with girls dancing around their handbags. I found this hilarious, although the rest of the audience did not seem to react the same way. Then there were scenes depicting a woman being raped. This was cleverly choreographed as the message was clear but not offensive. In this work Craig Bary showed great potential as a choreographer.

New Breed was a wonderful showcase of Australian contemporary dance talent. The dancers were magnificent and the choreography was interesting and engaging.