The rise of the machine on stage

By Elizabeth Ashley

A pas-de-deux with a strange responsive motion-sensing machine. Dancing with a shadow that responds and moves in its own time. Moving through a forest of strobe lights.Performing with 240 volts strapped to your body. What is it like dancing on a stage where the other most important component is a sensitive and responsive….machine?

These possibilities make the stage an increasingly magical and illusory place.  Technology changes the way audiences view dance, the way the artistic director conceives the performance space, and of course how the dancers dance. And as technology develops it in turn challenges dance to use and incorporate its capacities into the artistic vision.

Melbourne-based Chunky Move is one contemporary dance company fascinated by developments on the technological frontier.  Two of their famous works, Glow and Mortal Engine, incorporate a high technological component. Collaborating with technologist Frieder Weiss, these works challenge our conception regarding emotional and spatial relationships within dance. 

Connected by Chunky Move. Photo Jeff Busby

The company’s recent world premiere of their new work Connected also explores the use of technology on the stage. Connected, to be performed next in Sydney this May is a collaboration with the talents of American kinetic sculptor Reuben Margolin where the dancers perform with his suspended mechanised sculpture. The dancers build their performance while constructing the vast sculpture in real time, beginning with simple movements and hundreds of tiny pieces. Over time these basic elements and simple physical connections quickly evolve into highly sophisticated structures and complex relationships.

Artistic director Gideon Obarzanek states that working with technology means his “choreography has focused [...] more on abstract and imagistic ideas.” He is quoted as saying, “I use technology to create impressions of other layers we cannot see but which we feel…”^[1]

So what is it like to dance with a machine? I spoke with dancer Kristy Ayre who has been with Chunky Move since 2002 and was integrally involved with the creation of Glow, working with Gideon Obarzanek and Frieder Weiss.

Before Glow had you performed a work that included technology as an equal partner?
I had performed Lucy Guerin’s Melt which used video projection. But technology has been used in contemporary dance for many, many years…it just seems that people are more aware of it now and Glow certainly took it to a different level.

What was your first impression regarding the idea of dancing with a work involving a large and dynamic technological component?
So excited! Working with Frieder was exciting and it was so magical…felt like I was 5 years old because you play with it (the technology).

You dance with it but does it dance with you?
YES! Normally you don’t get that type of marriage. It was a total pas de deux.

What is the emotional dynamic of dancing with an inanimate object?
We had six weeks to make Glow with Frieda and I remember being driven emotionally by the physicality and the sound which is just amazing…and the system. It all contributes.

The performance appears as emotionally exhausting as it is physically exhausting. Where do you find the emotion in Glow?
It’s a journey without a narrative but there is a physical evolution and the physical exhaustion generates emotion. It was designed to be performed in an intimate environment and is best performed in a steep, close performance space so that you feel the energy from an external source, from the audience.

What attitudinal and technical qualities do dancers need to bring to perform well with technology?Awareness and consciousness. It feels like another strong component.

Where do you as a lone dancer find the timing?
There are certain cues but I’ve been dancing Glow for years so I start and it varies depending on the night. There is a certain level of freedom within constraints but it unfolds and I move through the six scenes.

Can you remember how you felt at the end of your first performance of Glow?
Exhilarated! Due to injuries I had been pulled from the opening show (August 2006). I basically had a broken leg and I just kept trying to do it. Gideon eventually had to tell me to stop. So my first performance of Glow wasn’t until November 2006 when we performed it in Poland. It was very emotional as this was Gideon’s home country and I was back after injuries. When I finished I felt fabulous and like it was a triumph for me. It’s such a special piece to perform and I never tire of it.

See Connected by Chunky move
10-14 May
Sydney Theatre ,Walsh Bay
www.chunkymove.com.au

^[1] Obarzanek, G., ‘Glow’, SEAM Agency and Action Symposium 2010, Oct 15,16, 2010, p.15.

Dancehouse, Melbourne
28 July – 1 August

By Rebecca Martin.

The premiere of Luke George’s latest work, NOW NOW NOW was a sold out affair with some of the excited audience forced to sit in the aisles due to a lack of seating.

Prior to entering the performance space, we were asked to remove our shoes, which aside from ruining my outfit, gave a more intimate feel to the evening – as though we were gathered in someone’s living room to watch the show. White felt carpeted the entire floor inside the theatre, and even the bleachers on which we were seated were covered in the soft fabric. I guess my stiletto heels would have damaged such a surface.

The chatty audience was surprised to find that the dancers were already on stage and in character as we took our seats and marvelled at the contrast between the white floor and black curtained walls. I heard people mutter things such as “we should have brought drugs” in jest, given that the three dancers on stage were costumed in fur, plastic cod pieces, gold shorts, hippie dresses, and bright green pants with a yellow jock strap on the outside. One by one, the performers changed costume on stage into simple pants and t-shirt in bright colours.

In the front corner of the stage was a TV facing away from the audience which George silently switched on. No sound was emitted from the television, however the performers watched engrossed and began moving as if copying and learning choreography that was being shown. From the looks of things, the dancers were attempting to learn a dance sequence to the tune of “One, singular sensation” from A Chorus Line. Every nuance and step of the dancers was so true to what we actually look like as we copy things from the television, that the audience erupted in laughter. There was no sound in the theatre, except the occasional tummy growl or crossing of legs from audience members – oh, and the fits of laughter that were constant by this time.

In NOW NOW NOW, it wasn’t so much the choreography itself that was astounding, it was more the concept and the execution of the characters, plus the use of voice that created an amusing performance. Each of the three performers – Luke George, Kristy Ayre and Timothy Harvey were outstanding. I cannot even begin to describe this show. It was outrageous, absurd, hilarious, fun, brilliant and one of the best things I have seen this year. I guess that will have to suffice.

Published by www.danceinforma.com

By Grace Edwards.

Having performed with Australia’s Chunky Move, Lucy Guerin Inc, Prue Lang, Kim Itoh, Shelley Lasica, and Luke George, dance veteran Kristy Ayre is one seasoned performer. And she’s far from done yet. Fresh from the successful Melbourne season of Chunky Move’s Mortal Engine, Kristy is set to reprise her role for Sydney audiences in May. Dance Informa’s Grace Edwards caught up with the talented dancer and emerging choreographer to chat about Chunky Move’s acclaimed work and her experiences with the company.

You’ve been dancing regularly with Chunky Move since 2002. Over that time, what do you feel has been the driving force behind the company’s success?
Well as you know, Chunky Move isn’t a full-time company, so all of the dancers and collaborators who are involved in making the works only come in and work for the amount of the time that the work is created for, and then are re-engaged to come on tour at later times. But I think what’s most interesting about the company is [Chunky Move Artistic Director] Gideon’s interest in what he’s trying to make, both spatially within whatever set is used and in the thematics of each show. The creative team and dance that make up each work at Chunky Move have been quite different from work to work, and the end results have been really different.

You’ve got everything from the really high-tech, fixed dance steps and raked stage of Mortal Engine to something like Tense Dave, which had a few sort of dancer-actor performances that, to me, could be classed more in the realm of physical theatre. I mean, it certainly was dance-based, but there were a lot of theatrics involved and there was a revolving set. It was very low-tech in a lot of ways, so yeah, I think it’s been the diversity of experience and the number of collaborators that has made the company exciting to follow.

Mortal Engine, in particular, is full of technological interactions. What’s been involved for you when working with movement-sensitive technology as a dancer?
It was interesting because we actually began the process with the solo work, Glow, which was made in 2006. I was one of the original soloists engaged to work on that show, so I was already quite experienced and knew how to work with Calypso when we came into the creative process of Mortal Engine. But I’d like to share with people that it’s a really liberating way to work as a performer. Unlike in previous works that I’ve done with conventional lighting, where there’s a spotlight that you have stay within or a place you have to be within a certain amount of time – works in which your relationship to light is really crafted, in this work the light is following you in a lot of the piece, because of the motion-tracking. So you have the freedom, as a dancer, to not be concerned with all of that and you can absolutely surrender to the physicality of the work, which is really, really nice.

There are so many interesting aspects of Mortal Engine, from the sense of collective ownership between collaborative artists, to the play on opposites such as mortal and engine, and light and shade. Where, for you, does the beauty of the piece lie?
I think the beautiful thing about Mortal Engine is that, because of the light and the way we’ve integrated the movement and the way that, as performers, we kind of selflessly give ourselves to the visual effects of this show and to the sound, it creates a very hypnotic world.

I mean, I say this when I’ve only ever seen the show on DVD, I’ve never actually sat in the audience to watch this show! But I think, having talked to people continuously all around the world because we’ve toured this show a lot now, people really feel like they have a kind of…“body-snatching” experience.

Because the sound is so consuming and the visual effects are startling, beautiful and dark, as a dancer, you really feel like you’re a part of some special, make-believe land for a period of time in the show. That’s really nice, because not all works have all the elements in place to do that and be successful in that way. So I think that Mortal Engine‘s beauty is that kind of escapist, voyeuristic experience for the audience.

I completely agree. In fact, I took a friend of mine along to see the recent Melbourne season of Mortal Engine. Although she had never been to a contemporary dance show before, she was blown away by it all! I believe she had that voyeuristic experience you just mentioned.
Oh, I’m so thrilled to hear that. Yes, it’s a show that I really encourage people who haven’t seen a lot of dance to see for that reason, because I think it actually can appeal on a lot of levels. You know, I almost like to refer to Mortal Engine as simply a moving live visual artwork, because I think the dancer plays a really strong role, but it’s certainly just a component of what that work gives over to the audience.

Kristy, you’ve done numerous performances of this work. How does each performance differ?
This show is different, as was Glow. Because you’re working with motion-tracking, it does have a real sense of ‘liveness’ to it. I mean, all dance is live, but because you’re not in a fixed place or time in space, you can really absolutely give yourself over to the physical experience because the technology is following you. So we’ve guessed that one show has never been exactly the same.

I imagine there is now a core group of dancers who know and have danced in Mortal Engine, so what is the main focus in rehearsal these days?
Well actually, the biggest predicament with this work, and this is one of the things Chunky Move suffers from because unfortunately they can’t employ a full-time group of dancers, is that occasionally when we’re touring the show now, we won’t be able to have our original cast. Most of the performers who work for Chunky Move are also engaged in independent work of their own, or with other people, so the flux of this work is that we generally have at least one person who wasn’t a member of the original cast joining us for each new season. When we get back together, it’s kind of a culmination of bringing in someone new, and then them trying to learn the new material and become part of the group. It’s good in a way, because it keeps things really fresh for us. There’s a lot of partnering and intricate duets in this show, so when there are changes to the combinations of dancers that affects everyone, so that’s kind of nice about it.

As a performer with many years experience behind you, what keeps you going and how has your approach to your own dancing changed?
I guess I’ve become interested in different things. I’ve been dancing all my life and certainly as a professional artist I’ve been working for about nine years now.

The thing that I love about contemporary dance, the thing that always attracted me to it, is that it’s an ever-evolving form, and I think it’s really great that people are continually pushing the boundaries of what it is, what it can inhabit as a technical, physical, or performance medium. That’s interesting because you feel that you are very much a part of a contemporary dance form which is constantly evolving and doesn’t seem to sit in a world that’s too repetitive.

I think that one’s interest in the physicality of movement really changes. I’ve been working with independent artist Luke George this year and I’ve started making my own works seriously for the first time. So there is this transition happening, from being a tool for choreographers for a period of time when working in a company-based environment, to making works where you make the stuff that you want to make, utilising the physicality that you like. That’s been a really interesting process for me as I’ve matured.

Chunky Move’s Mortal Engine heads to Sydney Theatre from Wednesday 5th to Saturday 15th of May.
Book tickets online at www.sydneytheatre.org.au or phone (02) 9250 1999.

Photos by Andrew Curtis