STRORK/DANZ is a series of conversations between string musicians and dancers, improvised and responsive, performed in one of Dunedin’s many tiny community halls, this one with a dainty green tinged proscenium arch. The audience is arrayed around the edges of the hall, with the musicians positioned below the stage and the dancers begin sprinkled around the centre of the space.

The collection of pieces are distinctive, each presenting an idea – beginning, moving sound pathways – and offer scope for both musicians and dancers to tell their own stories through sound and movement. I found it fascinating watching the different interpretations that evolved from each performer, much like the way any human interprets any experience based on their own current frame of mind combined with lived experience.

Of the two compositions by STRORK’s founder Alan Starrat, Benison, performed only by the musicians, was particularly lovely, providing some gentle melody to counteract the often arrhythmic discordance of the improvised pieces. Sometimes this discordance can become overwhelming and exhausting, but each piece was just long enough to maintain the pleasure of watching clever people work on the fly.

Instant composition, by the dancers, was also an interesting perspective on the way an explicit message or instruction becomes adapted and stylised the more it is received over time.

The two groups of very well-established Dunedin performers worked comfortably together and watching them was a very agreeable way to spend part of a Sunday afternoon.

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