PREFACE — HOMAGE TO A RISK
Q Theatre Loft, 305 Queen St, Auckland
13/10/2015 - 14/10/2015
Production Details
From the New Zealand School of Dance
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Virtuosic third year contemporary dance students from the New Zealand School of Dance share their creative passion in a collaborative process with former graduate and internationally renowned choreographer Ross McCormack (Triumphs and Other Alternatives, AGE). Dancers find purpose to a shape among attempts to understand and decode themselves as they come together in order to define the space. “It interests me to search here, to build movement around this zone together with the students. I think it’s a hefty challenge, one that ask for much more than just reliance on dynamic and technique. To focus on the body, to create a language that defines its place in the space, if only for a moment. “I’m extremely honoured to work with the students in this way, again alongside Jason Wright, who will construct a complete original score” —Ross McCormack |
Q Loft, 6.30pm
Bookings: https://www.patronbase.com/_QTheatre4/Productions/TQ09/Performances
Dancers: Laura Beanland-Stephens, Jadyn Burt, Tyler Carney, Jacob Edmonds, Sophie Gargan, William Keohavong, Demi-Jo Manalo, Amelia McCarthy, Georgia Rudd, Felix Sampson, Latisha Sparks
Contemporary dance ,
60 mins
Uncompromising exploration of body and space
Review by Jess Probert 14th Oct 2015
Upon entering the theatre, the space is filled with upbeat music, and the sound of chatter from the audience. The music begins to increase in both tempo and volume, and the lights suddenly drop to a blackout. The overwhelming sound of thumping surrounds the audience; we are left sitting in the black for quite a while. This is enough time for me to start wondering where I am in the space, I become very aware of the people I am sitting next to, and I wonder if they are feeling this as well. I enjoy this building of atmosphere, and regardless of whether this came from a conscious decision, it was effective and a very fitting introduction to the piece.
Throughout Preface: Homage to a Risk, it feels as though the dancers are going through a discovery of their bodies and the movement that their bodies are capable of. At times this feels tentative and almost animalistic, as though the dancers are experiencing their bodies in the space as something completely new and malleable, through exploring themselves as well as through the manipulation of the movement of other dancers. The dancers are very focussed all the way through this piece, and have high levels of contact with other dancers so they have to sustain this attentiveness to what is happening in the space, and I am impressed as to the level at which they achieve this.
This piece certainly isn’t ‘pretty’, which is something I have great appreciation for. The use of breath and of voice are just two of the aspects of Preface that make this piece so substantial and clever. The dancers in this piece are clearly well-trained and very strong dancers, and Preface takes them back to the basics of exploring space and bodies in way that does not compromise on display of technique or skill.
This third year presentation exceeded my expectations completely, and I wish I could experience this raw exploration of body and space again.
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