Archive - Jul 2006

A couple of days after I had seen it, YB asked me if she should go and see Douglas Wright's Black Milk. Normally I would have wholeheartedly encouraged her to go because it is important for dancers to go out and see what other dancers are up to, especially when the work is in complete contrast to what we do. And, besides, Sydney Opera House are having a two-for-one deal, which is a bargain! But at the time I just wasn't too sure if I should recommend her to go. Since then, after hearing TB's opinion (and a few others) of the show today, I'm glad to hear that YB has gone out and bought tickets for the show.

But that doesn't change the fact that I really hated it.

I usually like to approach a dance work knowing as little about it as possible. I put off reading all the promotional material about him and the work and I don't even like to read program notes. A piece should be able to speak for itself. Besides the title of the work, all I usually know is who's choreographing and who's performing, and even then that's alot of information because it comes with expectations based on previous works. (Then again, how does one decide to outlay cash in the first place if one doesn't have any information? I guess you could get extremely caught up thinking about this situation, its a wonder that I go out and see dance at all!) I had seen one of Wright's self-performed solo dance film, read his bio and seen his work work DV8, and all this led me to being quite enthusiastic about going in the first place, not to mention the cast that he's been able to gather for the project.

There was one final piece of information that I had about the show that was unavoidable: the WARNING: Black Milk contains nudity and some scenes may disturb. It really does get quite up-front and confrontational but, considering the level of violence and sex you can see on tv and at the cinemas, it really doesn't matter; I'm not going to leave just because I'm offended or horrified. But I don't want to be confronted for the sake of it; there's got to be some reason for it, a story or a point-of-view or something like that. The girl gets raped, the Iraqi soldiers are forced into humiliating sexual activities, there's a painfully drawn-out scene of I guess you could call "reverse birth-giving". Why are we seeing this?

The ventriloquist and his annoying dummy have a conversation about meaning in dance. Its a pertinent sentiment, to see dance for what it is and nothing more, that the dancer is merely "biting the dust", running in a half-circle" or whatever. On its own, I don't have a problem with that idea but in this context, what to make of it? I just feel like I'm being taunted for a response and that really annoys me!

Oh did I hate that dummy. If I had a better connection with that sad bit of wood I may have enjoyed the work better. The real people did a much better job.

I'm not usually prone to such an extreme negative reaction to it but maybe I've just played into Wright's hand: I actually felt SOMETHING for this work, the fact that it was negative is irrelevant. This, however, is why I would recommend seeing it, if only to get really annoyed. Or you might think its pure genius, who knows? If so, you most certainly won't be alone with that sentiment...

Tags: Dance, Douglas Wright, Black Milk, Contemporary Dance.

I had just gotten back from Lismore and was driving home from PT (who had kindly allowed me to leave my car at his place). As I was driving down Cleveland Street I notice that the garage where I normally take my car for servicing was totally gutted out. Crazy. Very annoying because I now have to find somewhere else to take my car in. Oops! How rude of me... I hope no one got hurt and I'm sorry for the owner's losses, they were quite good to me.

Anyway, more changes: Sydney Dance Company are in need of a new Artistic Director. I know, this is extremely old news but I've been away! This Sydney Morning Herald article places just about all the blame on the lack of government funding for dance. I really don't know where to begin commenting about this, its such big news for our neighbours and I hope the dancers are all okay... not a situation I would like to be in.

However, I am interested to see who the company will get to replace Murphy. I'm having alot of trouble imagining the company with a different director, then again the dancers took to Narelle Benjamin's choreography really well, and I really did like the company performing Stephen Petronio's Underland. Never underestimate a dancer's ability to cope with change, just ask me! The change in directorship of the company is big news but I don't think it will necessarily be down hill from here.

Oh, and there's a local Woolies now, on Bourke Street. How convenient! Change is not always a bad thing.

Tags: Dance, Sydney, Sydney Dance Company.

Tomorrow will be our last performance of Clan and though we get a ten day breather, its not the end as we have to pick up another show and take that on tour.

Its a shame that its ending, though. Apparently Lismore was just about our best performance of the show, helped greatly by an extremely appreciative audience. Everything is running pretty smoothly and, because I've been swinging in and out of various roles, and because we've had short doses of the big smoke on this extensive tour, I'm not really sick of it yet. In fact, it has been quite eventful: I've recovered from an injury, launched this site, taken up crochet...

And there's still alot to look forward to: wine-tasting in Hobart, JPB and I's first year anniversary, and a tour to the UK with a possible first-time trip to Paris for our week break. Exciting!

In about six hours from now I have to get in a cab to the airport to fly to Brisbane from Cairns only to get into a bus for a three hour trip to Lismore. Can't really keep us down in one place at the moment. Then again, we're dancers - we're constantly on the move.

Tags: Dance, Bangarra, Photos, Contemporary Dance, Performance, move,Rations, Unaipon.