Archive - Mar 2007

Chunky Move - Glow

It's unnerving to have the choreographer of the show that you're seeing sit next to you. Especially when the people accompanying you usually make it quite clear and quickly whether or not they liked the show and they are not aware that the creator of the show is sitting within earshot. Such outspokenness is a good quality to have, don't get me wrong, because if a dance work is shite then, well, you can't really blame someone for saying so.

But I still would have found it an awkward situation to be in...

Thankfully Glow wasn't crap. The effect of the technology was beautiful and intriguing; and after only twenty six minutes, it didn't have enough time to get tiresome. Though despite the obvious technical ability of the soloist, her execution of the distorted and fluid movement phrases, the real showcase was her shadow. The visual tracking mechanism employed, that registered her every movement and influenced the projection beamed back onto her writhing floor-bound body, created some startling effect on her shadow that would not normally be possible. At times, her shadow would manipulate the spirograph-like loops of light that were projected onto the floor around her. Other times, the mechanism would remember her movement and leave black imprints on the floor, as if her ghostly shadow was delayed and was slowing catching up to her. Then there were times when her shadow would smear across the floor, disrupting the parallel lines that were drawn across her body. Beautiful, understated effects that have immediately obvious potential as theatrical devices.

Twenty six minutes doesn't give you much time to get bored but it can certainly leave you wanting more. It's a beautiful technology but there's certainly more scope for it to be used better. What little theatricality is shallow and unsatisfying. The speaking-in-tongues sits oddly in a show that seems primarily concerned with visual effect, though halfway through I realised that perhaps there may have been a concurrent audio feedback process happening, where the dancer's screeches were being recorded and manipulated by software, to be incorporated into the soundtrack. THAT would have been intriguing but it wasn't clear that this was happening and, if it was, it wasn't really taken far enough.

As installation art, it was sublime. As a piece of theatre, it fell quite short. The technology is extraordinary. Now it just needs to be used.

UPDATE: click here to see a snippet of Glow. Thanks to Doug Fox for the link. It was good to be reminded of just how visually striking it was to watch. Certainly something not to miss...

Four Years
We had just finished our first quick regional tour around NSW, presenting a program of bits and pieces pulled together from repertoire. Just about half of the company were new dancers and so there wasn't much there to really stretch us, it more like Introduction to the Life of a Touring Professional Dancer. When we got back to Sydney, Moth was one of the first pieces that Stephen worked on for Bush and it featured the auntie/nephew partnership of DB and ST. Not quite Fonteyn/Nureyev, it was still quite enduring, and Moth became a signature duet for both of them and was performed numerous times both in Bush and on its own for one-off corporate gigs and stuff. CK and I were the official understudies but, back then, there wasn't a really concrete idea of the understudy beyond "just in case someone gets injured but it probably won't happen so don't worry about it". Besides, in Bush it really wasn't practical for me to do it anyway, considering I'm in the piece immediately prior to it.

Like all living things, Moth grew over the four years along with the dancers. For four years I kept an eye on it, noticing the changes made to it along the way. But even with the departure of ST from the company last year, there didn't seem to be any chance of me ever performing this duet as Bush has been to just about everywhere in the country (with the glaringly notable exception of Perth).

Four minutes
So there I am, settling into first plie immediately behind DB's right shoulder, waiting for the first of many abrupt strings that are the little flutters of my moth-shadow wings. The stage is small, rough and rickety. We are in the Paddington Town Hall, it had been a hot and humid day and, with the venue having no cooling system, there were large aluminium tubes connected to air-conditioning machines pumping cool air into the hall. A few moments into the dance I overbalance and almost fall over. There are people watching from their tables right next to the tiny stage and their gaze is putting me off.

This is my official Moth debut. Not Sadler's, not the Kennedy Center, not the Adelaide Botanical Gardens. But here. After four years. It was surreal, as if I was lying. "Hah! You've come to see Moth but, instead, all you're getting is this."

It was about halfway through the duet when I get a connection with DB and it starts feeling like a dance. Dance like nobody is watching, and for a moment it was true. But then I almost dance DB off the stage and my hand nearly hits the projection screen and I'm back in the stuffy old venue, on the rickety old stage. I was so conscious of making noise, as every landing from a jump was a loud thud on this stage and with people less than a metre from the front of the stage it was absolutely possible that they could hear my breathing. I am a shadow, I'm supposed to be quiet.

Four minutes later, we were taking our curtain-less calls. Maybe it'll be another four years before I do that again.

BTW, the event was for Yalari, an organisation that gives indigenous kids the support to get through secondary school. Even Robbie Williams had donated something to the silent auction: he's a good sort, isn't he?

SCOPE (Securing Career Opportunities and Professional Employment)

A month ago I was busy updating and submitting my resume. And this is the result: acceptance into the SCOPE program. Cool. Now I can finally get some concrete web development skills instead of fumbling around and pretending to know what I'm doing... hehe...

I had missed all the information seminars and only heard about the program a week before the application was due but, lucky for me, I already had a good idea of what I wanted to do. And all I needed was a program like this to fill in the blanks.

Even now it's amazing to think about what this program is about, it's an extraordinary idea. Having already been implemented for elite athletes for fifteen years, the transition of this program to professional dancers is a neat fit because of the similarities in two different fields. What are you supposed to do after your professional dance career, when you've trained your body so specifically and with so much dedication? This thought has been with me pretty much for my entire dance career because I do have quite strong interest in lots of other things besides dance (and don't get me started about whether or not I'm still committed to my current profession because, with this program, nothing has changed in that respect; this is currently a very sore point with me...) and I don't see why I don't just explore that.

Although I must admit that when I was writing my application, I felt that I didn't really know WHAT this program was about. Sure, there was enough information on the website but I guess I was in disbelief that a program like this actually exists. It promises so much, it couldn't be true. But I took their word and finished the application regardless.

The induction was fun, had to take some time off work to attend and, conveniently enough for me, was at the Bangarra Mezzanine. Strange feeling, though, to be networking and occasionally glancing down at the dancers in a rehearsal that I would normally be present at. The dancers chosen for the program were all so diverse, some with more concrete ideas for what they want out of the program than others, but there was one thing common amongst us all: none of us wanted to leave the dance profession. Indeed I applied so that I could STAY in dance, and that was the same for everyone else. Alot of us also shared my amazement at the existence of this program and, through the induction, we were reassured that, yes, everything is as it seems. (On second thoughts, I was probably the least sure about the program because everyone else seemed to have attended the information seminars...)

So all I have to do is sign the contract and off I go. It's going to be an interesting year!

Previous: A Slice of Blog 2 - The Commonwealth Games Edition.
I'm feeling a bit lost for things to blog about so I'm just going to give out a bit of link love. Besides, it's been a while since I have done one of these...

Ranting Details

Only a few days ago I had a discussion with someone about how I've been lucky enough to have never fallen while I was dancing. Lesson number 1: Never state anything like that as you are pretty much guaranteeing that you will be meeting the floor at the soonest possible date.

Here's another perspective on the life of a dancer. There's lots of travelling and photos, which is quite familiar to anyone that's read my blog here, but there's also more pointed feet (we also point our feet in Bangarra, but we also flex them, sickle them, "Barbie foot" them...) and not enough gay bars. Well, actually, I guess there isn't alot of mention about gay bars here either. Anyway, the writing is terrific and he loves a bit of Lily Allen so it's two thumbs up from me...

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Closely related is this site:
The Winger

Bringing together the global dance community via the internet.

I just have to say this: I WANT ONE. One of these sites, I mean. It's such a good idea, and well done to Kristin for getting it done. It's very "Ballet slash American"-centric but there's a few exceptions and, besides, no whingeing, there's always the option of offering to contribute to change that... Or, make your own... hmm...

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Simon Jobling (aka OnePhatDJ)

I heard this track in a DJ mix way back in 2002 and was hooked. I had to find out what the track was and where I could get it. I managed to dig up a white label copy on eBay and paid a fortune for it to be shipped to me.

Web Developer by day, podcast DJ whenever he can fit it in. And his mixes are pretty cool, too, so check them out. Not as good as mine, though but, hey, I don't have a child to take care of...

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Ooops! I'd better put a gay link on the page. This will do:
GayGamer.net - For boys who like boys who like joysticks. And girls who like girls who like rumble packs!

But, I do remember that we often played games together with our next door neighbors. And one game I remember distinctly at these gatherings Barbie, for the NES.

Of course there are gays in computer games. Just look at Ash, from Bare Knuckles 3, here to the left. He looks like he's on his way to a leather club. Don't mess with him, though, 'cos he's good with his fists... in so many ways!

And that's all I feel like sharing today...

Good night! Normal blogging service to resume shortly...

Electrical storms are pretty common back home (and apparently Darwin is the Lightning Capital of the world!) so I'm not too fussed when we have an electrical storm in the big smoke. HOWEVER, we don't have too many Sydney Harbour Bridges spanning the Katherine River. This picture is pretty impressive! Taken from The Sydney Morning Herald.

Okay this blog is all a bit Clan this and Clan that. Time for me to talk about something different.

Like, what's on my iPod?

Yes I do listen to a hell of alot of mashups, to the point where I sometimes don't even recall how the originals go. Is that a bad thing? Oh well. Currently the ones that are getting the most iPod time are these tasty eighties-flavoured ones:

- Cassie vs Yazoo - Me & You & Yazoo (DJ Matt Hite Extended Mashup)
Case in point. I can't quite recall how Cassie's Me & You goes but from what I remember I think it was pretty boring.
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs vs Madonna - Do Ya Want My Burning Heart (DJ Paul V Final Mix)
- Falco vs Sean Paul - Temperature Calling (DJ Schmolli Mashup)
- Madonna vs Cassius - Toop Toop Groove (Loo & Placido Mashup)
- The Cure vs The Boomtown Rats vs New Order - Don't Like Mondays, It's Friday (Go Home Productions Club Mix)
- Wolfmother vs Gnarls Barkley - Daddy and The Thief (team9 Mashup)

After compiling that little list I've decided that I really need to update my iPod! Some of these are pretty old.

Anyway. On to *real* music.
- Mika has a terribly cute album at the moment in Life in Cartoon Motion. It would be rude to say that Mika is ripping off Scissor Sisters because, hey, Jake and his mates are too busy *taking inspiration* from heaps of other acts (and doing a darn good job of it, let it be said). But it's hard not to make that comparison, especially when he does tracks like Relax, Take It Easy. But I do love it when he "tries a little Freddy", Grace Kelly instantly puts a smile on my face, it's a great way to start the day.

- Forget about the gay guy that's friends with the gay guy that used to live with that red head chick in Manhattan and think more what a Robbie Williams album would sound like if it was produced by The Streets and that would sort of come close to describing Just Jack's Overtones. Ooops, did I just offend you Jacko? It's not true! You're alot more laid back, less aggressive, but just as observant as Skinno. Especially love the dramatic strings in Mourning Morning. And I Talk Too Much has a great 8-bit C64-style intro.

- Speaking of the C64, how's about the whole furphy with Nelly Furtado and Timbaland ripping off some obscure track remixed for the C64. See the evidence here, and Timbaland's response here. How hard is it to acknowledge your sources? I like what he's done (in fact the whole "Nelly slutting herself off to the mainstream" has grown on me enormously since the last Sound Observation) but, geez, how hard is it to footnote and post that cheque?

And that is all, for now...

Elma Kris never fails to impress with her authoritative presence. Patrick Thaiday, especially in the blanket sequence, is powerful in his dancing and his ability to create a sense of character. The veteran performer Sidney Saltner has lost none of his attack and commitment. Deborah Brown and Jhuny-Boy Borja dance the pivotal blanket duet with engrossing intensity.

(from The Sydney Morning Herald)

Oooh! How exciting! Sounds like a good show!