Archive - 2007

(Haven't done a dance update in a while so here goes...)

It's now our fifth week of rehearsals at Bangarra in 2007, with about three weeks to go until we open Clan in Glen Street. The Christmas celebrations are stubbornly clinging to my stomach in the form of extra kilograms but at least I feel like a dancer again, it took awhile but I'm back. And inspired from the awesome program of dance we had in Sydney for the festival. We're spending more time on EK's new work for True Stories, though, while we have guest artist traditional dancer in residence. I don't see that there'll be much of a problem remounting Clan in the three weeks, though, because we have found time within EK's schedule to rehearse most of the show. Can't wait, too, I'll finally be able to perform all the roles I had in this program pre-injury so look out!

We've gotten alot of work done for EK as well and its all starting to get a bit of a flow (well, at least the first half anyway). It's a strongly traditional work, based on sacred objects from Murray Island in the Torres Straits, and the work-load is beginning to show in my legs: I have THUNDER THIGHS!!! Well it's good to have big legs anyway, culturally speaking, so I don't mind...

Tags: Dance, Bangarra, rehearsal.

I had installed an audio feature to allow y'all to download my mixes but unfortunately posted the link to Blentwell. The result being a massive increase in downloads which shut down the site. Oops!

Lucky for me it all happened near the end of the month so I only had to wait a couple of days for the bandwidth usage level to reset. Even so, I was anxious to have it offline even for that short amount of time. Just in case I have disabled the download feature for now, which is a real shame because I really wanted to have it all come from here. So much for trying to get a little bit of extra traffic!

But do enjoy the mixes, even if they are being kept elsewhere!

Sydney Festival 2007
Wow it's been a terrific start to the year in Sydney. As far as festivals go, it's right up there with the time when Stephen Page was running the show in Adelaide and Bangarra was the headline show... thankfully we didn't have to perform here in Sydney so I got to see heaps of things. And what a program it was! Here is my top five festival events:

5. Lou Reed - Berlin
Not my cup of tea, to be sure, but the musicianship was unquestionably good. Guest vocalist Antony, who was here for last year's festival, blew us away again, with his soaring voice. It was standing room only at The State but it was worth it.

4. Australian Dance Theatre - Devolution
The dancers of ADT are superhuman and are appropriately matched with the un-human robots. It was like we were on board the Nostromo, battling Aliens. It's undeniably spectacular, ambitious and mind-blowing but, like the soundtrack, it all runs at volume eleven. Halfway through you become thankful for the beautiful calm projections, as if someone had turned the volume down to about three, so that you can take a moment to breathe again. Strangely enough, and in contrast to alot of other reactions to this work, I wanted to see more robots, or at least more interaction with them. The two large robots entering the dance space to inspect the dancers, and the large tentacle-like robotic appendages protruding from the dancers' torsos were highlights, teasing the audience to believe that we would actually see a devolution where the dancers would become totally integrated with the robotic mechanisms. It never happens, though, instead we get to see an explosive finale full of daring acrobatics at warp speed. Am I expecting too much from them already?

The next three I couldn't decide between them so they're all equal first!

=1. Back To Back Theatre - Small Metal Objects
This production turns the theatrical experience on its head and manages to effortlessly deal with improbable contradictions in less than an hour. It is sad and funny at the same time. The audience becomes the stage for random passers-by to watch as we laugh at them and their silly human ways. Actors intermingle through a sea of *real people* in transit, some intrigued by the spectacle of a full audience stand while others simply ignore it as they get on with their lives. As one of the performers stares blankly into the audience (he's a bit wrong in the head, apparently) he becomes a people magnet, attracting the passers-by to stop and watch us, oblivious to the fact that there's a personal drama being acted out in this most public of places, The Circular Quay train station. You can't help but laugh when tourists stop to take photos of us, and there was a hilarious moment when a couple of toddlers took the opportunity to run up to the audience and do their own little performance. Seemingly incongruous to the fact that we are watching a rather large drug deal but, then again, where better to supply gear than a train station? (not like I'd know) Intriguing theatre.

=1. Lucy Guerin Company - Structure and Sadness
Guerin amasses a talent pool of dancers to match ADT but the production is on a much smaller scale, the cold robotic metal replaced with the ordinary slabs of wood. But boy is she meticulous about the wood! I could watch the dancers build that house-of-cards structure all night, knowing that the domino-like collapse of the building was inevitable. And unlike ADT, Guerin delivers on the title of her work: there is a structure and, after it collapses, there is sadness. Simple, really. There's also rebuilding, a coming-to-terms with the disaster, that's quite touching.

=1. La Clique
The Tennis-Racquet guy was especially hilarious. This was a perfectly entertaining piece of theatre, perfectly staged, and was amazing the whole way through. I felt like I had gone back in time, to the era of burlesque theatre (whatever era that was...)

Not to forget:
Akhe Russian Engineering Theatre - White Cabin: No discernible story. More like an excuse to get onstage and get drunk whilst spilling lots of wine and burning things and getting a bit wet. I have no idea what I saw but was more than happy to experience it. Those crazy Russians!

Akram Khan, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Antony Gormley and Nitin Sawhney - zero degrees
This could have been a good work but I went on opening night at The Carriageworks and, along with about 95% of the audience, couldn't see what was going on. Thankfully it all got sorted by the time I went to see ADT. Love the venue besides...

Tags: Sydney Festival, Dance, Theatre, Music, Australian Dance Theatre, Lou Reed, Antony, Back To Back Theatre, Lucy Guerin, La Clique.

This maybe old news (sorry about that but I've been on blogging hiatus for the last month...) but I've got a new toy! SLR - very exciting. I'm now on a whole new level of photography! It'll take a while to get used to all the new features and I'm considering taking courses to learn how to do it all properly. I've already got a couple of favourite piccies too!

Not only that but JPB got me a Holga. Super cool! I've been eyeing out all the cool pictures that other lomographers have taken. It's on the other end of the photography spectrum from the Alpha, which is a terrific contrast. One is ultra-precise, but the Holga you can only hope and pray (until, again, you get used to it) and the pictures aren't immediately bloggable (read: not digital) but I've developed a roll and will scan some of the pictures soon.

And lets not forget the *new* phone that has a 3.2 Megapixel camera. Beats the shit out of the crap Motorola V3x that I'm going to be paying off for the next year and a half! Motorola: never ever again.

Tags: camera, slr, Sony, lomograph, holga, mobile, photo,

Listen: MoJ2007
1 Snow Patrol Chasing Cars (Diffusion Dance Mastermix)
2 Coldplay White Shadows (Morgan Page Bootleg Remix)
3 Justin Timberlake My Love (Paul Oakenfold Remix)
4 Nelly Furtado Maneater (Peter Rauhofer Reconstruction Mix)
5 Beyonce Ring The Alarm (Freemasons Club Mix)
6 Pink U And Ur Hand (Beatcult Remix)
7 Girls Aloud Something Kinda Oooh (Free ZR Mix)
8 Dannii Minogue So Under Pressure (Express Theory Mix)
9 Nelly Furtado Promiscuous (DJ Nicky T Electro House Remix)
10 Fergie London Bridge (DJ Nicky T Electro House Remix)
11 Till West v DJ Delicious v Cassie v Jay Z (DJ Nicky T Mashup)
12 Gwen Stefani Wind It Up (Electro Bashment Remix)
13 Basement Jaxx Take Me Back To Your House (Jaxx Club Mix)
14 Basement Jaxx Take Me Back To Your House (Kurd Maverick Remix)
15 Justin Timberlake SexyBack (Armand's Mix)
16 Channel 88 The Groove Is Taking Over (Club Mix)
17 Sneaky Sound System Pictures (Tonite Only Remix)
18 Sarah Nixey Strangelove (Lodge Radio Remix)
19 The Killers When You Were Young (The Lindbergh Palace Remix)

FINALLY!!! This mix started mid December and has been finished for the last three weeks. The delay was getting the motivation to whip up a CD Cover which, in the end, was a botch up that took a couple of hours playing around. I didn't really like this mix the first few listens, mainly because it goes all over the place. And I wasn't really a big fan of Stefani's new stuff (so why did I include it then???) but now I quite like it.

Oh, and sorry for the lack of posts lately. Was in a little bit of a slump for the last couple of months. Not quite ready to hit the blog hard, though, am only prepared to take little steps. Figure that a new mix would be a good way to start again.

Technorati Tags: Mix, CD, Dance, Pop, Mashup

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