Stage of Being is presented by the New Zealand Dance Company and is part of their tenth anniversary celebrations. Intriguing and challenging modern contemporary dance performances with a lyrical sense of beauty.
Players: Katie Rudd, Ngaere Jenkins, Brydie Colquhoun, Chris Mills, `Isope `Akau’ola, Oliver Carruthers
Little Bits and AddOns
Choreographer: Tupua Tigafua
Composer: David Long
The stage lighting is subdued, and the minimal props invites the senses to experience a large expanse of land. The horizon in the bottom of the frame, to make the scene interesting, as celebrated film maker John Ford once said.
A figure wrapped in a shabby tarpaulin blanket looks like a homeless person still sleeping in the early dawn. Another figure emerges who stands before a straight line of little matchboxes, and deftly harvests them.
The rest appear, and they perfectly ape the mannerisms of hens on the free range. They do the Funky Chicken strut with the forward head nod and the clucking.
They move in a unified interacting group and give the impression of a larger mass influenced by the dictates of invisible forces.
The little dialogue there is talks about supply chains. Supply and demand which defines this age of consumerism.
What occurred in these strange times of tricky viruses and dystopia was a collapse of these chains. People were confined to quarters, but it also encouraged everybody to get out and walk their neighbourhood and nod to each other in passing.
Herd behaviour is fascinating and compelling if you are watching from above. It reminded me of the study of Behavioural Science at university and observing a population of small birds in an aviary for a month. Soon you see the little dramas unfold and identify the hierarchies and alpha leaders.
These roles constantly morph within the dance troupe. Eventually, one is caught in that same shabby tarp to be led away.
A little Animal Farm drama where it’s Two Legs Good, Two Legs Bad.
Made In Them
Choreographers: Xiao Chao Wen and Xin Ji Composer: Benny Jennings
The stage is minimal again, but the horizon seems to shift to the top of the frame. Because the array of lights above the stage is where objects drop or descend on cue, to the players below.
The artists describe this piece as exploring the roots and depths of emotions, and how they are shaped by the extreme nature of certain environments.
The dancers all wear dark spherical helmet orbs except one. The naked head is interchangeable.
The performance begins with one on the floor, being pulled and contorted in multiple directions, as if by an unseen puppet-master. The extreme physical nature of this remarkable.
The background of the choreographers must play a defining role. Both come from the Beijing Dance Academy and have been in New Zealand within the last decade.
The atmosphere evoked resembles the obscure cult classic movie THX 1138 made by George Lucas. When he made his reputation as a serious artist before eventually ruining it with the never-ending Star Wars bore-fest.
The is a constant tension present in the performance. An over-arching and strictly controlled environment, where individuals struggle to gain release and let the light in. Even though the harsh light is always on like a modern-day detention centre
I have an uneasy feeling this would be viewed in a different light back in their home country. Or maybe it would fly under the radar and into the consciousness like art aspires to.
The music appealed to me with some of the tonal qualities of the classic My Life in the Bush of Ghosts from David Byrne and Brian Eno. Sudden crescendos deliver corporeal hits and jar the senses.
The dance is physically demanding and can get spectacular in its fluidity. It throbs and pulses like a magnificent beast and suggests Artificial Intelligence.
Both pieces achieve their aims in radically different ways. They lure you in from the outside, and slowly detonate in your mind to leave impressions which linger for a long time.
Rev Orange Peel
