Date post: | 16-Mar-2018 |
Category: |
Documents |
Upload: | vuongkhanh |
View: | 214 times |
Download: | 1 times |
http://eprints.qut.edu.au/25854/
QUT Digital Repository: http://eprints.qut.edu.au/
Stock,Cheryl. (2002) here/there/now/then (Creative Work) commissioned site-
specific work for Brisbane Powerhouse
© Copyright 2002 Cheryl Stock and artists
CONTEMPORARYdance returns to theBrisbane Powerhousewith performances thatget into the crevices of
public spaces.A flight of stairs leading nowhere.
the space under a stairwell and thewaiting space of a theatre foyer arethe sites for works in the danceproject, hereltherelthenlnow.DeYised by Queensland University
of Technology head of dance, andformer Dance North artistic director,Cheryl Stock, the five promenadeperformances are backed byAusdance as part of Australian DanceWeek which runs until Sunday.Stock says it's a chance for indi-
viduals, forced to work solo becauseof a lack of company spaces, to workcollaboratively."\Ve are training a lot of dancers. I
am head of an institution whichtrains them, and they tend to go outand explore their own work, ratherthan someone else's work through acompany. Call them individualartists, solo artists. In fact it is apretty tough environment and oftennot something done by choice butnecessity," she says."So I started to think of this
change and of the way contempor-ary dance performance has evolved."Site-specific performances are
being choreographed around thePowerhouse by Brian Lucas,Vanessa Mafe and LeanneRingelstein. Their work will culmi-nate in a joint performance, a workby Stock which will use the spaceinside the Brisbane PowerhouseVisy Theatre.The four performers who will
guide the audience through theevenings have been hand-picked byStock to work within the spaces.Ringelstein has danced pro-
fessionally for eight years, includinga time at Dance North where shefirst met Stock.Ringelstein was shortlisted for an
\
get er
Isadora Duncan Dance Award thisyear after performing and studyingdance in San Francisco through aChurchill Fellowship.Thai-born composer/singer
Watchiraporn (Nok) Thumrongsat isfinishing her Master of Music degreeat Queensland University of Techno-logy and also has a natural talent fordance, although no formal training.Ko-Pei Lin has had more than 10
years' dance experience in Taiwanand has been seconded toExpressions Dance Company whilecomple~ing studies at QUT.And Brisbane Powerhouse resi-
dent performer Lucas is heavily in-volved in dance education and per-
formance which takes him to venuesaround Queensland.Lucas wants to show the contrasts
between metal and flesh in the move-ment piece here, accompanied bysound artist Brett Collery and visualartist Ian Hutson. Ringelstein andThumrongsat will explore the con-fines of an enclosed space in therewith original Thai music composedby Thumrongsat, while Mafe and vis-ual artist Jondi Keane are workingon acontempcirary still life perform-ance of then with' Ko-Pei Lin andcomposer Stephen Stanfield.Stock has taken two weeks out of
her academic schedule to O\'erseethe project, and choreograph thefinal performance piece, now. She
will return to QUT just in time forthe Gardens Theatre performanceof Dance Bytes and thepostgraduate showcase."!t's hard after 30 years as a pro-
fessional to all of a sudden be calledan academic and go into a very biginstitution, although it is also veryexciting with QUT's CreativeIndustries," Stock says."It is very nice to be able to do
some of my own work for a time anciI have had this idea for quite a long"time now without having a specificvenue in mind."Here/lhere/lhen/now, Brisbane Powerhouse,
promenade performance leading theaudience through three locations. Tonight toSunday:~du}ls: S20. Bookings: 3358 8600.
PerformanceInfrastructure forDance
The following pages provide abrief survey of some of theinfrastructure which exists andsupports the diverse practice ofAustralia's independent artists.Tbis survey is by no means',complete, and should alsoneread in conjunction with Stateand Territory Ausdance news(p.5-6). This provides addition<illcontext for the role of Ausdance in.itssupport role for the profes, ion.
Finding place with danceHere. The place in which you find your-
selr. Fro 111the viewing level, the rear stairs or
the Turbine Hall drop though 2 tiers like a
medieval descent into purgatolY and hell.
Brian Lucas begins his stolY eye to eye with
his audience, a story of victim/aggressor draw-
ing on the impulses of serial killcrJcfr,·cy
Dahmer and lures us from safety into less cer-
tain waters.
Voice and movcment elllbody his 1""1, arecollection or cvents onc cold New Zeabndnight. Our gaze tTavels down through t.his
torch-lit temple to an intimate space-a dining
table, a serve or raw livcr, a romantic dinner
date. The symhiosis or word and gesture set
against [ken Collely's aural backdrop or a girl
pop group, return.s us to another version or
events. Repetition lulls, then puts us on alen.
Danger intensific'S, and Lucas disappearsbelow as into the mouth or hell. Calmly, he re-emerges rrom the basement-as Ihough obliv-
ious to the ravaging animallhat had just givenvent to its 11I0Stdepl~lved desires.
l-IadrJIfrerrltel1/Now, an initiative or
director Chelyl Stock, brings together imk-
pendent solo dance artists and their collabora-
tors (visual, Inuit i-media, lighting ami sound
designl'l's). Fom unique siles around the
Brish:lI1l' Powerhouse were nomin;lInl for Ihe
creative response or") discrele creative tcam,
who came IOgether under Slock's direction in
the Il,unh space, thc Visy Thealrc, li,r Mill'.
Tllne. We !iJlIow our guide and pecrdown into a concrete edl resonaling wilh NokTh,"nrongsat's plaintive Thai singing.C11"Jl'I).L:I~II'!Il.,.I_c;lImeRingelstein relclllks,l)'
assailillg the w'll1s of their confinement.
Trapped, neither acted upon the space in Ihe
way Lucas did, but instead made themselves
suhordinate to ii, responding within the !:In-
guage range of their respective disciplines.
Purporting to examine cultural responses to
stress and confinement, TilerI' ended with ilS
first actioll-the assertion or one individual
against an/other, unrorlunalely leaving ofrjust
when it got interesting.Tilell. Time past. Embodied ill still lire, a
painting in 3D: Vanessa Male andJondi
!(eane's response to the theatre royer site. Still
Iild And )'et the dallcer mo\'l'S, e"l'lt1ring theinstallat ion-an arrangclllcnl of stOlle\V~rc on
a suspended glass Iable. Picking up, puning
down, rolling around all orange. I<o-Pei Lin
looked lovely in her orange-lined hoop peni-
coat, lovely in Ian HUlSon's stills that line the
walls. So ... why is she moving? Tllell might
have. worked just as well in a ClJllVelliiomll
black box for the dance added no new mean-
ing, anempted no joumey, held 110 dialogue
with Ihc place Ko-Pci Lin was ill.Beyond its visual design, TI,ell was an acs-
thetic frolic within the languagc or coillempo-
1"")' dance as accumulaled in Ihc perlimnative
body or Ko-Pei Lin. (A smanerillg or oriental
hand movemCl1ts slightly enriched the vocab-
ulaty.) For direclor Stock, an ;Lspect or the
project was the way ill which the hody's accu-
mulated histOly or lechllitl' Ie and cultlll'e
inform crcalivc outcom,·s. The cxclusive phys-
icality of these dancers' hislorics sOll1etimes
seemed to remove them liulTl the immediacyof Ihe present. I~ingelslein's voicclessness in
T/ICrc seemed an unnatural gag Oil her C)'1xes-sive potcnli'll, where sillger ThumrongS:lt
movcd wilh a natul~11Iluidity (holislieally)
acro5.Sthc horders of discipline. Thumrongs'lt
was actor/singer/dancer, her perrmmative hody
providing sound, gesture ((/Ill Illeaning.
Now. Whcre we culminate, where we
converge. Stock speaks or Ihc "site as a sparse-
Iy fragmented reposilory or what has gone
before", and or "stairs 10 nowhere, deep
crevices with no purpose." ,I' the Sill' began as
a void of ambiguous negaLion, Now didlinle tofill it..Juxtapositiolls that arc merely serendipi-tous call'l be relicd on to engender new narra-
Iivcs. nO;lI ing ohjecrs--hoop skin, finger cym-hals, 'I Gllldic-rcrerenced Ihe previous wmks
as pari or a sea or memory: amorphous and
impact-rrec. Three discrete themes, wovcn
together ill time anti space, never bore upon
each other to pmduce a I<lllllh element.
Al"tera while Ihough, a tllbleaux evolves.
Gid ('(Ifs OIWI,~(', tr'1I1slimning stililili:. ;\ '('lIy
is 1'(/01.1,Ir;1I1sllll'lning the p:Lst. r:inally, a step
1C]lw~lI'll,into the unknown, inlo rUlllre slories.
The re-aetion heeomes (Inion; relationships
move be)io:lL1design al~d sensation and beginto initiate nll'anings lor the spectator, allowing
us to heOH1h' :leI ivl' lislcl1cr, not just V()'l'llr
LUC:Ls'creali,'" re~ptllL,e W;LS bUlh al'lil"t·
am] re'1L'lil'L'.If Ihe sill' was poilll A, hi,
Dahmer tcxt gave hinl pointB, betw('enwhicl,
a productive lension took pbce. This tension
liJrced him to apply conceptual (rather than
cO'1mreal) agility in oreler to command the
given space to 5Clve a greater purpose. ,\rter
Lucas' byered and multi-disciplined opening,
whal seemed lacking elsewhere in the pm-
gr~lnl was an explicit intl'llectual response, an
l'quiv;lknl engagement with a resource of
ideas. Iln-.- was where J wanled Ihem all 10 be.
I it'rdl'herdThcn/Now, dilc(/ol Chervl
SW(/I; dlOlmgmphfl" 13ri(1IILllws, Lmllllc
n;II,~c/,(cill, Vallessa Mare, Cilnyl S(ocll; ,I,,"cns;
I\o-!'!'i Lill, Lnl/llle nillgel.lfdll; ,illgc1' Noll
TllIlJIIIOII,~'(I(;(omposer Stepl,clI SWlljic/d; '01111.1
(/1(;1/ H,d( Co/lny; vi.\I1(// ar/;,fs/olldi /\C<lIIC. /(1/1
Illltsoll; 1i,~JI/;lIgdcsigllj"'011 ()I:~(I/I,IlI;S!'<lIIC
l'OIVCl'iIOIlS(,,'vlay 15-18
Here/there/then/now directed by Cheryl StockReview of narrative by Rosie Klich
Throughout history it has been the cultural function of narrative to represent and to make
sense of the human experience. However the performance installation Here There Then
Now, set in the intimate shadows of the Brisbane Powerhouse, both explores and---challenges the limitations of traditional narrative by offering its own truly beautiful and
..,/
As the audience is lead through the hidden spaces of the Powerhouse, they are presented
with four individual-irrstallations that explore and interpret the basic elements of space,
object, sound and movement. The four performance pieces may be individually regarded
as whole and separate, each unique in its aesthetic and narrative significance. While the
'multi-form' structure of the creation fractures the narrative, the audience is obliged to
causally link the individual works and accept an unfamiliar narrative progression that,
while fragmented and layered with many levels of narrative meaning, is actually linear.
This progression is climatically heightened in the fourth scene which combines and
counterpoints the thematic and aesthetic histories of the preceding performances.
The journey begins on the ground floor of the Turbine Hall and slowly moves through the
structures of the building into the depths of the Visy Theatre. Each performance draws
the audience physically lower into the building, reflecting the deepening immersion
experienced by the audience. This concept of depth resonates throughout the work and
the space itself is integral in the growth of thematic meaning. The very idea of belonging
to a specific space introduces concepts such as restriction and the idea of being trapped,
which are furthered pursued through the movement and complimentary soundscapes.
The first three performances establish abstracted fictional worlds, each with its own
rhythms, patterns and performers. Characters and action are created through expressive
movement and the interaction of the performers with the space and objects of their
individual worlds. Each short work develops it own thematic expression, exploring
subjective notions of betrayal, aggression, decay and deception. These themes develop
direct relativity in the final performance, with the morphing of the spaces and the
individual worlds creating a beautiful exploration of new relationships and stories. The
final performance provides satisfying conclusions to the lines of compelling dramatic
tension, a 'rounding-off' of the entire performance that complies with traditional notions
of linear narrative endings despite the ambiguity of the--meanings.
./
The ability of the work to create meaning is actually embedded in the very nature of its
intertextuality. The text is the body, the voice, the space, the music, and meaning is
produced through the interaction of these elements. The specific locating of the four
individual pieces wit1'finth~ enormous building allows the natural design of each site to
offer its own emotive and aesthetic contribution to the experience of the creation.
Every note of music and movement of the body interacts with the space and becomes
significant to the progression of the narrative. While the progression itself is causally
linear, the elements of the performance creating numerous layers of meaning that
disguise the linearity Gf the nan"ative and enhance the audience's experience by engaging
their senses as well as their intellect.
The aesthetic beauty and intensity of this performance piece alone make the work a
valuable experience for the audience. It is also indicative of an emerging nanative
expression in the theatre, where performative montages and fragmented intertextual
creations are exploring and deconstructing the essential properties of both theatre and
narration and creating new ways of experiencing narrative.