With a somewhat awry pleasure I exclaim upon ‘a life between us’, a dance showcase hosted by Unitec’s Department of Performing & Screen Arts to celebrate 21 years of ‘Unitec dance’. I attended opening night of this event at the Maidment Theatre on Thursday November 18^th, where speeches, reinforced by the official programme, acknowledged all the current and past students (of which I am one), tutors, and staff who have collectively vitalised what originated as New Zealand’s stand-alone, progressive, pre-professional contemporary dance programme.

The questions for me, when reviewing this performance event are:
– What is being celebrated by the curation of the event?
– How does this curation reflect upon the current quality of dance practitioners and their choreography emerging from the Unitec programme?
– And, how do the unstated principles and ideas of this event align with our personal and collective envisaging of the future of Contemporary Dance in New Zealand?

Whilst I doubt I will cover these large questions in this short review, I would like to make a start, and, I welcome comments and further dialogue around these and related issues (other discussions are already occurring in various contexts including Facebook).

 

The selection of works in this showcase reflect the curation of current Unitec Head of Dance, Charene Griggs. ‘A life between us’ is comprised of five choreographies by well known names in New Zealand contemporary dance: Michael Parmenter, Malia Johnston, Shona McCullagh, Chris Jannides and Neil Ieremia. Wow, that’s quite a glorious lineup! Quite obviously the intention of the event is to impress, but to impress who and in what way?

Post the controversial statement by Charene where she talks of choosing to omit  “inaccessible and experimental choreography” from this showcase (publicised in a preview by Bernadette Rae in  NZ Herald, Nov 13^th) one is left contemplating, just what then, is being celebrated by this act of curation? I initially feel disgruntled that the event doesn’t aim to reflect the trademark innovation of Unitec student choreography from the programme’s inception. I was also miffed that the choreographic artistry of the current graduating students is not being acknowledged either. The flavour of the lineup seems to be representing one slim aspect of the diverse and rich history of works by both professional guest choreographers and students in the history of Unitec’s dance programme.

 

Within the works themselves, we see heralded the glory of physical virtuosity, of religious upliftery (sic) choreographically, and the glory of a tough and hard edged yang dynamism by the dancers.

 

What stood out to me primarily in the show was the students’ fastidious commitment to deliver whatever was required by each of the works and their choreographers. Also standing out for me, but perhaps more subtle in essence, was an inevitable leakage of the training through psycho-somatic embodiments, of a quality of militaristic self flagellation. To me this speaks of an ‘old-school’ dance conservatory value system that really could afford to finally be laid to rest in dance training programmes and indeed in choreographic practices, don’t you think? Aaah, but who cares, right?!

 

Four out of the five pieces are repertoire and are collectively grand and polished with lush production elements. The fifth – Chris Jannides’ piece ‘Comp Legs Circa’ – is a “tinkered and tampered” upon old turned into  new piece, and arguably the most affecting within the context of this ‘celebration’. I’ll come back to this piece at the end of this discussion.

 

Michael P’s ‘Colony’, whilst a stunning act of choreographic crafting, does not clearly speak of the individual freedom aspect of his self- described ‘dialogue between personal and collective experience’ (for me at least).  What I did see very clearly was a conformist community identity styled through predictable, yet elegant methods of tight unison, lines and pathways, and familiar movement material and motifs. Michael’s strength in developing evocative partnering sequences is seen towards the end of this work and is outstandingly rendered in the duet of Georgia Giesen and Carolyn Gray.

 

Malia’s ‘Crash Test Dummies’ is rooted in a strong and visceral physicality. The only piece in the program with just 3 dancers (all the others utilise large casts), its strength is that we actually get a sense of the performers for who they are, as real people with distinctive personalities, and there is also a taste in the work of the personal relationships between the performers. The deliberate and attentive nature of the movement itself, as well as its execution – by dancers Matthew Moore, Mark Bonnington and Joshua Graves – is also, characteristically of Malia, satisfying in its phrasing design. Lighting is striking and memorable, but even this piece, whilst more new generation in its choreographic style and methodology, also contains hard edged punchy movements characteristic of this showcase; perhaps a indication of the curator’s choreographic preferences?

 

Shona’s ‘Those Left’ has a European flavour with a startlingly intensity about it, effectively modelling the intensity of the subject matter that of the impact of war in Poland. I immediately notice the principal soloist Sierra Palmer seems younger and softer than original soloist Hannah Tasker-Poland. Sierra’s character is less witch-like and worldly and more vulnerable and delicate, even through the harsh qualities in the movement material. This is an impressive display of dexterity and tenacity by Sierra, she also manages to contain a lovely personal quality of yielding into the extensions. Again in this work, like the first two, the requirements of the choreography are surreptitiously enculturating hard nosed, Unitec dancers, in this piece by its concentrated fast, strong and cutting movements and force of expression.

 

Neil’s ‘PatiPati’ aptly ends the show with its volcanic orgasm of energy through body percussion influenced by Samoan Sasa and Fa’ataupati. It passionately brings to life simple yet dramatic motifs, including of the symbolism of up and down, and strong arrangements of chorus work. This tight work is a total showstopper and has the effect of blowing us away.

 

So finally to Chris Jannides’ piece which, in the order of the show, came after Shona’s and before Neil’s works. ‘Comp Legs Circa’ is arguably the gem of the show (a diamond in the rough one might say) and a poignant statement indeed. It is contextualised by the collective proclamation of the works combined, and this celebratory occasion as a whole, including, for me, the history of Unitec and Chris’s leadership role in this history as Head of Dance from 1998-2006. The work has a wit and charm about it much like Chris in real life. Even its wry humour is poignant, but on opening night it seems not everyone gets its jokes. There is a tension that emerges in the theatre between those laughing but trying not to laugh, and those not laughing at all…this adds to the queer pageantry of this work.

 

‘Comp Legs Circa’ points finger at a militaristic drill style of choreographing, and of the training of virtuosic dance clones, through its intelligent and ridiculous quoting of choreographic traditions and also through its lighting design and costuming. An anti-cool aesthetic is created by his opposition to figure hugging ‘flattering’ costuming (seen in the other works), choosing instead a one-size-fits-all 80s waistcoat over a plain black tshirt, with mirror shades and sneakers. Also contributing to this aesthetic are a recurring sequence of lights flashing down the edges of the cyclorama and some psychedelically patterned gobo spots. Bahahaha. There is also a distinctive recurring voiceover ‘And then’, and strange aural oddities and ambience which is ‘Additional Music by Derek Tearne’. Much forefinger clicking of ‘Like’ here. Perhaps in an almost serious manner ‘Comp Legs Circa’ also gives us a sense of the humility of dance and its profundity.

And just to end on a cynical bummer, sorry folks…Note to self dancers: glory does not equal wage. Welcome to the industry dance grads! Sorry to be so cynical, but let’s acknowledge the reality of being a fulltime or even part-time dance artist in NZ today;

  Step 1. Learn to foster a healthy relationship to the concept of WINZ.

Though I am not suggesting this is the only option for grads who want to remain practicing, I am however suggesting that the sheer number of us who currently require this kind of support to maintain our level of dance practice may in fact astound even some of us involved in the industry.

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