The movement is stunningly beautiful and the choreography is clever.

The movement is stunningly beautiful and the choreography is clever.

The movement is stunningly beautiful and the choreography is clever.

Yep, the only other thing that NEEDS to be said here, in my opinion, is GO SEE THIS.  What I really appreciated about this work though, moves beyond the delights of watching the stunningly beautiful dancing and clever choreography of Josie and Kosta’s Dance Show.  I am left thinking about the artists’ provocations in a discussion after the performance component of the work completes.  They offer a challenge to the current contemporary dance scene in New Zealand to reconsider the implications of how we are making work, to reexamine the potentiality of beginning a choreographic process with movement itself.  They contest and explore the meanings and significance that we attribute to movement and bodies, questioning a narrative-based approach to dance-making and work that is driven by social or political issues.  The problematic term ‘pure movement’ is addressed in relation to these provocations, bringing into play a revitalisation of the concerns of the postmodernist dance artists of the 1960s, such as Trisha Brown, Yvonne Rainer, Steve Paxton, and others. 

Along the way, we learn about Josie and Kosta’s process together, how their ideas have developed and shifted, and the why and how of this piece.  I notice we end up mostly asking questions of the artists, and some of these questions test what the work and the artists are implying with a ‘pure movement’ investigation.  I am confused about why this dynamic of questioning emerged, but my residual uncertainty and curiosity reflects well the inquisitiveness of these two enormously talented recently graduated dance artists.  Despite an emphasis on being attentive to movement stripped back, this piece is underpinned with lots of intelligent ideas and careful inquiry. 

My brain is full with the politics of attempting to make ‘authentic’ or ‘pure’ movement, of privilege, and of the notion of impossibility.  I want more passionate opinions and inquiries from Kosta Bogoievski and Josie Elizabeth Archer; this is an exciting and rich collaborative process to be invited into. 

#beauty #pure #impossibilities #josieandkosta #tempo2016

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