Our Jurisdiction
Basement Theatre Studio Greenroom, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
19/09/2023 - 23/09/2023
Production Details
Choreographer- Deborah Fletcher
Our Jurisdiction, a new dance work collectively held in space and time by Emma Broad, Evie Logan and Lulu Qiu, choreographed by Deborah Fletcher and produced by Fiona Saunders, premieres as a part of Basement Theatre’s Spring Season in their Studio space from 19th September through to 23rd September.
In an airy plastic room, three bodies move through spaces of physical reality and psychological stipulations. The imagined and actual impositions of the mind. An entangled cognitive tracing through movement. The construction and deconstruction of the body, as time morphs into a kaleidoscope of interpretation. So for now we invite you to come and sit here with us. As you too once inhabited this space.
Imagery by Yin-Chi L and Set Design by Eleanor Fletcher
Our Jurisdiction
Dates: 19th – 23ed September, 6:30 pm
Venue: Basement Theatre, Studio
Tickets: $18 – $28
Supported by Peacocke Dance Trust
Choreographer- Deborah Fletcher
Producer- Fiona Saunders
Performers and movement collaborators- Emma Broad, Evie Logan and Lulu Qiu
Photography and videography- Yin-Chi L
Set Design- Eleanor Fletcher
Co-producer- Natasha Overly
Contemporary dance , Dance ,
50min
Holds time hostage; a distortion reiterated in movement
Review by Teianna Chenkovich 20th Sep 2023
The audience is invited into a supernatural world. White plastic sheeting obscures the black walls of the Basement Theatre, and the dancers are adorned in white cotton. The crinkling sound of the material punctuates intervals of brown and white noise, silence, and rhythmic electronic that make up the music score. This is a world of dynamic entanglements as expressed by the entwined draping of semi-transparent sheets.
Our Jurisdiction holds time hostage; a distortion reiterated in movement. The choreography cycles through gestures that become fresher with each pass and hypnotically soothe my usual impatience—by no means a small feat. The show starts with a film; a dancer walks towards camera from a distance along an overcast Piha beach. There is a satisfaction as our anticipation quietly builds over the long duration of the shot. That same gentle use of time is echoed across distinctive sections: body isolations in total unison, a dynamic solo highlighting Emma Broad’s unique presence, a duet that expresses tender exploratory touch, a cheeky moment to pop music in another language… all (and more) strategically paced and compellingly recurrent.
Dancers enter the stage and fall into a seamless unison of body isolations. Movement that starts percussively, moving rhythmically through gestures, begins to metamorphosize into a vibrant flow. The plastic sheets become a second skin to be adorned and shed at key moments of the dancers’ journey, resembling different selves fading into each other. In one section, ethereal plastic dresses are carefully plucked from the ceiling and transform the dancers into three drifting swirling figures.
It takes a skillful choreographer to create a rehearsal environment that supports relationship and community as Deborah Fletcher has. I can sense love and trust rooted in the choreographic process. The dancers move with an assurance and synchronicity that only comes with familiarity and contentment. Three bodies move in sync as if they are one body and one body performing a solo becomes many. (I later learned that the trio, Emma Broad, Evie Logan, and Lulu Qiu, relationship was forged in the fires of university.)
This robust collaboration of the contributing artists has created a provoking journey through an evocative transient world. I could inhabit this world much longer than the current run time – to enjoy sitting deeper into the silences, stillness, and choreographed cycles that made this work precious. That kind of peace is so often lost and overlooked.
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