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INTERNATIONAL
artsmanager
Volume 10 No 02 30.01.14-12.02.14 £3.95(UK) €5.95(EU) / $9(US)
www.internationalartsmanager.com
AM I? Shaun Parker’s latest distinctive work tackles questions of identity and social belonging
Country Focus
First Person
Spotlight
Diary
Melbourne Recital Centre, OzAsia Festival, Belvoir
John Matthias creates music modelled on the human brain
APAM gathers the world’s arts leaders at Brisbane Powerhouse
Ivo van Hove stages Brokeback Mountain – the opera
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INTERNATIONAL
artsmanager www.internationalartsmanager.com
Volume 8 No 15
Dancer: Nancy Wijohn. Photography by John McDermott
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spotlight
The thinking man What is masculinity? That’s the big question Tero Saarinen wants to investigate with his long-awaited new work. Clare Wiley chats to the philosophical dancemaker
Photo: © Heidi Strengell
T
ero Saarinen is out of breath. He’s just come from early rehearsals for his brand new production, Morphed – but I suspect his breathless, hurried manner of speaking is more due to excitement about the work than physical exertion. It’s certainly a unique creation, for which the distinctive Finnish choreographer has cast eight men. ‘It’s about manhood and masculinity,’ he says. ‘I’m asking some questions: what is masculinity? Do we have to redefine ourselves? What are these layers that I think have not been exposed? I’m also trying to enhance this image of the “dancing man” and all the different qualities and intonations that lie in our bodies.’ Saarinen fires out thoughts and philosophies at lightening speed – it’s hard to keep up. But at its core Morphed is an ambitious undertaking with a concept that remains oblique in contemporary culture: what is the role of modern man and how can that be expressed through dance? ‘I think man can be so much more than he has ever been – in terms of dance – but also in society,’ he continues. ‘We’ve done a lot of things wrong, we men. We’ve fucked up our possibilities in a way, I feel, by being too preoccupied about our own image of what a man should be.’ It’s an interesting choice of words – echoing that hostile command we hear all too often: ‘be a man’. We’re now in the fourth wave of feminism, where the rigid roles traditionally prescribed to women are being confronted and increasingly overthrown – but the male experience is often ignored or stereotyped. So it’s tempting to frame Morphed within that social movement, as a work that aims to stage a fuller and more diverse picture of male life. But Saarinen says it’s more personal than that. ‘It’s more about from where I’m standing, what’s going on in my life. It’s got a lot to do with my age and where I am as a performer, as a male performer. I’m looking back at my life through this piece, it’s about what I’ve experienced, and what I’ve then corrected through those experiences.’ It’s as conceptual as anything we’ve come to expect from the poetic choreographer, who describes his repertoire as ‘an attempt to understand human nature’. And though there isn’t a neat storyline for the audience to follow, Morphed does not intend to be entirely abstract. ‘There is a loose narrative structure in the piece, but it’s not a story,’
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‘The work has a virtuosity, a kind of exuberance. But there is also something animalistic and primitive’
Saarinen says. ‘It’s more about emotions, intimacy and strength of spirit. There will be encounters between two people, there will be individual wishes and longings. This piece also exposes communal values; there are eight men so they create a kind of community of their own. There’s inherent friction in that: what is my individual wish and what does this group of men want from me [as a member of that community]. So there are themes that will feel familiar to the audience.’ The choreography itself will be a carefully devised blend of contemporary, classical and also ancient styles of dance. ‘I’m trying to amalgamate all these themes and styles like a symphony orchestra, so it’ll be this tightly-knit choreographic entity but with individual voices and talent within that. Morphed has a virtuosity, a kind of exuberance. But there’s also something animalistic and primitive as it dives into the depths of dance and music rituals. I’m hoping it’s something the audience won’t have seen before.’ The dancers are correspondingly diverse, with a collective background spanning street dance, classical ballet and contemporary. ‘I wanted to hail these different kinds of dance, because there isn’t only one way to think of dance,’ says Saarinen. ‘There’s so much expressiveness in our bodies and in these styles. When casting for Morphed, I looked for people who are open-minded and willing to enrich their own understanding of dance. The ages range from barely 20 to over 40. I also wanted to have a transmission of knowledge, where these men learn from me, and from each other.’ A key source of inspiration for the work was Esa-Pekka Salonen’s compositions, Concert Etude for Solo Horn (2000), Foreign Bodies (2001), and Violin Concerto (2009), which will provide the soundtrack. ‘I’m a great admirer of his music, as a conductor and composer,’ says Saarinen. ‘I wanted to have this kind of symphonic structure and volume.’ Salonen will also conduct the orchestra of the Finnish National Opera (FNO) at the premiere, taking place on 16 August at the Helsinki Festival. Violinist Akiko Suwanai and French horn player Tommi Viertonen will also perform. Saarinen says he’s excited about such a unique premiere. ‘I’m familiar with Esa-Pekka’s work, and I’ve met him several times, but this is the first time we’ll have a collaboration of this scale. I can learn from his thinking in relation to symphonic structure,
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Photo: © Heidi Strengell
Photos: courtesy of Tero Saarinen
Photo: © Anton Sucksdorff
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and understand more about the ideas behind each piece, in order to translate it into dance – as well as bring my own layer to the music.’ ‘Very rarely do you have a composer creating challenging classical music, who’s also conducting – it’s a kind of double jackpot for me,’ Saarinen continues. ‘What I’ve learned is that Esa-Pekka is quite strict about tempos, and maintains the same tempo live as in recordings. That’s useful as we’re already able to rehearse with the recordings, and let the dancers get used to Esa-Pekka’s style.’ In Spring 2015 Morphed will go on a European tour, including dates at Staatstheater Hannover and Opéra Théâtre de Saint-Etienne in France (which is also a co-production partner). Securing tour dates before the work has even been completed is a testament to the high-profile partnership, but also to Saarinen’s steadily growing reputation and that of his Helsinki-based company. The choreographer modestly puts it down to the skill of Johanna Rajamäki, head of international sales at Tero Saarinen Company and former dance manager at IMG Artists in London. ‘Her skill and ability to attract people, combined with
Facing page: Tero Saarinen Clockwise from top: new work Morphed; Tero Saarinen performing; dancers in rehearsal for Morphed
long-term strategic work by managing director Iiris Autio and the entire team means pre-premiere bookings are possible,’ he says. ‘But we do also have an organic network that we’ve developed throughout our [company’s] history,’ Saarinen adds. ‘In the end, it’s always a personto-person deal. There have to be people who believe in your work, who want to commission your work and be your collaborators.’ Morphed’s visual designer is Saarinen’s long-term collaborator Mikki Kunttu, with costumes from fashion designer Teemu Muurimäki. Tero Saarinen founded his company in 1996. It works to an aptly contemplative mission: to promote a humane worldview and basic human values through dance. The choreographer has created a total of 40 works, for his own troupe as well as for the likes of Nederlands Dans Theater 1 and Batsheva Dance Company. The 10 productions he created for Tero Saarinen Company include his signature solo work HUNT (2002), a visceral reinterpretation of The Rite of Spring, and Borrowed Light (2004), his critically acclaimed minimalistic creation inspired by the Shaker movement of the 19th century. How does Saarinen feel his repertoire is developing? ‘I like to learn more things and enhance my choreographic skills. Each production teaches me something new.The fact that I am able to work with different cultures also means I can bring new ideas into my choreography. I hope there’s a constant evolution and enhancement. It’s an ongoing process. It’s like doing Tai Chi; I repeat and repeat things, and try to erase the unnecessary things in order to make the message resonate. Because there has to be a resonance with the audience.’ Collaboration is also key to the progression of Saarinen’s repertoire. ‘I’m listening more to the dancers who are in front of me, instead of deciding things in advance. I think one has to trust your collaborators, and then dive into the chosen theme, ethics and morality of a piece.’ Next year Saarinen will tackle a large-scale collaboration with FNO. Kullervo is based on the Sibelius masterpiece and features more than 100 performers on stage, including 50 dancers from the Finnish National Ballet and TSC, as well as members of the FNO choir and the Helsinki Philharmonic choir. Kullervo runs from 13 February to 14 March 2015. terosaarinen.com
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ABOUT ATAMIRA
“This ability of Atamira as a company to mix the traditional with the now, to take the solid grounding of their culture and make it speak in new ways and forms is... one of their great strengths.” Jess Quaid, NZ Theatreview2012
ATAMIRA is New Zealand’s leading Maori Contemporary dance company and comprises New Zealand’s best Maori dancers and choreographers. Atamira creates professional dance works inspired by New Zealand's history, legends and contemporary issues. Critically acclaimed, the company is renowned for its inventive and stunning choreography. Atamira was founded in 2000 as a platform for Maori choreographers and dancers. 2012 marks a new era for the company, with the appointment of Artistic Director Moss Patterson.
“…a sense of collective power.” Sue Cheesman, NZ Theatreview 2010 “Atamira is an exciting, assured company that is growing from strength to strength. A considerable plus is the range of personalities and depth of artistry among its dancers.” Francesca Horsley, NZ Listener, KAHA 2012 “It was one of the most powerful and moving theatrical experiences I have ever had.” Jock Philips, REAL NZ Festival 2011 “New Zealand contemporary dance at its most innovative.” Keeping Up With The Grid, Ingrid Grenar, KAHA 2012
Dancer: Bianca Hyslop. Photography by John McDermott
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Iceland 29
200,000 people watched the fireworks at the 2013 opening event
1 bath used as a stage for an interactive performance by Erna Ómarsdóttir and Shalala
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nationalities will take to the stage during 2014
premieres by independent Icelandic choreographers in 2014, including Margrét Sara Gudjónsdóttir, Margrét Bjarnadóttir, Erna Ómarsdóttir and Steinunn Ketilsdóttir
13 venues to be used by the festival in 2014, including RÚV (Iceland National Broadcasting Service) and the National Theatre of Iceland
500 people who danced at the opening party organised by artist collective Choreography Reykjavik in August 2013
142 performers taking to the stage during Reykjavik Dance Festival this year
in numbers
Founded by a group of artists 12 years ago, Reykjavik Dance Festival has provided a much needed space for performers and audiences to critically engage with the art form. Originally an annual event, the festival’s new artistic team is keen to broaden its scope by programming work throughout the year. Co-artistic directors Alexander Roberts and Ásgerdur G Gunnarsdóttir have made it their mission to curate an ongoing dance conversation, showcasing the full breadth of the independent choreography scene in Iceland. Both Icelandic and international artists will perform across four editions in August, November, February and June. The first 2014 edition will run from 27-31 August. reykjavikdancefestival.com
ÁFERD, by Margrét Bjarnadóttir and Saga Sigurdardóttir, was staged at the 2013 festival
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Photo: © Hulda Sif Ásmundsdóttir
Reykjavik Dance Festival
16-17 IAM10-02 ShaunParker
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Australia
How to build a
dance company
Despite the global recession and tight arts budgets, Shaun Parker turned his dream of launching a dance company into a quirky troupe that’s turning heads. Clare Wiley finds out more
S
haun Parker decided to establish his own company at the turn of the millennium. It took a further 10 years, and hundreds of funding applications, to make that dream a reality. Across an almost 20-year career, the dancer (and actor) has performed for some of the world’s leading choreographers – among them Sasha Waltz in Berlin and Meredith Monk in New York. But he says building his own organisation from the ground up was one of the most arduous, yet rewarding, challenges he’s ever faced. ‘Even though I was well known as a dancer, you still have to prove yourself as a choreographer,’ Parker says, speaking on the phone from New York. ‘You have to constantly keep applying for funding. Money is very tight.’ ‘There’s an element of insanity that one embodies to keep going,’ he adds with a laugh. ‘But things are starting to bubble along now, and I’m getting a bit of momentum – we’ve received funding from the Australia Council [for the Arts]. It took a very long time, and a lot of hard work, but I’m very glad I’ve arrived where I am now.’
INTERNATIONALARTSMANAGER.COM 30.01.14-12.02.14
Since its official launch in 2011, the Sydney-based Shaun Parker & Company has performed in cities across the world, and in the coming months will tour to Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne, Belgrade, Linz, Beirut, Jordan, Oman and Ramala. The troupe, which engages up to 30 dancers on a project basis, has grown a small but formidable repertoire of its artistic director’s idiosyncratic creations. Full of light and colour, the set design, music and narrative complement his choreography to provide an immersive experience. Where does Parker begin? ‘When I create a work, I always start with the concept first, and everything else forms from there,’ Parker says. ‘For example, Happy as Larry is about the notion of human happiness, while AM I looks at who we are, as a global tribe.’ AM I had its world premiere at Sydney Festival this month, and will be staged at APAM in Brisbane on 18 February. It’s set in the near future, where seven people are charged with establishing a new civilisation. Big questions of identity and social belonging permeate the show. ‘I begin with these ideas, and the rest all spawns from there: the design, dancers, music,’ continues Parker. ‘I suppose the strongest link is between the dance and the music.’ The choreographer has worked with Australian composer Nick Wales on all his productions; for AM I, Wales created an unsettling score of world music and cultlike singing. Linking soundscapes and visual language to the thematic concepts in his work is crucial to Parker’s choreographic process. ‘Happy as Larry has a box that had chalk drawings and hieroglyphics scribbled across it, which spun during the show,’ he explains. ‘And AM I has a
Above: AM I Top right: AM I Right: This Show is About People
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series of 1,000 light globes, little bulbs that emanate this golden glow.’ Certainly there is plenty of abstract thought at play here, but there’s also a good amount of logic informing Parker’s storytelling. When developing AM I, for instance, the choreographer went to meet professors at The University of Sydney. ‘We discussed anthropology, cosmology and the evolution of biology. I showed them my choreography and they gave me their insight into what they saw. That was amazing, to get additional information about the subject matter.’ If Parker creates an entire visual and musical world for each of his productions, does that mean that his choreography has more scope to vary? ‘Yes, the choreographic vocabulary shifts from show to show,’ he says. ‘But I think now that some people have seen all my works, they do find some similarities. I suppose they always say that it’s very humanist work. And also humour. I always have a bit of quirky humour in the shows; I can’t help it, it always finds its way in.’ Of course, the dance itself is incredibly varied – everything from classical ballet to street dance to breakdancing finds its place in Parker’s shows. This is demanding for his dancers, but it seems they’re more than capable. ‘They have all the abilities: classical, contemporary, they can all lock and pop. The dancers of 2014 are incredibly versatile, perhaps because they see so much on YouTube. When I was growing up we only had Flashdance, Dirty Dancing and Footloose! Now they see so much more and it goes straight into their bodies.’ ‘Every year I hold auditions around Australia. And the dancers I seem to connect with are the ones who are almost artists in their own right. I’m very attracted to thinking dancers. In my auditions I do tests to see how clever they are, and if I present a challenge or an idea, whether they balk, or take hold of it and run with it.’
Building an audience more or less from scratch with a minimal budget has meant that Parker relies on an organic approach to engagement: ‘authentic connection’ is a phrase he repeats often. Parker often visits a city several weeks ahead of a scheduled show in order to lead community dance workshops. By the time the dancers arrive to perform, there’s already a following for the company. ‘What that does is engage the community,’ Parker says. ‘It is a slow burn, particularly when you’re a small company. Large troupes just whack AUD100,000 (€65,500) at a campaign and it’s on every bus stop. But as a small company, we have to go grassroots, and it’s about making an authentic connection.’ Sometimes this strategy can have unexpected results. ‘Recently I did a show in Australia called Spill. It’s an outdoor work for children, set in playgrounds, so it’s meant to really bring dance into the community. In Sydney there were 400 kids at each show, and of course all the kids bring their parents – so now we’ve got a new audience.’ One of these parents was an advertising executive who called Parker after seeing Spill to request he choreograph a new TV commercial (a lucrative gig, Parker points out). Another parent took contacted Parker after seeing Happy as Larry to find out about becoming a donor. ‘So it’s really about having a presence,’ he says. ‘There’s this knock-on effect of having diverse, carefully chosen and vital projects, but also creating visibility.’ www.shaunparkercompany.com
Photos: © Prue Upton; Michele Aboud; Stephen Oxenbould
‘When I create a work, I always start with the concept first, and everything else forms from there: the design, the dance, the music’
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“FROM HAKA TO BREAKIN’ FROM THE 1980’S” “Absolutely loved the show – powerful, beautiful and very slick. A stunning blend of such different works.” Kylie Hawker, Director Erupt Lake Taupo, 2012 “The talent and grace of Atamira’s dancers is inspiring to watch.” Gather and Hunt, Courteney Peters, KAHA 2012
Dancer: Nancy Wijohn. Photography by John McDermott
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ANDRÉS MARÍN Creator of flamenco
DANIELA LAZARY
www.artemovimiento.es
andresmarin@artemovimiento.es - daniela@artemovimiento.es tel. +34 954 909 776 C/ Malpartida 7-13. Apto 15. 41003 SEVILLE - SPAIN
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Q&A
Belgium 25
les ballets C de la B
A
s one of the foremost artists to emerge from the Flemish new wave era of the 1980s, choreographer Alain Platel continues to attract worldwide critical acclaim with Ghent-based platform les ballets C de la B. Originally set up as a non-professional collective with friends and relatives 30 years ago, the company continues to take a collaborative approach – despite Platel being its only artist-in-residence. Given the range of co-producers and performers it has nurtured, the company’s work defies categorisation in relation to both style and form. Claire Ramtuhul speaks to Platel to learn more about his creative approach. How many dancers are in the company? There’s no fixed number: we invite dancers to participate in projects on a freelance basis. In some cases one or two years go by before we can engage them in performances again. It just depends on how many opportunities there are in a particular year. How do you go about recruiting new dancers and spotting new talent? I used to organise auditions, but it’s something I find quite frightening – not only for the people who come, but also for me. You have to make decisions in a very short space of time. In the past I’ve tried to make auditions as pleasant as possible so dancers went away feeling that they’d had a good experience with us. Nowadays I learn about new dancers through people I know – I avoid auditions and instead meet up with them in a more personal context. Then we decide during the conversation whether or not we want to work together.
How do you collaborate with dancers when creating a new piece? It depends on the project as I usually work with the dancers to create something from scratch. Generally, in the first two months we improvise a lot in the studio, afterwhich, little by little, we begin to see what the themes of the project are and how they will develop in the piece. At first there is no clear idea of where we want to go; all the material that is visible in the final performance comes from the dancers – they are the creators. Over the last 10 or so years, I’ve learned that every project is in the first instance an encounter, an exchange with people I want to work with and want to meet. Their personalities, their histories, the way they move, it’s all crucial to nourishing the project. The company collaborated with the Teatro Real choir in 2011 on C(H)OEURS – how was that experience? I was asked by [former artistic director] Gerard Mortier to produce a work inspired by the music of Verdi. The subject matter was something I would never have chosen myself, but Gerard is a very good artistic director – I like him very much – and I was curious to see how it would work. The whole project, including the preparation period, lasted
five years. After listening to Verdi’s music, I told Gerard that I wanted to work with a choir, and that it would be the main character in this new opera piece. Since we had very little time to work with the young group of singers that Gerard had put together, we prepared the whole process in Ghent, so that when we arrived in Madrid we were ready to teach them the choreography. We only had around nine days of rehearsal before the performance, which I’m not used to at all, but in the end it was fantastic. It was definitely one of the best experiences of my life. How did your dancers interact with the choir? The dancers all have very strong personalities: after I prepared the material with them, they were the ones who taught the choir how to dance. For the choir it was a very new experience to be involved in that kind of performance, but they loved it. Both the choir and the dancers really believed in the project (two of the performers even fell in love with each other). How did the performance work on stage? You almost had to see it to believe it: the choir and dancers interact continuously throughout the piece. I think the major surprise for many people was how marvellously the singers could dance. What’s coming up this year for the company? My piece tauberbach premiered in January, and will go on tour until the end of the year [including dates in Amsterdam, Munich, Brussels and Oslo]. The work is inspired by the life of Estamira, a woman with schizophrenia working at a landfill site in Rio de Janeiro. Then in May I’m going to be working on a musical project with the Belgian composer Fabrizio Cassol. We are exploring how European baroque music can meet Congolese popular music. They’ve asked for my support to make the project a bit more theatrical. lesballetscdela.be
tauberbach
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Photo: © Chris van der Burght
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www.atamiradance.co.nz www.facebook.com/atamiradance
KAHA is one of Atamira’s current touring programmes and features eight short dance works: including new dance choreographed to dubstep and drum’n’bass, a nightclub-esque trip into cultural identity and an impressive dance show featuring a full cast exploring the art of Ta Moko – plus Poi E Thriller: a Michael Jackson, Kapa Haka, mashup.
Dancer: Mark Bonnington. Photography by John McDermott
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