In between tweets and status updates where you walk/ party/ sleep/ eat/ live, how do you reconcile all the ‘selves’ you have created? Choreographer Liesel Zink deconstructs, examines and interrogates through movement to find the answers.
Describe this show in five words? Highly physical, quietly touching and deceivingly honest (I'm sorry that is six!).
What exactly is a dance theatre work? Dance theatre sits in the realm where the dance and drama worlds intersect. When some moments are unable to be articulated through words, they are articulated through movement and vice versa.
When you say an 'eclectic' crew, what do you mean? Describe your dance team. There are four very different performers in this work with an exciting array of skills and points of view. We have a very balletic-trained male contemporary dancer, alongside a male actor with martial arts training, a stunningly skilled actress and myself - the bossy choreographer.
How did this idea come about? I am interested in how we present ourselves in different environments: work, social, online and home environments. Why do we feel the need to act and behave a certain way in public and what do we chose to leave behind closed doors? Why? I opened up the conversation to people on social networking sites and what emerged was a common experience of feeling pressured to project an illusion of happiness, independence, success and togetherness.
Highlight or favourite moment in the production for you? I always seem to fall in love with the small moments - the moments that you almost see but are taken away from you - a missed connection, a hesitation in words, and stillness. All of which is ironic really, considering that I spend so much time refining the highly physical and energetic aspects of the show.
Funny or weird stories from the rehearsal room? Oh goodness! When you have a room full of personalities like in the ‘Various Selves’ room there isn't a rehearsal that goes by without us ending on the floor in fits of laughter. Terrible puns, frightful Lycra outfits, and the physically impossible choreographic requests like 'can you just ... hover?'.
‘A Collection of Various Selves’ will be at Metro Arts from August 10 – August 27.
WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN
‘A Collection of Various Selves’ is a fantastic new dance theatre work from local choreographer Liesel Zink. Scene Magazine and Metro Arts are offering readers two double passes for the Wednesday August 17 performance.
