INTERVIEW: Co3’s Raewyn Hill for the cry
From Perth Arts Live.
Perth, are you ready to be moved? MoveMe Festival 2016 is nearly upon us, and our city’s stages will be celebrating contemporary dance over four days next week with a range of innovative performances. The program features three works from Perth’s main players in the field of contemporary dance, as well as a range of special and satellite events. Co3, our flagship contemporary dance company, will be premiering a new work by Artistic Director Raewyn Hill called the cry. Hill tells us a little bit more about creating the work and what we have to look forward to from Co3 and the festival.
Where did the idea for the piece come about?
the cry started from an extraordinary conversation with Mad Andrews in Townsville, where he described a tumultuous life of highs and lows. It got me thinking about the complexity of some people’s lives, perhaps all our lives in some way. Choreographically I was interested in how I could unpack the inner threads of a single dancer through using a number of dancers to represent unique aspects of an individual’s emotional state.
What have been the best discoveries or surprises in creating the piece?
It has been inspiring to have our composer, Eden Mulholland, playing live; it brings a new dynamic and dimension to the performance as creating and performing with live music is rare for us. It’s great to see the dancers responding strongly to the depth of sound that fills the space, and to watch Eden’s creative process unfold in the studio. Rehearsals are loud and full. I feel lucky to have this extraordinary opportunity.
(https://perthartslive.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/raewyn-hill- square.jpg)What have been the challenges?
To create almost an hour of choreography and a new score in only four weeks has been a massive undertaking. The whole Co3 team has had to remain tightly focused on getting the cry to the stage as well as keep all the other parts of Co3 running; our youth program, education engagement, and holiday workshops. But despite this, I’m proud of the work and believe it encompasses something both beautiful and provocative.
What can the audience expect to experience from the work?
It’s a whirlwind! It’s kind of rock concert meets contemporary dance; Eden’s epic score draws you in to another world, with guitar riffs and beautiful vocals accompanying awe-inspiring performances
from our extraordinary Co3 dancers. Audiences will see glimpses of themselves or people they know in the characters that the dancers portray, with real-life scenarios abstracted into powerful and delicate movement adding an authentic and relatable humanity in performance.
What does the MoveMe festival mean for the company and for Perth as a whole?
The MoveMe Festival is a great initiative that celebrates the immense dance talent that we have here in Western Australia, and, as the state’s flagship contemporary dance company, it’s important to showcase Co3 within the Festival. Festival attendees are in for a treat, as there’s such a strong dance community here in WA. The Festival format is a user-friendly way of seeing dance and participating in dance for Perth, and being able to share Festival passes with friends is such a great idea.