INTERVIEW: Andrew Searle on Project NEXT

Our final guest choreographer for the Act-Belong-Commit Co:Youth performance of Project NEXT is Co3 dancer Andrew Searle. Andrew has been working with the youth to facilitate the creation of, Passage, one of the pieces in Project NEXT. We talk to Andrew about being a guest choreographer and what to expect from Passage and Project NEXT.

 

Usually you’re the one in the studio dancing, so what has the role reversal been like as a guest choreographer?

The role of guest choreographer has taken some time to get used to. I haven’t had much experience working in my own choreographic practice and I’ve had even less experience working with young dancers. This has been a pretty new experience for me, but it’s been a really fun challenge, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with the talented Act-Belong-Commit Co:Youth Ensemble.

Can you give a bit of background to your piece in Project NEXT?

The piece we have created is a reimagining of Raewyn Hill’s The Gates which is based on Rodin’s Gates of Hell sculpture. The young dancers have created a continuous thread of movement qualities, moving through patterns and formations exploring ideas of polarity inside brutality and beauty, dark and light.

How do you best facilitate the ensemble to create their own movement?

My group has worked together to create material through tasks which were based around the imagery and text generated from their response to the original work we are ‘re-imagining’. I have taught the ensemble some partnering skills as well as compositional structures and systems, but the choreography has been developed by the ensemble, so I am really excited for audiences to see what they’ve come up with.

What will audiences be in for when they see Project NEXT?

I think audiences of Project NEXT are in for an energetic performance by some truly talented and creative young dancers. The works are all a product of their own uniqueness and imagination, so audiences are given an exciting window into the minds of the dancers and dance makers of the future.

 

Tickets to Project NEXT are available through Trybooking.

 

If you would like to register for the Act-Belong-Commit Co:Youth Ensemble, register here or contact info@co3.org.au for more information.

Images by Stefan Gosatti.