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Dance at IGNITE 03 truly igniting

Author: Dagmar Simon

Publication: Danznet

Publication Date: 15 May 2003

Subject: Dance at IGNITE 03

The theme of Auckland’s second ignite festival was ‘IDENTITY’. Organised by the Auckland City Council in conjunction with the British Council, it took place from April 7 to 11 at the Edge and in the Town Hall. The programme included a variety of events, ranging from discussion forums to performances, workshops and exhibitions. The art forms represented were dance, theatre, music, film making, and creative writing and science.

Dance was represented to a great degree, in regard to quantity as well as quality. It started off with a well-attended contemporary dance class, taught by renowned choreographer Ann Dewey. She also guided through an afternoon of performances with a very special layout: each piece was performed first, then the choreographer talked about it and questions could be asked, then a second showing followed. I really appreciated this approach. It gave an interesting insight into how these choreographers work, and allowed a more in-depth reading of the work on second viewing. I wondered where all the school students were, who could have learned soooo much about dance from this event. I had expected many secondary schools to take up this opportunity to give students a dance appreciation experience, as this is part of the newly implemented dance curriculum!! However there was unfortunately only a smallish audience and only one college was represented.

The choreographies performed were by Moss Asher-Patterson, Katie Burton, Lucy Edmonds, Kerryn McMurdo and Nicholas Watt. They ranged from the delightful to thought provoking, examining questions of identity and relationships. Definitely all worth seeing! The afternoon offered a great opportunity to enjoy dance works, which had shown before as parts of full programmes as well as some reworked graduation choreographies from UNITEC'S contemporary dance course.

UNITEC’S ‘re-ignite/The Inter-Lab Residency’ was another well-attended gem. This collaboration between choreographer Guy Ryan and Peter Vosper produced a true multi-media work. Big screens occupied the stage, used as props for ‘landscaping’ the stage, but more importantly for video projections of computer generated galactic patterns, which then were superimposed by dancing figures. These animated dancers were echoed later in the piece by some dancers, who wore an ‘armour’ of bands on their body, which illuminated in the darkness to make them look almost the same as the animation. This piece impressed with atmospheric music and lighting, plus sophisticated use of technology. A truly mesmerising experience!

Three other dance events happened at ignite: a workshop/demonstration by Black Grace Dance Company and Urban Youth Movement; a workshop by Benji Reid, a UK-base hip hopper; and the Aotearoa Hip Hop Programme. The latter was an exploration of Hip Hop from the perspectives of four art forms.

Two exhibitions took place in the Aotea Centre: Ruth Ames “Afterimages”, which showed photographs taken at dance performances in Auckland over the last four years. Also showing was ‘Choreography of the Image’, a slide show derived from a workshop with Carol Brown on the Otago Peninsula in 2002.

Ignite offered an invaluable opportunity to perform, watch, appreciate, exhibit and discuss our art form. And all for free! It also offered an opportunity to become aware of our art making happening in the contexts of our cultural, social, and personal identity. I really hope we will have another ignite, and even more people making use of it next time.

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