DANCE BITES

Learn the Repertoire: See The Show

Resource Pack

DOUBLE BILL Sketch & Between Two and Zero

INTRODUCTION

Dance Bites is a curated, signature program of contemporary dance works

presented by FORM Dance Projects. The Dance Bites season features some

of Australia’s most innovative and exciting independent choreographers and

performers.

This program is a unique opportunity for dance students to learn the

repertoire from each of the Dance Bites performances in a workshop led by

the presenting company. Following this, students experience a matinee

performance and post show Q&A with the artistic team.

CURRICULUM LINKS

Subject Content Objectives and Outcomes

Stage 5 Dance Practices: Composition

(Processes, Elements of

Construction,

Choreographic Forms)

Dance Performance 51.1, 51.3 Dance Composition 5.2.1, 5.2.2 Dance Appreciation 5.3.1 Value and Appreciate Dance as an

Artform 5.4.1 Stage 6 - Preliminary Dance Performance: Dance

Technique, Dance

Technique applied to

Dance Performance.

Composition: Manipulation

of the Elements of Dance,

Generating and Organising

Movement

Dance as an artform P1.3, P1.4 Dance Performance P2.4, P2.5 Dance composition P3.1, P3.2,

P3.3, P3.4, P3.5

Stage 6 - HSC Dance Performance: Dance

Technique, Dance

Technique applied to

Dance Performance.

Composition: Manipulation

of the Elements of Dance,

Generating and Organising

Movement

Dance as an artform H1.3 Dance performance H2.1, H2.2 Dance composition H3.1, H3.2,

H3.3, H3.4

ABOUT THE WORKS

This presentation involves three separate works: It’s Time, Between Two and

Zero and Sketch. These three works have been developed independently of

one another, but the artists involved in all three works are independent

choreographers and dancers who are part of a newly formed collective called

Dance Makers Collective. The works vary in length and explore different

themes and ideas; each work has been made over different amounts of time,

at different places and in different contexts. What ties the works together are

the artists involved and their curation into the Dance Bites program by FORM

Dance Projects, which has provided the artists with a platform to present

these works to the public.

In today’s workshops, students will be looking at one of two works, Between

Two and Zero or Sketch.

Between Two and Zero is a duet choreographed and performed by Matt

Cornell and Miranda Wheen.

“Our bodies are complex beasts. Their mere physical structure means the

potential for movement, dance, is vast and varied. Attached to these

complicated vessels are minds; willful, desirous and competitive.

Through rules, agreements, rhythms and set patterns two of these hopelessly

sophisticated beings search for a form, a partner dance of now, that revels in

the struggles, the play and the real-time negotiation inherent in the attempt to

dance with another person.”

Sketch is an interdisciplinary work (involving dance, visual art and music) that

was made by Flatline; a collective formed by choreographer Carl Sciberras

and visual artist Todd Fuller.

“Sketch is a work about marking out space in the most complex and intimate

ways manageable. This performance marries three unique artforms – dance,

visual art and sound – in a symbiosis, where each one cannot exist with out

the others, where real-time negotiations occur and shared decisions are

made so that a true harmony can be realised. Flatline is committed to

interrogating the spaces between different artforms and modes of

performance, and this experience is explicitly that – an experiment in the

gaps. Dancers, a live drawer and live sound artist traverse an energetic arc,

slipping through three distinct visual landscapes entirely lit by projection. We

hope that this work can provide opportunity for you to explore your own

imagination.”

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

BETWEEN TWO AND ZERO

Choreographer and Performer – Matt Cornell

Matt Cornell's methodology is rooted in play and curiosity to facilitate immersion. To

this end, Matt has adventured through Australia, Europe & Asia as a dancer,

choreographer or composer across contemporary dance, theatre, installation, film,

rock concerts, video clips, and street art with groups including DanceNorth (Gavin

Webber), Davis Freeman, Lisa Wilson, Shaun Parker Company, Strings Attached,

Angela Goh, Nick Power, Legs On The Wall, Tiffany-&-the-Curls and Style

Impressions Krew. !Matt was the 2011 Arts NT Young Achiever of the Year, a

danceWEB scholar, a speaker at TEDx Darwin, a NFSA HipHop artist-in-residence,

a Legs On The Wall artist-in-residence for 'OpenSource' & an invited participant at

the Ultima Vez Research Lab.

This year Matt will spend time developing new work in Outback Northern Australia

supported by OzCo and Darwin Festival, he will also travel to the UK for a residency

with Dance4 supported by Critical Path. Examples and info at

www.MattCornell.com

Choreographer and Performer – Miranda Wheen

Miranda Wheen has performed and collaborated with a number of companies and

choreographers throughout Australia including: Marrugeku, Stalker Theatre

Company, Shaun Parker and Company, Mirramu Dance Company, Restless Dance

Theatre, Martin Del Amo, Dean Walsh, Liz Lea, Vivienne Rogis, Jigsaw Theatre

Company, DirtyFeet Dance Collective and Dance Makers Collective.

Her experiences in dance and choreography have been diverse and have had a

special focus on intercultural collaboration and research, including: study in Senegal

at the International School for Contemporary and Traditional African Dance, and

Marrugeku’s International Indigenous Choreographic Laboratories held in Sydney,

Broome and Auckland. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Dance from the University of

Western Sydney, where she was awarded the Dean's Medal, and a First Class

Honours from Macquarie University.

SKETCH

Flatline Co-Director, Choreographer & Dancer – Carl Sciberras

Carl Sciberras is an independent producer and dance artist from Western

Sydney. Carl has a Bachelor of Arts (Dance) from

WAAPA and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications (Writing and Cultural Studies)

from UTS. Carl was the producer Dance Makers Collective’s Big Dance in Small

Chunks (2013), Project Manager of Fast+Fresh Dance (2012, 2013) and is the Co-

Artistic Director of the ACPE Dance Company. Carl has created works for the Home

Brew Festival, BEAMS and Sydney Fringe Festival. Carl is also an experienced

dance teacher, has worked with Force Majeure, La Fura Dels Baus, Dean Walsh,

Sue Peacock, Matthew Morris, Felicity Bott, Xiaoxiong Zhang and Emma Fishwick.

Flatline Co-Director and Visual Artist – Todd Fuller

Todd Fuller is a graduate of Sydney’s National Art School. His practice integrates

curation, sculpture, animation, drawing, performance, collage and painting. He is

represented artist of Brenda May Gallery. Fuller has been the recipient of multiple

residencies including the Storrier/Onslow to the Cité International Des Arts in Paris

and the William Fletcher Travelling Fellowship to the British School at Rome. He has

also been an appointed Art Fellow of Sydney Grammar School and has won multiple

art prizes including the Lloyd Rees Memorial and Fishers Ghost for Sculpture. Fuller

was awarded an honourable mention at the 15th Asian Art Biennale and was a

member of the Public Program and Education team of the 18th Biennale of Sydney.

He has curated multiple festivals and exhibitions and is currently a part of Waverley

Council's Visual Art Team.

Music – Mitchell Mollison

Mitchell Mollison (b. 1991), based in Melbourne, has been commissioned by TURA

New Music, Ars Musica Australis and Flatline, and has written for the Arcko

Symphonic Project, the WA Symphony Orchestra, and the WA Laptop Orchestra.

He has also worked with Paul Grabowsky, Stuart Favilla’s Sonic Frontiers Ensemble,

and Gamelan DanAnda. Mitchell has presented research at two conferences and is

currently the Editorial Coordinator for the Australian music archive at Monash

University. In 2014 he studied with Jacob TV in the Netherlands; performed at the

47th International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany; and

undertook a residency with Hai Art in Hailuoto, Finland.

Dancer – Rosslyn Wythes

Rosslyn graduated WAAPA with BA (Dance) in 2011 with the honour of the Finely

Award (student demonstrating most progress). Deciding to move to Sydney in 2012,

Rosslyn has worked with choreographers Sue Peacock, Carlee Mellow, Matthew

Morris, Dean Walsh, Lisa Giffiths, Sue Healey, Tanya Voges, Flatline Collective and

La Fura Dels Baus. She initiated dance residency and performance program at

ALAKSA Projects in 2013 and received Best Female Performer at Short + Sweet

Dance for her work. Rosslyn is a founding member of the Dance Makers Collective.

Dancer – Katina Olsen

Katina Olsen is a choreographer, dancer and teacher based in Sydney, Australia.

She is a descendant from the Wakka Wakka and Kombumerri people in Queensland

and also has Norwegian, German and English Ancestry. She holds a BFA (Dance)

from Queensland University of Technology and a Diploma in Dance from

Queensland Dance School of Excellence. Highlights in Olsen’s career to date have

included Walking into the Bigness, movement director (Directed by Wayne Blair and

Chris Mead, Malthouse Theatre), Bone Woman...when all is gone (bwsene !nmotion

Australia), Big Dance in Small Chunks choreographer/performer (Dance Makers

Collective), Long Grass development (Vicki Van Hout), Cultivate (Force Majeure),

Murder (Erth Visual & Physical Inc.), Dinosaur Petting Zoo (Erth Visual & Physical

Inc.), I Am Eora (Wesley Enoch), NO COLD FEET (De Quincey Co), Forseen (Frances

Rings/Narelle Benjamin). From 2007 Katina performed nationally and internationally

with Bangarra Dance Theatre.

WORKSHOP ONE

BETWEEN TWO AND ZERO

Facilitators: Matt Cornell and Miranda Wheen

In this workshop, students will be led through tasks by the artists exploring

the creation of duet material and taught repertoire from the work Between

Two and Zero.

This workshop focuses on practicing the art of dancing with another person.

Taking the 'duet' as a starting point, students will gain knowledge in weight

sharing, lifting, being lifted, moving in unison and clear physical

communication. Dancing with another person expands our range of physical

capabilities, and this workshop encourages participants to experiment

beyond their usual dancing habits and limitations.

Matt Cornell and Miranda Wheen will share some of their discoveries from

the choreographic process as well as teach some of the repertoire from the

show. Participants will leave with tools to start creating their own duet work.

The workshop will begin with a warm up to bring somatic awareness to the

body.

Following warm up, students will be led through a series of exercises with a

partner to develop skills in listening to another person’s body through

physical contact.

Students will then learn some repertoire from Between Two and Zero, which

will lead into a structured improvisation; similar to the way the work has been

developed.

Ideas of further development:

1. Between Two and Zero is a duet between a man and a woman, and

traditionally this relationship has been a focus for the way duet

material is generated. By using the right techniques, women can lift

men, power relationships can be subverted. How can we make duets

that are not ‘gender specific’?

2. Improvisation can play an interesting role in duet material. We can use

tools to structure improvisations with a partner, for example deciding

who leads and who follows, creating physical cues, structuring the

space. How else might improvisation be refined within a duet to

create duets that are as organised as fully choreographed duets?

WORKSHOP TWO

SKETCH

Facilitators: Carl Sciberras or Rosslyn Wythes

In this workshop, students will be led through tasks used by the artists to

develop material for Sketch and taught repertoire from the show.

During the creation of this work, the artists discussed what it is that the three

artforms present in this work have in common. At the heart of this

conversation came the idea that all three artforms create different types of

shapes in space – only that the spaces were different and the tools used to

create the shapes also differed.

For the dancers, the tool used to create shapes is the body (or parts of the

body) while the space the shapes are made in is the physical landscape (in

this case, the stage).

After taking students through warm-up, the facilitator of this workshop will

take students through a task used when creating the work to generate

movements in the body that carve shapes in space.

Students will then create their own shapes, pair up and exchange these

shapes to develop a duet similar to one that is performed in the work.

Following this task, students will learn a section of the duet performed in the

work that this task was derived from.

Ideas for further development

When drawing shapes in space with the body, shapes can be seen differently

depending on:

1. The plane they are drawn on

2. The angle they are seen from

3. The speed at which they are drawn

4. Repetition and Retrograde

5. Their rhythm, texture or dynamic

6. Their size

7. The body part(s) being used

8. The clarity and precision they are drawn with

How might we use these tools and others to generate interesting shapes in

space, and perhaps create more complex sequences of movement?

www.form.org.au