In 2011 WA-based dancer and choreographer Danielle Micich won the West Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Dancer, for her performance in Wish, a play adapted from Peter Goldsworthy’s novel of the same name by local theatre maker, Humphrey Bower. Dance Australia caught up with Micich ahead of the work’s second Perth season, which will be presented by Perth Theatre Company at the State Theatre Centre of WA, 14-24 May.
Wish tells the tale of an unusual relationship that forms between a man, JJ, and a gorilla, Eliza, via sign language. The role of Eliza is played by Micich and JJ by Bower. Watching the show, it is easy to see why Bower chose to cast a dancer as Eliza – the role is so heavily dependent on movement. Nonetheless, even for an experienced performer such as Micich, playing the role of an intelligent animal is a challenge. Micich did plenty of research for the part. “I had to understand animal characteristics,” she says. “I don’t wear an animal ‘suit’ so I need to embody the essence of the animal. I looked at clips on YouTube, I went to the zoo – just getting an idea of body postures, timing, listening.”
Wish is not a simple tale of human-animal bonding. “It is a love story, it’s a beautiful love story, but it’s an unusual love story. It is believable and it does feel realistic,” reflects Micich. For those who haven’t seen the play, this may sound impossible, but she is absolutely right. Having seen the work, the relationship between JJ and Eliza is conveyed in a way that is plausible and moving.
Micich had some reservations about the role, initially. Once she began working with Bower, however, her fears were allayed. “After the first rehearsal I knew I could settle down," she recalls. "I thought, ‘This is going to be totally fine.” And fine it was – after Wish’s premiere season at Perth’s Blue Room Theatre, the work scooped both the Members’ Choice Award and the Blue Stone Award for Best Performance at the 2011 Blue Room Theatre awards, as well as Micich’s aforementioned West Australian Dance Award.
Wish isn’t Micich’s only foray into the world of theatre – she has just returned from Sydney where she worked as assistant director and movement director on Sydney Theatre Company’s Perplexed. "At the same time as working on Perplexed I was performing in Samantha Chester’s work Safety in Numbers,” she says. How did she do these two projects simultaneously? “I’d work on Perplexed on weekdays and then on the weekends and evenings I was working on Sam’s piece,” she replies with a grin.
And there’ll be no rest for Micich after Wish either. “After this I go to QL2 in Canberra and I’m making a piece there," she reports. "And then I’m currently working on my big project Overexposed, that will premiere at the State Theatre Centre in October.”
- Nina Levy
For more information about Wish head to www.perththeatre.com.au/show/wish
Wish
14-24 May
State Theatre Centre of WA
Bookings here
Above: Humphrey Bower and Danielle Micich in Wish. Photo: Aaron Bradbrook.