Expressions Dance Company’s first season for 2013 is “Propel: the next step”, will showcase the work of two emerging choreographers, Liesel Zink and Lucas Jervies. Dance Australia chatted to Jervies to find out more about this upcoming dance artist.
Jervies caught the dance bug early on in life. “When I was six, in my hometown of Mt Beauty in North East Victoria, my mother signed me up for local jazz ballet classes,” he recalls. “I was worried what the other boys in town would think so I refused to go. My pride crumbled after two weeks and I ended up attending one of the classes. I was instantly hooked. I loved jazz and ballroom but when I was nine I saw the popular video of Don Quixote created by, and starring the incredible Baryshnikov, I was astounded. I begged my mum, this time she crumbled and I started taking ballet classes. It was then that I knew I wanted to make this my career.”
Jervies trained at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School and the Australian Ballet School before joining The Australian Ballet. “These institutions gave me a solid understanding of technique and tradition,” he says. “Later in Europe, I learnt to dance honestly and use my body to communicate with an audience. I had the privilege of working intimately with visionaries who believe in the body as a tool for social and spiritual change, regardless of your physical shape or technical ability. It was a wonderful period of professional exposure and artistic growth.”
Jervies’s career has been characterised by diversity, and 2013 looks like it will continue in this vein. “As you know, I have been creating a work called Apples and Eve for Expressions Dance Company’s Propel program, which will premiere in the Bille Brown Studio at Queensland Theatre Company next month,” he says. “I am also developing The Firebird for Queensland Ballet (QB), which will be performed as part of their Dance Dialogues program. Being with QB at the beginning of their new chapter under Li Cunxin is very exciting; the buzz is definitely in the air. In April my production of Roald Dahl’s The Witches will tour to Canberra with NIDA, then I get back in the rehearsal room at Griffin Theatre for another creative development of the adaptation. I have adapted the story into a one-man show for actor Guy Edmonds. The story explores transformation so I decided to stick with that and let one actor transform into multiple characters. I always loved Roald Dahl as a child so the production is very dear to me. I am also an affiliate director at Griffin Theatre in Sydney this year, its great to be engaged with the artistic collective of one of Australia’s most important theatre companies, it’s a wonderful opportunity for me.”
And so to Apples and Eve. “It’s a work that draws attention to the inherent misogyny within our society,” explains Jervies. “I stumbled across the Bible last year, decided to give it another go but I didn’t get much further than Genesis. I was very entertained but appalled at the modern, real world consequences of these inconsistent and simplistic fairy tales. By saying things like ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman’ and ’your desire shall be for your husband, and he should rule over you’, that trickles down to something as simple as ‘love, honour and obey’ in wedding vows and a niggling feeling that women just are somehow ‘lesser’.”
It’s this concern that informs Apples and Eve. “I’m not out to blame any one group in particular for gender inequality, but it’s a serious issue that gets taken for granted. Misogyny comes in many forms - aggressive, sweet, supportive, mirrored and half the time it’s completely subconscious. Just this morning on the news I experienced it framed in a popular media context - I don’t care what my prime minister is wearing, let’s hear about legislation, action, change and not Ms Gillard’s wardrobe at any given appearance. This is confronting content that requires an understanding of the world we live in, and the performative context that will ultimately frame the work. It also requires balance, so we are exploring how to make these themes accessible through form. The artists I am collaborating with are very passionate and intelligent, I’m thrilled to be challenged by them daily - Finn O’Branagáin (Playwright), Libby McDonnell (Designer), Ben Hughes (Lighting Designer) and the wonderful EDC Dancers.”
For more information about Apples and Eve, and the “Propel” season go to: www.expressionsdancecompany.org.au