Nina Levy speaks to Sydney Dance Company’s newest recruits, Cass Mortimer Eipper and Holly Doyle.
Cass Mortimer Eipper knew he wanted to dance from a young age but it was the world of musicals that drew him in. “I came from a family of film buffs, so old movies with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly were often in the mix,” he recalls. “Naturally, as an enthusiastic seven year old, I decided that tap dancing was the thing for me. As I got older, I took up jazz and ballet and the challenge grew more and more addictive so I decided to pursue dance professionally.”
Mortimer Eipper’s career to date has been an interesting one. On graduating from the Australian Ballet School he landed a position with West Australian Ballet in 2006, where he remained until 2009. In 2010, however, Mortimer Eipper left the relative security of company life to become co-director of a new independent dance/media company, Ludwig, also based in WA. Consequently, he has experienced the highs and lows of both company and independent life. “The life of an independent is always insecure financially and often difficult to keep as physically fit as one would like,” he remarks. “However the freedom to pursue any creative opportunity that may arise at your own discretion is a major plus. Grant writing was a large part of my independent experience, which can be very time consuming but also rewarding when you feel that you have successfully conveyed your creative intention for a project and then even better to be awarded a grant. Being in a company, by comparison, is fantastic for pushing yourself physically and working with others to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Being part of a team is often a great way to get the most out of yourself and focus on what you can offer to the group. Although it’s wonderful being so absorbed by a company it does take a huge amount of time and energy so personal ventures are not always easy.”
So what lured Mortimer Eipper back to company life, and more specifically to Sydney Dance Company? “Sydney Dance Company has always had a great reputation and Rafael has now taken the company into a very exciting place,” he says. “From the outside, I had a huge respect for the excellence that the company was producing and I guess I found it to hard to resist wanting to be a part of it.”
Holly Doyle joins Sydney Dance Company for the "De Novo" season, courtesy of the 2013 FOXTEL Scholarship. “The scholarship is an opportunity for young dancers like myself to have a three-month internship with Sydney Dance Company,” explains Doyle.
Doyle’s dance career began young by anyone’s standards. “I was two years old and still in nappies when I first began to dance,” she says. “I began taking baby ballet and jazz classes at Joanne Williamson Dance Academy. It wasn't until the age of 12 when I was entering year 8 at Newtown High School of Performing Arts that I knew I wanted to pursue my passion for contemporary dance and performing. At school, I aspired to achieve that goal everyday. Every season that Sydney Dance Company premiered, my school would organise to take us to watch. The first work that I saw was Rafael Bonachela's We Unfold. I was immediately captivated by the physicality and talent of the dancers and again was inspired to peruse my passion for dance.”
Doyle made contact with SDC in June 2012, when she participated in a week-long intensive program with the company. “I worked with Rafael Bonachela, Amy Hollingsworth and the company’s dancers to learn repertoire from works such as The Land of Yes and the Land of No and 2 One Another, and to experience the lifestyle of a professional contemporary dancer,” she recalls. “Shortly after in August 2012, I successfully gained an audition for SDC. After an intense and exhilarating two days of repertoire, class and creative, I joined a small handful of dancers at the conclusion of the audition. Following the audition process, I regularly took class with the company. One morning in November, quite unexpectedly and much to my excitement, Rafael offered me the Sydney Dance Company Foxtel Scholarship.”
Doyle only finished school in 2011 and still can’t quite believe she is dancing with SDC. “If someone were to ask me this time last year what I would be doing now, I would never have imagined I would be training and performing with Sydney Dance Company. This experience is such a wonderful opportunity as I am being challenged physically and mentally to compose movement in a way I never imagined possible. As I have not studied at university to understand the specific components of composition, I am absolutely loving the experience of being encouraged to challenge the normal thought processes and what feels natural to my body when I am creating movement. It feels great to be working with Rafael Bonachela and Amy Hollingsworth so early in my career as I have already learnt an incredible amount over the past four weeks with the company. The company dancers have also been so kind to share their knowledge and wisdom over the recent weeks.”
Holly Doyle and Cass Mortimer Eipper make their SDC debut in the company’s upcoming season "De Novo", at Sydney Theatre March 1 to 23. Bookings: www.sydneytheatre.org.au, 02 9250 1999.
Photo: Holly Doyle rehearsing for "De Novo". Photo: Bernhard Knauer.