Getting new work off the ground is never easy but mentor programs can help to smooth the way for emerging choreographers. Helen Duncan and Elanor Webber can attest to the value of having a mentor (or in this case, mentors) – the pair were given the opportunity to participate in KAGE COACH, a mentoring program offered by acclaimed dance theatre company, KAGE.
Duncan explains that the support from mentors Kate Denborough and Gerard Van Dyck of KAGE was a combination of practical and artistic assistance. “We were supplied with access to space and a small pocket of funds and were free to roam creative possibilities over a two-week period,” she says. “Kate and Gerard would pop into the studio whenever we felt we had developed something to show and needed feedback on material. Kate has outstanding experience in directing and really helped us to tap into specific creative moments, which we might have otherwise overlooked. Gerard's understanding of audience engagement really encouraged us to think about and direct our narrative and focus on different ways of delivering our material, be that text or movement.”
The result is a duet for Duncan and Webber entitled [CONTENT], which will play at the Melbourne Fringe Festival, opening 26 September. “[CONTENT] is an assortment of dramatic, physical and sculptural scenes inspired and taken from what we like to think of as the junk-heap of human existence,” explains Duncan. “Its parts are made up of the humble and everyday; a telephone, bedside lamp, a musical instrument, photographs, home videos, fabric and a couple of dancers. These items have been found, bought, loaned, rented, abandoned, stolen, forgotten and reunited. They are all destined to end up on the junk-heap when we either have no more use for them or we ourselves are gone.”
Playfulness is an important part of [CONTENT]. “We wanted to do something different, maybe a little strange and quirky,” says Duncan. It has become a smorgasbord of dance merged with games and theatre which have a quality of childlike imagination and play, yet is strongly embedded in the adult realm.”
The promotional image certainly looks fun. “We use these fabulous inflatable dresses in the work,” says Duncan with a grin. They’re designed by Kieran Stewart.”
