Larissa McGowan’s Skeleton will be the only Australian dance work in the 2013 Adelaide Festival of Arts dance program. Artistic director David Sefton’s commissioning of McGowan and co-creator Sam Haren to make the work is an indication of how McGowan’s career as a choreographer is taking off. Since leaving ADT in mid 2011, after 11 years as a dancer and several as assistant choreographer to Garry Stewart, McGowan has indeed spread her wings.
McGowan says a triennial funding grant from Arts SA that supports 3-stage development of works gave her the courage to fly the comfort of the ADT nest. A recent grant from the Australia Council that funds a producer to help out with administration and marketing has been the icing on the cake. This year alone McGowan has mounted her work Slack on LINK Dance Company in WA, made a new work, Transducer for TasDance, and created Fanatic for the Sydney Dance Company “Contemporary Women” season. That’s in addition to making a work for the Victorian College of the Arts graduation performance, assisting Garry Stewart with his new work for the Australian Ballet and running a workshop with Gideon Obarzanek for the Sydney Theatre Company.
In between all of this, development for Skeleton has had to be slotted in, and McGowan is clearly happy with the way it’s taking shape. She describes it as being like an archeological puzzle inspired by the artwork of Ricky Swallow in which objects, memories and fantasies are explored, all based around her fascination with the skeletal form. Co-director Sam Haren has been a frequent collaborator; Carole Wellman Kelly is on board as rehearsal director, and McGowan herself will perform alongside Tobiath Booth-Remmers, Lisa Griffiths, Marcus Louend and Lewis Rankin.
After its Adelaide Festival run in March, the work will also be shown as part on Dance Massive at the Malthouse in Melbourne, and McGowan is hopeful that it may be picked up to show elsewhere. She credits her recent success to determination as well as using all the fantastic connections she made in the years at ADT: “The most important thing,” she says, “is to keep communication alive with all your contacts and to let people know you’re available.”
MARGARET TONKIN
This item appears in the Feb/Mar edition of Dance Australia… OUT NOW. To subscribe to Dance Australia, click here.
Click here for more info about Skeleton at the Adelaide Festival - Feb 28-Mar 9.
Click here for more info about Skeleton at Dance Massive - Mar 14-23.