Kyle Page's latest work marries Japanese and Australian dance culture at OzAsia Festival with 'Spectra'.
For Kyle Page, the relationship between Japanese and Australian contemporary dance is long-lived. After performing in a collaborative production with Japanese dance company Batik and Townsville company Dance North in 2006, the now Artistic Director of Dance North kept in close contact with his Japanese counterparts until the time was right to instigate another project. The project, which goes by the name of 'Spectra', will premiere at the OzAsia festival in Adelaide, and interweaves both Japanese and Australian disciplines to create a hybrid of movement and creativity.
“It's a fusion of multidisciplinary performance art,” says Kyle. “So we've got a live musician, who's playing guitar on stage with a whole heap of loop pedals to manipulate the sounds, and then there are two Japanese dancers and four Australian dancers, who'll be performing various forms of contemporary dance. Included in the piece we've got what's recognised as the Australian style of contemporary dance, through to butoh which is a contemporary Japanese form of movement. And then a marrying of the two – so there's lots of floor-work, lots of partnering, lots of tumbling. There's quite a broad spectrum of movement that we explore throughout the piece and that comes through in the kind of marrying of those two cultures.”
As well as sourcing dancers and musicians from Japan, Kyle has also called in renowned set designer Tatsuo Miyajima to set the tone on stage, thus creating a true collaboration between the two cultures. “There's a lot of homogeny within those design elements... The idea behind having a live musician on stage is so there's a more reciprocal element between the dancers and the music. As opposed to having a dry score that is the same every night, there's a bit of fluidity between what Jira will be playing and what the performers will be responding to.“The sound will be permeating throughout the stage space in response to what the performers are doing. There will be certain improvised sections in the work – although as a whole it'll be mostly concrete – but the variation between performer and musician will be in terms of timing and dynamic; the edges of things won't be set and there will be a bit of bleed between sections.”
Recalling the first time he came into contact with Batik, Kyle details the long process that comes with creating an international body of work. “I maintained a close relationship with the Director over the past nine years. About three years ago we started discussing the possibility of another collaboration, and then in June last year we flew some dancers, a costume designer and a dramaturge for the first development.
“For me, there's something quite magical about the collaborative aspect with working with people who have a very different culture. And to be thrown into a creative space with such contrasting, creative minds really brings up some magical ideas and outcomes that you wouldn't foresee if you weren't working in such a collaborative way.“Japanese dance culture is actually very different, there's not a huge support for dance in Japan. Most Japanese dancers, especially those who dance with Batik, also have full-time jobs. In Batik's work the performers never touch each other, whereas in my material I do a lot of touching and partner work. So for me that was something really interesting to try and navigate. The whole process was about finding out what the Japanese dancers were comfortable doing in terms of partnering and kind of introducing them to a different style.”
Kyle notes the foundational concept of the performance, that of cause and effect and the often long-reaching effects small actions can have on an individual's life. “There's various kinds of communication issues that arise when you're working with people who do not speak the same language. So we had to spend quite a lot of time discussing the conceptual base of the show, which really helped me articulate more clearly and concisely what the work was about.
“Originally I started with the single philosophy of origination, which is based around the nature of causality – one thing leads to another. It's beautifully summed up in a quote by Marcus Aurealius, which I'll try and quote correctly... 'There is inherent beauty in the power of intentional actions, or in that power of intentional actions have to bear fruit in the future.' So the idea that each moment of your experience, you can be directing things in your future or you can be navigating towards things in your future. And I think, when you look back and notice points that have affected your path, you can potentially see alternative actions which may have led you somewhere else.”Based with his company in Townsville, Kyle is quick to champion the large northern town when it comes to its support of the arts. “It's actually got a really rich cultural heritage, Townsville. There's a really strong community sense to support the arts. It's just a vibrant place creatively. The arts is well supported, and as we move forward into the future I'm really looking to spread awareness of contemporary dance with the creation of new works. We've got heaps of new works being created at moment, and in August we will be touring a double bill.”
Despite racing ahead and looking towards the multitude of events and projects Kyle has lined up for the year, he is also tremendously excited to be a part of the upcoming OzAsia Festival, and encourages all and everyone to come along.
“The line-up is just incredible, I feel really blessed to be a part of it. I'm trying to extend my stay for as long as I can so I can catch some of the things on show. In terms of 'Spectra', there's only three shows, so I'd encourage everyone to come and check out the show. But really, everyone should come for the whole thing.”
'Spectra' plays the Adelaide Festival Centre as part of the OzAsia Festival, 29 September – 1 October. There will be preview shows at the Townsville School Of Arts Theatre, 23 – 25 September.
