Mile Zero Dance members reflecting the HTF2013 festival

It took some time to get it online, but now here comes: a concluding talk with MDZ members reflecting HTF2013.

MDZ in the staap. Read more about the performance and  the MDZ members here.

... those little kids are the most inspiring dancers

August 11th afternoon, while waiting the ferry in Heltermaa, Gerry Morita, Patrick Arès-Pilon, Shawn Pinchbeck and Gerhard Lock had a little talk about the festival.

Gerry during the workshops.

Patrick and Shawn at the Swing field in Kassari.

Gerhard: How did you like the festival?

Gerry: I think the festival came together very nicely. There is a lot of eagerness on the part of the students. It looked like a very good opportunity for the very young dancers and high school students and new university graduates to get together in summer and share their work. I enjoyed the variety of classes offered. The amount of teaching was incredibly high. There was a lot of camaraderie grassroots humanity spirits with dancers from different places reaching beautiful Hiiumaa. Thats what I thought :)

Gerhard: What do you think of the evening performances?

Gerry: Again, there was a variety of levels being shown, I really enjoyed the kids today outside by the church, they have shown so much enthusiasm and creativity. I can see their own artistic input at a very creative level. I think for me those little-little kids are the most inspiring dancers because it reminds me about why I do dance :)

Kids performing at the church.

Read more below...

Patrick: Yes, it was fun :)

Gerhard: And how are you satisfied with your own performance?

Gerry: We had only one day to set up and rehearse in the space. The space was very beautiful and the technical crew was so good to work with...

Patrick: … an excellent crew…

Gerry: … yes, an excellent crew. It would have been great to have had more time working in that specific space. The ceiling of the space was so great. And yeah, I think our performance went quite well.

Ceiling of the stage in the Käina Huvi- ja kultuurikeskus.

Gerhard: Your performance consisted of two parts which actually where not connected so tightly, isn't it? Did you put two different things together?

Gerry: The idea was with the first piece to have like a site specific situation, an unusual viewing and than to enter the regular theatre afterwards. And maybe they have a different energy at the start of the show because they watched that beginning which was slow and dreamy … thats the head space I wanted people to watch the second part with. That kind of dreamy, memory head space … and even if the energy was quite different in part two its the same kind of way of watching: its very open and relaxed like an elusive dream. It's more a surreal type of experience than a regular performance, its not really trying to be entertaining, it's trying to stretch time, using time as the material for the dance. So even if there is sound and image and body moving the material is time. To make people to experience time in a new way. Thats one of the big ideas I work with.

Gerhard: And how did you enjoy the classes?

Gerry: The classes where actually very short. I saw each group of students only two times [during her performance rehearsal day she didn't teach - GL]. I hope I could give them just a small taste with this kind of work, because to do really contact improvisation its a three hour class usually to get the body to, again, change time. The body speed is actually very very slow. To teach the body at its own speed is very slow. So its a very new thing for some of the students and some of the students had experiences. I thought all the kids where very open-minded. They tried everything and nobody got hurt. I think they could understand something new about improvisation. To some of the older students I was trying to explain metaphysical lessons about dance, nature and gravity. So maybe the can catch some of that ideas and put it in their own dances

Gerry explaining metaphysical lessons about dance, nature and gravity.

Gerhard: As much as you could observe the festival could you give some advice or underline something you especially liked or what was problematic?

Gerry: The separation between the students and the (pre)professional dancers was a little bit bizarre, so I never saw some of the dancers until today in the last performances [she obviously means the staging process participants – GL]. So I would have thaught a higher level and it would have been good to have more of them… it was a bizarre separation.

I think the way of working with music is something dancers need to think about more instead of using only prerecorded music from Hollywood or Beyonce. Dancers really need to think about original, high quality sound. Also to work with sound it doesn't exactly match with the dance, to have some contrast and the feeling to use the music as an art form. I think thats something that dancers at a young age need to discover. Probably it would be really great to have for this festival live accompaniment for the dance classes.

Gerhard: Indeed, I have done it in 2011 in my choreomusical (music-and-dance) relation classes and a performance where as a part of the concept I played (on the piano) live to the movements of the dancers, and we had also live musicians in several (both professional and staging process) performances during the last years…

Gerry: Yeah, its really good for the dancers to hear live music and to have that in classes as well…

Gerhard: … it enhances the communication…

Gerry: … and for the choreography, too … doing a professional choreography the music should be as original as possible. Maybe there is a tight budget, but even the little kids were hitting the sticks and making their own sounds. I liked that challenge.

Gerhard: As much as you had time, did you like Hiiumaa?

Gerry: I didn't really experience Hiiumaa because I was busy every day. Just the one day we went near the ocean [Kassari] that seamed very nice. But I didn't get to see very much because I was either teaching or performing or watching other shows. So it was a contained festival in that way. And there was not much connection with the people, a little bit, but there could be more :)

Gerhard: Patrick, did you enjoy the travel to the film spot place where we improvised in the cisterns?

Patrick: Yes it was interesting.

Gerhard: Are you satisfied with your part of the performance? All worked well?

Patrick: Yes :)

Gerry: I liked all the parents with their little kids. There could be even classes with little kids and parents together...

Patrick: … yeah, both doing dance together :) …

Gerhard: … indeed, this year first time extra classes for parents where offered, the festival experiments and develops…

Gerhard: …and Shawn, are you satisfied with your part of the show?

Shawn: Yes, I was pretty happy with the performance, it went fairly well, technically, and it sounded pretty good, so overall it was very good.

Gerhard: … and our joint improvisation jamm session?

Shawn: That was fun. I don't do vj every day so it was nice to explore that a little bit, and people liked it , so thats good :) … pretty crazy and abstract…

Gerhard: … and our field improvisation at the film spot in the cisternes...

Shawn: … oh yeah, in the cisterns :) yes, amazing, it was good fun, yeah, did you listened to them?

Gerhard: … yes, I like the last one most, its more abstract, but a little whole, in the end I went over to Bach-like structures - starting from noise we always get to Bach, thats for sure ;)

Shawn: yes, I enjoyed that and I liked the festival.

Gerhard: Do you have some recommendations or ideas?

Shawn: Actually no, I didn't take part of the workshops, so I have no clear sense of what happened there. So I think I should be more involved to give good feedback.

Gerhard: Ok, our Ferry arrives, we should now end the talk. Thank you all very much!