| nospace | STEPS |
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In STEPS Youth Dance Company’s next production nospace, the company’s new artistic director explores the relationship between our identities and the physical, intellectual, cultural and virtual spaces we inhabit.
In his first STEPS production, Sam Fox cleverly exploits the wildly popular social networking website MySpace to explore, in dance, the implications of the interactive, user-submitted phenomenon.
Do I have enough friends listed? Who rates highest on hotness, intelligence or music compatibility? Am I in the coolest networks?
Never before has computer-savvy youth been under more visible pressure to confirm publicly that he/she has the requisite amount of social clout, with whacky comments, videos and photos. Laid bare are young people’s everyday movements, thoughts and emotional states for public viewing in digital platforms, with clashing values of personal and social development contrasting with consumer data mining.
nospace will investigate the dancers’ use of these sites and cultural navigation techniques in a world of saturated media, making tangible the virtual/physical/conceptual headspace of 26 young dancers.
The work delivers challenges to the dancers and audience alike: How do you as a young person choose to represent your identity? How much choice do you exercise in MySpace/Facebook? How do you construct your identity without your MyStuff - ipod playlists, phone and fashion? How do you do so with your body, in dance and physical style?
Through the seamless mix of multi-styled movement and the creation of a hybrid media animated set-centrepiece, nospace will immerse the audience in dance from the unseen corridors of web 2.0.
Steps Youth Dance Company has a history of bringing contemporary issues to the stage. Last year’s sell-out dance season, dash, and its various Boys Can Dance projects, encouraged boys to push through social taboos and create explosive male dance for the stage. The show won Outstanding Achievement in Choreography and the Award for Dance Film/Technology within Dance at the WA Dance Awards.
Open auditions for nospace were held in March - when dancers between the ages of 14 and 20, with dance and performance experience, vied for inclusion in the production. The twenty-six dancers selected will be encouraged to collaborate and contribute to the creation of choreography, physical theatre, text and design for the dance work.
The creative team of nospace is led by Artistic Director Sam Fox, and includes three of WA’s most exciting professional dance artists, the extraordinary Paul Blackman - ex Buzz Dance, Rachel Ogle and Bianca Martin, with sound created by PIVOT’s laptop-rocker Dave Miller, lighting design by Andrew Lake, custom programming by Dave Primmer and media, animation and set design from Perth’s ololo collective.
Venue: Playhouse Theatre, 3 Pier Street, Perth
Dates: Thursday 12 June – Sunday 15 June 2008 (performances for schools 12-13 June, book through STEPS Youth Dance on (08) 9226 2133 or
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General Public performances: Saturday 14 June 2pm and 7.30pm; Sunday 15 June 5pm
Cost: $18 Standard, $13 Concession and $9.90 Children (ages 3- 8 years old)
Tickets: BOCS 9484 1133
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Thursday, 08 January 2009
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