BY LEAH BLANKENDAAL
Over two weeks, four young choreographers and five sound designers gathered in the West Australian State Theatre Centre. Guided by choreographer Rachel Ogle and sound designer Luke Smiles, these young artists set about bringing their art forms together in a collaborative program that culminated in a showing at Studio Underground. This was known as ‘Collab 2’, presented by Strut Dance and Tura New Music. So what was I doing there as a composer? Read on to learn about my experience in combining music and dance.
Monday November 30, 4:30pm
Workshops for artists inevitably start in the same way. Participants gather at the beginning, sometimes bleary-eyed from late night rehearsals/gigs, almost always with coffee in hand. Over the course of a few days, these participants go from strangers to old friends, as happens when intense experiences are shared in this fashion.
As a composer and sound designer, it is quite easy to get caught up in your own insular world. Collaborating with other artists can therefore be quite a daunting experience. Monday’s session focuses on how we might approach such relationships. Through a series of open discussions, we examine what we understand both ‘choreography’ and ‘sound design’ to mean, before exploring how we might combine them to make meaning.
For me, it is interesting to hear that the term ‘choreography’ can apply to situations beyond what we might consider to be traditional dance. It could apply to a man walking down the street, or the way in which we choose to sit on the floor. This open definition is similar to the way we think of sound design, which is often considered to have elements beyond traditional notated music. By opening up these definitions, I gain a clearer understanding of the types of collaboration that could be possible throughout these workshops.
At the end of the day, Rachel Ogle explains we will undertake a series of short tasks in the morning (short games), followed by work on a long-term project in the afternoon (the long game) over the course of the next two weeks.
Wednesday December 2, 1:30pm
Wednesday is our first practical short game task. We are split into pairs of choreographers and sound designers and asked to create a piece that reacts to photos taken in the previous day’s short game. The short game task requires each participant to leave the room one by one and take a photo, reacting to the previous image taken in a kind of photography grapevine.
I pair up with Storm Helmore, a choreographer and recent dance graduate from the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Together, we create a piece that reacts to an abstract photo of wires and metallic objects taken by sound designer Steve Paraskos. We find this image particularly intriguing, as it is quite chaotic but with lots of repetition and colour. This gives us a good starting place to draw inspiration. I use the repeated number patterns in some of the metallic objects to create phased rhythm diamonds. In turn, Storm uses the colours in the image and assigns them to parts of her body when creating dance.
If I’m very truthful, I find this task particularly confronting. I’m someone who agonizes over every note I write, and so being asked to construct three minutes of music in under an hour is particularly challenging. After break, we begin work on our long game tasks. I work on two pieces, each by a different choreographer (Kynan Hughes and Linton Aberle).
The short game: Is a learning process!
The long game: Has just begun…
Tuesday December 8, 5:30pm
It’s been almost a week since we begun work on our long game pieces. The two choreographers for which I am composing could not have more different creative processes. The first, Kynan Hughes, has chosen to use T.S. Eliot’s ‘Four Quartets’ as a basis for his work. This is interesting as, because we are starting from something already formed, there are a lot of elements already constructed: form, mood, etc.. By comparison, Linton is using short riffs and motifs from popular songs to create movement. I, in turn, am creating a score that also reacts to these riffs by flipping them on their heads – changing the instrumentation, varying the rhythm, inverting them etc..
In Kynan’s project, I am also working with sound designer Laura Halligan. This is a really unusual experience, but so far has been an immense pleasure. It is very rewarding to share the creative process with someone who really knows your art form.
The short game: Is getting easier now that I am used to working within the restraints we have been given.
The long game: It is interesting to me to see the different development styles of two choreographers.
Thursday December 10, 1:00pm
We just finished our final short game. I came into this morning with a really strong desire to create sound away from my laptop. As such, when groups were formed, I chose to work with another sound designer (Steve Paraskos) as well as a choreographer. Steve used electronics, while I searched for items around the State Theatre Centre that I could use as percussive tools. The result was a little silly but also tremendous fun. After a long period staring at a screen it is particularly satisfying to create music with your hands.
From here we are working exclusively on our long game. The showing is tomorrow and I feel there is still considerable work to be done…
The short game: Now that I’ve found the rhythm of completing this type of task, it is much easier.
The long game: Draws ever closer!
Friday December 11, 8:20pm
It’s always a pleasure to finish an intensive period of creation with a performance. Rachel and Luke began the evening by talking to the audience about the process we had been through over the two weeks. My collaboration with Linton opened the night and, over the course of 90 minutes, we watched the various long game collaborations that occurred. From my perspective, it was interesting to see the culmination of other collaborations outside of the two projects I worked on.
I’m incredibly grateful to have had this opportunity. As someone who has collaborated largely with filmmakers and photographers, working with a live medium like dance has been an eye opening experience. Should this opportunity arise again, I would highly encourage young composers and sound designers to make the most of it.
The long game: Was such a rewarding experience!
Image supplied.
