Premiering in October at Tempo Dance Festival 2022 as part of the Tempo: Te Rerenga o Tere programme, What They Said unites The New Zealand Dance Company (NZDC) with celebrated Australian choreographer Jo Lloyd for her first work made on a New Zealand company.
Jo Lloyd is an award-winning dance artist based in Melbourne, Australia, working with choreography as a social encounter, revealing behaviour over various durations and contexts. Jo has presented work in Japan, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Melbourne International Festival, the National Gallery of Australia, Mona Foma Tasmania, Liveworks and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.
In this cross Tasman collaboration, Lloyd and her longtime collaborators Duane Morrison(Music) and Andrew Treloar (Costumes) take the leap into creating her first “play without words”, for dance. She will work with seven dancers, to bring this new urban work to the Q Theatre mainstage.
Years of gathered phrases, statements and insults, will culminate in an embodied live work that explores our tendency to be preoccupied with drama and our fascination with the inevitable.
Artistic Director Tor Colombus said, “We are delighted to have Jo back in Aotearoa to continue her process and bring this work to the stage.
Jo is incredible at guiding a creative space and the creation of What They Said follows an enriching experience earlier this year when she facilitated a workshop, stimulating the dance community with the abundance of energy she brings to her work.
We are excited to welcome new faces into our whare and to present What they Said at Tempo Dance Festival which celebrates live and embodied performance and brings our community together.”
Jo Lloyd added, “I’m thrilled to be creating What They Said with the NZDC, the dancers are so generous and incredibly skilled. There is an expansive quality in the way they approach dance, ready to experiment and bring themselves to the work and I can’t wait!”
As the dancers navigate, persist and exert themselves in an attempt to understand each other, nonpatterns become familiar patterns and a logic is revealed. Potential narratives slip and perceptions morph as the dancers trade words for saturated physical states.
When the words erode and go missing, what do the bodies become? A new moving landscape is formed without extraneous junk. Nature with its own drama, more than a collection of words and pictures, a glorious dance.
What They Said will be simultaneously relentless and mesmerising – a feast for the senses that’s not to be missed at this year’s Tempo: Te Rerenga o Tere programme.
Now in its 10th year, The New Zealand Dance Company (NZDC) launched in 2012 with a clear vision—to create new connections to dance through dynamic and innovative collaborations.
NZDC champions the power of dance to transform lives in the community, producing vibrant, thought provoking and original performances and workshops. The Company provides a place for artistic excellence, mentoring and work opportunity for the sector while contributing to the nation’s unique cultural tapestry by sharing the NZ story in local, national and international spaces.
NZDC also has a Youth and Community programme, which reaches thousands of young and senior Kiwis each year.
What They Said will be performed by Carl Tolentino, Ngaere Jenkins (Te Arawa, Ngāti Kahungunu), Kosta Bogoievski, Josie Archer, Eliza Sanders, Oli Mathiesen (Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Manu, Ngāpuhi), ‘Isope ‘Akau’ola. Chrissy Kokiri (Tapuika Iwi) is the season’s Rehearsal Director.
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“Electrifying…Jo’s choreography is a gift to watch.” – Planet Arts
NZDC is abundant with highly creative movement, emotion, flow and strength. Contemporary dance at its finest.” -Theatreview
WHAT THEY SAID
Rangatira, Q Theatre
305 Queen Street, Auckland
Friday 7 October at 7:30pm
Saturday 8 October at 7:30pm
A Reserve $45.00
Child/Student/Unwaged/ Senior Citizen $30
B Reserve $39.00
Child/Student/Unwaged/ Senior Citizen $25
*Service fees apply
Tickets go on sale Monday August 29 at 10am