<&>Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English Version One <&>Copyright 1998 School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies <&>Victoria University of Wellington <&>side one <&>0:35 kia ora koutou ee well i'm a dancer a choreographer and at the moment um i've been well lately for the last six weeks rehearsing intensively on a new creation called stands for fill you in a little bit more about that later but um yeah it's it's a big one for me it's my <&>1:00 first full length work and it's been really full on it's been in <.>my in my head for about two years and <.>n now it's finally <{><[>come out <[>you finally get to work on it <{><[>oh good good oh sounds exciting <[>yeah yeah it is is it happening at taki rua <{1><[1>theatre that's that's isn't it tut <{2><[2>that's voc <[1>it's yep <[2>definitely it opens this wednesday the fourth of may runs through to the <.>fourtee fourteenth of may and um yeah they're all the performances are eight oclock at night and except for a sunday performance <.>s which is at six oclock and there are two matinees on tuesday the tenth of may and thursday the twelfth of may and they're both at one oclock bookings can be made on at at taki rua three eight four four five three one and give them a call and support our local talent here and now just a little basic run down on the history of your um how you became a a renowned dancer choreographer you were invited to represent new zealand in the prestigious american dance festival how was that oh that was fantastic it was two years ago now <&>2:00 in <{1><[1>er nineteen ninety two spent six weeks doing choreography and dancing and viewing a lot of international performances <,> you know from out of america and from within america at duke university in north carolina and i was mixing with other international choreographers and dancers so it was just like a six week extravaganza of dance <{2><[2>you know by the end of it you're pretty exhausted <{3><[3>but it voc <[1>mm <[2>wow <[3><.>we voc yeah i <.>m i met some amazing people and got some good contacts and and learnt quite a lot were you the only one from wellington new zealand over in the <{><[>festival <[>tut yeah i was mhm do do they have it every year or how <{><[>often do they have the festival <[>they do <.>ye yeah it's it's been happening since about sixty four so it's something that's you know definitely ongoing how did you get the opportunity to go over there i received a scholarship to go the arts council and american um embassy sent me over there voc um after my show that i did in ninety two called at taki rua so it's like <&>3:00 history's repeating <{><[>itself two years and it's about the same time may again that now i'm um tut i've been away and i've i've learnt a lot of new techniques and especially this last um one i've sent off to in melbourne in january for a choreographers' workshop between australia new zealand japanese choreographers <[>laughs wow to represent new zealand and i've learnt a lot more <{><[>from that <[>you've been to germany as well haven't you tut yeah um in ninety two i i worked in a company there in munich for about four months and we travelled round um tut austria and germany to er performed with a a a radical dance theatre company they were pretty full on <{1><[1>and a lot of my influences in this <.>partic in have come both from america and germany so there's a real sense of post modernism german expressionism and also my own um bicultural maori contemporary style in there so it's quite a <.>i it's a <{2><[2>quite a unique collaboration a blend of of styles and an inhales <[1>okay <[2>a collaboration yeah it sounds very interesting hence the <{><[>title <&>4:00 <[>er yeah hence the title it's something i was actually influenced <.>in back in ninety two when i went to see the um protskinutkin russian architect's exhibition in may nineteen ninety two and um i found this quote and i'll read this to you it goes since the inside is different from the outside the wall the point of change becomes an architectural event tut and that was from robert fenturi and that kind of got my <.>hea mind thinking and creating about you know why you know <.>how how does the outside world influence you internally and um how does your internal world influence you externally you know in terms of our environment where we live mm and um the architectural side of it really is quite dominant in the set because um for me i believe that the wharenui voc represents the body and it <.>wou does architecturally and spiritually so that's how i've managed to <.>br draw in the my maori and <&>5:00 the architectural side into the work so <.>there there're many layers in the work it's a multi media work so <.>there you know you've got the set you've got er a <.>multi the video work which is piero lava who's designed um in collaboration with my sister moana tawiu gray who's also been the director then you've got the music which has all been originally composed by michelle scullion which is a fantastic um array of strings and karanga which my mother has composed especially for <{1><[1>the work yeah it's been a real whanau <{2><[2>kind of inhales voc oh yeah <[1>wow <[2>it sounds like it's been a real whanau thing do you get a lot of <.>s obviously you get a lot of support from your family er um your sister directing <{1><[1>how is that for you how <{2><[2>is that for your <.>d <[1>mm <[2>tut oh it's been really really wonderful it's been like my backbone mm and that's something <.>tha in in the work the tahuhu really stands out there's one particular piece in there where <.>th inhales three women are just performing with their backs to the audience and just the spine is <.>manipul voc voc <.>the just the way you know <&>6:00 you can <{1><[1>use the spine but inhales really influencing the fact that the spine is the ridgepole of the whare it's being held up by the pou tokomanawa and and and <.>the and the poles and then on the side you've got tut the ancestors and <.>i it's just <.>that you know the whole work has just really evolved out of that you know <.>com always coming back to the spine it's there and and for me it's like it gets really <.>d even deeper than that with <&>sniffle things like um d n a and and the our whakapapa <{2><[2>coming back and generations and things like that so there's it's almost worth i <.>don't you know here i am i'm selling the show in a sense but for me i feel like if anyone wants to really get a lot out of it it would probably be worth going to see a couple of <{3><[3>times because you know first of all it would just be this visual thing <{4><[4>that's gonna hit you that um you know <.>to to really get a sense of what <.>i've what i'm going on about it really would probably need a couple of viewings i <.>th imagine <[1>mm <[2>mm <[3>yeah <[4>mm it sounds as though voc it's taken a a while and it sounds like it's a great big <{1><[1>relief two years <{2><[2>is a long time to <&>7:00 have <{3><[3>all this thought and ideas inside your mind and how how does one go about taking it from your <{4><[4>mind and making it reality how do you do that <[1>tut <[2><&>sighs <[3>tut yes yeah yeah yeah <[4>mm mm tut well i start by writing about it <{1><[1>and often i know i'll wake up in the middle of the night and i've had a dream or something like that a lot of it has come through dreams and i'll write in my journal my creative journal and then once i start formulating my ideas i then i just kind of it's like writing an essay in a sense like okay all these parts um <.>ps you know i can put in this section here this section here and then when i came to apply for my money from the arts council i actually did a storyboard sort of like you know as if i was gonna present <.>it you know this as a film or something like that and each section i've um clearly marked out how many dancers and what what that section's <{2><[2>called and so for me tut it's it's been like my my structure to go because basically even though i've got a structure of what what i <&>8:00 want the work to look like the movement and all that sort of thing is wasn't there to begin with it was something that we workshopped and we workshopped <.>in <.>th best place <.>o out at taputeranga <{3><[3>bruce stewart's marae in island bay and um we <.>y we used one of his whares ukaipo and it was just <.>a amazing environment to be in you know because <.>w it's all women in the work so <.>lo lots of things came out lots of personal things because this work i've drawn on a lot um about the dancers' personal lives <{4><[4>because it's it's that nature of the work and and without the dancers this work wouldn't be you know where it is now i've really got amazing people working for me um their names lynne pringle who's one of the most <.>es um swallows well she's been around a very long time in the contemporary <{5><[5>dance world yeah yeah helen winchester who's from the commotion michael parmenter's commotion company sally stopforth very well known round wellington and jenny mcarthur who's er just graduated from the new zealand school <&>9:00 of dance but has a wonderful career ahead of her as both a choreographer and dancer so it's a but like i've been working with these strong women who are very independent and um they've brought so much to this work it's just it's gone further much further than i'd ever imagined you know it to be when i first um had my initial ideas about <{6><[6>it and it also has room to improve as well it's kind of like six weeks after two years of thinking of something and creating <,> and then suddenly having six weeks to get it all out it's just not enough time <[1>okay <[2>mm <[3>oh wow <[4>mm <[5>yeah she has a good reputation <[6>laughs mm but i feel like i've got it to a point where yeah yeah it's it's ready to be um for an audience to now come and see it <{1><[1>but i think this this particular work has a long life to it and there's plenty of room for improvement development in all areas in the music and the and the video <[1>view it are you happy with what's um what you've come up <{><[>with and what's happening at the moment <[>tut i'm really happy i'm really really really happy i'm oh that's <.>goo now tell me about <.>the who who designed the set <&>10:00 matu booth and he's a an artist um he's voc designed for sally stopforth and er lynne pringle for both their shows but he's very er well known for er mobile sets and things like that and and er mobile structures mhm and he what he's come up with for me is just incredible he's <.>g he's <{1><[1>got this um him and geoff thompson and other artists round wellington have created this the apex of the whare as if <.>as you know when the arms <{2><[2>and and it's a kind of an abstract one it's made out of corrugated iron and it's just <&>sighs you walk in there and this hits you and it's like wow laughs it just gives that sense of industrial <[1>mm <[2>mhm mm plus <.>the <.>the my whole heritage and it there's a real blend of so there's a <{><[>sense of wairua there <[>old and new ae <{1><[1>oh definitely and in the music <{2><[2>as well michelle scullion has really managed to capture some beautiful moments she's she's a very spiritual woman and she's and her and i have really clicked together on this one and <&>11:00 yeah her music's brought my dance and the dance has brought the music to a much higher level yeah <[1>mm <[2>yeah well it sounds as though it's gonna be a great show oh i'm really really excited eh i mean i almost feel like i wish i was on the outside <{><[>because it's been quite difficult being the choreographer and then <.>s and i'm also performing in it all of a sudden i've had to give over that <[>mm mm outside eye <{><[>and you know <[>have <.>you have any of the other <.>d other dancers contributed to oh <{1><[1>definitely definitely because through the workshop um the first week that's when i was like drawing material out of people and yeah it's definitely a collaboration between myself and the dancers but when it comes down to the final decision it's it's up to <{2><[2>me and it's that's been the really really hard part because that's that's what choreography's all about <{3><[3>it's about choice of action so like with writing or anything like that you know it's you could use this you could use that but what's gonna be the best and you have to you know try out all your <{4><[4>options and then <,> go <{5><[5>with <[1>the works <[2>right <[3>mhm <[4>mm <[5>and make a choice yeah <{1><[1>and often it's the gut decision <{2><[2>you know it's the instinctual one <{3><[3>laughs <[1>yeah <&>12:00 <[2>right laughs <[3>right okay <&>tape may cut out here before IA wrapped up happening at taki rua theatre from the fourth of may to the fourteenth got to see it it's a must you've listened to the korero definitely go and see it we're supporting te upoko o te ika are supporting and merenia and good luck for the shows and no doubt they'll be packed opening night happening this wednesday a must thank you very much <{><[>for coming in and kia ora ki a koe and this is alex spooner saying hei konei hei kona <&>12:30 <&>end of sample <[>kia ora alex yeah yeah