Re-Function

︎2023


Objects that occupy our homes are reminders of comfort. They are essentially invisible when they are performing their function correctly. Users only seem to notice them when they rebel or cease to perform their designated function. Within ‘Re-Function’, dance is the object.

This was my first time working with professional ballet dancers. Part of my excitement was in the potential of a rare collaboration. In the lead up to our collaboration, I didn’t have the ‘how’ component figured out, however once we started, it flowed with clarity.

I am a big believer in not having a single approach to creating choreography - I prefer the context and the people I am working with to inform my method. It was clear before stepping into rehearsals, that it wasn’t about making them move like I do. The intention behind the first week of rehearsals was to facilitate an exchange and negotiation of stories, style, culture, personality and where these all intersect. I was lucky enough to have a very collaborative and open minded group of dancers, willing to be pushed away from their comfort but also be ready to flourish within their comfort. They even joined me at a dance battle event…

I was not interested in reproducing an idea that already exists. I was interested in ideas we don’t yet know the outcome of. Starting from a place of familiarity, but launching into the unknown, using initial discomfort to fuel the process. Playfulness was the common tool throughout the whole experience. By treating a purpose as a suggestion, rather than an instruction, we created a piece that demonstrates what we discovered through re-functioning. The result - a screen dance work that is choreographed in collaboration with the users and the chair (acting as the sixth user), to display the flexibility and adaptation of the space, the music, and the lens.

The idea is not to rebel. The idea is to see it from a different perspective so we can push and extend its functions. Functions with an ’s’. As many of them as we can get…