This piece is about connections between choreographic approaches and human relationships – with the dancers in harmony with each other or in repetition. This is why accomplished movement composer Lucy Guerin is interested in the extent to which formal artistic processes can affect social structures or interactions. In the two duets, the Australian choreographer concentrates on the emancipatory potential of dance and steps up against women having to “adapt to a ridiculous ideal”. How To Be Us is a poignant examination of opposing and therefore conflict-provoking ideas of freedom. And in Split, the balance of the female body, which is “so profoundly marked by commercialisation, exploitation, shame and shock” (Guerin), is restored.
How To Be Us
Choreography: Lucy Guerin
Choreographic co-creation: Lilian Steiner and Samantha Hines
Performance: Ashley McLellan and Tra Mi Dinh
Music: Katerina Stathis
Lighting design: Paul Lim
Costume design: Kate Davis
Producer: Estelle Conley
Executive Producer: Ally Harvey
Duration: 15 Minutes
A Lucy Guerin Inc production, commissioned by The Australian Ballet for DanceX (AU)
Premiered at Arts Centre Melbourne (AU), October 2022
Split
Choreography: Lucy Guerin
Choreographic co-creation: Lilian Steiner and Melanie Lane
Performance: Ashley McLellan and Tra Mi Dinh
Music: Scanner
Sound: Robin Fox
Lighting design: Paul Lim
Production management: Robert Larsen
Executive production: Brendan O’Connell
Duration: 45 Minutes
A Lucy Guerin Inc production
Premiered at Arts House North Melbourne (AU) as part of Dance Massive 2017
