We caught up with Choreographer Jane McKernan just before Christmas to ask her some questions about her 40under40 commission... Bree van Reyk: Hi Jane, thanks for agreeing to write a piece for Synergy! Did you ever imagine that you would be a commissioned composer? Jane McKernan: Absolutely not ever! I told my mum about it, and then added that I was worried because Im particularly bad with rhythm, being a failure at both rhythmic dance forms, flamenco and tap, and she said well youre not so great with melody either. So there we have it. (BvR lols) BvR: Why are Percussionists so cool? JMcK: Because they feel the rhythm and make it audible/visible. And that that invisible internal rhythm can be shared so precisely between percussionists never fails to make me feel its magic. BvR: Speaking of cool, I hear that youre in Finland at the moment. What are you up to? JMcK: Right now, Im in Bergen in Norway (but I should have answered these questions when I was still in Finland!). Ive been on an exchange between 3 Finnish choreographers and 3 Australian ones. Its the second part of it, after 3 weeks in March in Sydney earlier this year. This second instalment has been amazing because we have got a lot further a lot quicker as well as being able to see the Finns in their native habitat, and have a weekend in the forest and a couple of proper Finnish saunas. We also went to the Ice Hot Nordic Dance platform in Oslo, where we got to see a lot of dance over 3 big days. Its been great! BvR: Who are your favourite composers, or music makers? JMcK: This question scares me a bit because I feel I know so little about music, and because Im sitting next to Toby (Martin, from Youth Group) who surely knows a lot. I just asked who are my favourite composers out loud but he declined to answer for me. The music I like to dance to is normally quite spacious indie rock like Sun Kil Moon or John Fahey, but on my most recent project I tried to change that up a bit and used Kanye West, Sylvan Esso and Bach. BvR: And choreographers? JMcK: Also too hard! I love the people I have worked with Rosalind Crisp, Lizzie Thomson, Miguel Gutierrez, Wendy Houstoun and many many more. Those who I admire from afar (even across time) are Helen Herbertson, Trevor Patrick, Nicole Beutler, Bronsilava Nijinska, Xavier Le Roy and so many more. BvR: Have you worked with extremely-short-form performances before? JMcK: Not this short no, but with The Fondue Set, we often made pieces round the 3 minute mark and I think they were some of our best. BvR: What do you have planned for your 40-second piece? (Its ok if its a secret, but maybe just give us a hint if you can) JMcK: Something that requires no ability with rhythm or melody. No, Im thinking about how I can transfer some recent processes that I used to make the dance piece Mass Movement (for the Keir Choreographic Award) to make music rather than dance. Im interested in the shared unspoken or shared imagination across musicians or dancers. BvR: Is there a particular video work, or video of a dance work that youd like to share with us? (maybe its a scene from Singin in the Rain, or Flashdance, or anything really… Its probably Flashdance, right?) JMcK: I totally love Singin in the Rain. It was the first movie I ever showed to Ada (Janes young daughter), and we have watched Make Em Laugh so many times, but what Im going to share is Catherine Wheel which is a collaboration between the choreographer Twyla Tharp and David Byrne. A friend gave me Twyla Tharps autobiography after I gave birth to Ada as an example of a model not to be in making art and having children at the same time (not to judge Twyla) and I hadnt known till I read it that she and David Byrne were together at one stage. But I only found this video this year. I havent ever made it all the way through, but I like dipping into it. https://youtube/watch?v=Pmflqe8p58Y BvR: What was your initial reaction when we asked you to write a piece for Synergy? JMcK: To say no! And then I was immensely flattered. And then terrified! Lucky its really short!
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 05:37:17 +0000
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