Sloth presented on the stairs in the foyer of memorial hall.
As dusk was setting the audience arrived to watch morganics in his hip hop show. Unexpectedly, in the foyer the folks had to step around a slothful mound, protruding body parts wallowed listlessly in space.
A blue eerie light wafted across body parts viewed through the slits in the sheet covering the mound. Body parts were random, where the audience might view the front of the knee close to the back of the head or the big toe inert in space next to an eyeball. The audience was left to decide the meaning of what they saw.
Lust or slut - WAS IT ABOUT SEXUALITY, SENSUALITY OR TO WANT? What did come out in the discussions was that those who lusted definitely wanted CONTROL. So the installation was based on controlling. Controlling the crowds, controlling what people wanted, while the LUSTY controlled the situation.
A MISTRESS (Emma Newman) with a whip enticingly ordering the crowd to take notice, women SEDUCTIVELY insisting the crowd eat grapes and the EXOTIC dancer who nobody noticed as her muslin wrapped body arched, circled and entranced.
Greed, coordinated by Sally Campbell - a spectacle of wanting. The greedy women ostentatiously paraded the streets outside memorial hall. They held on dearly to their own belongings whilst coveting the possessions of the spectators. The audience at first was subdued letting their belongings be taken but after a while they had enough and started taking back from the women. The audience became loud, raucous and bordering on aggressive.
Envy by Emma Newman the sin of jealousy displayed the falsities that we can portray in our lives. Luxurious in our black attire, with green net shading our faces and movement implying sweetness and niceties, we chose one of the young women to portray all we wished to be. Emma chose the costume of newspaper as a motif to highlight our jealousies. The most beautiful entered and we fell into our envious world of toxic niceties, we turned and our evil selves showed. We ripped the young woman apart not literally but the motif of ripping off the newspaper and the notes that represented her enviable beauty.
Cristy Kilkeary’s theme of Gluttony was
based on Western society’s seemingly insatiable desire to over-consume. The preoccupation
with things such as food shows the sin of gluttony growing faster than ever.
Just one more,
Just one more,
Just one more, (Cristy Kilkeary 2004)
In workshops she explored a few areas of gluttonous behaviour, using exaggerated
and repetitive movement.
In performance to the number one hit by Gwen Stefni, we portrayed themes of excess.
Eating, shopping, aerobics, music, plastic surgery are inordinately consumed continuously
by western society. The strong repetitive movements to the repetitive drone of the
hit pop song made a dynamic impact on the audience like the Stepford wives, we shopped
till we dropped, we ate until we blew, and exercised continuously. The music was
loud, the movement “in your face”.
Helene Markstein’s dramatic portrayal of Wrath proved as emotional to perform as it was for the audience to watch. The balance of the world is affected by the endless death that comes from continuous warring. Families become angry and the wrath is depicted in the anguish they feel for lost loved ones. Mothers’ sisters and wives using heavy rocks build a funeral mound and their bodies display a deep anguish in their low contorted contraction and a wailing of despair. Helene looped these motifs to show its continuity. Clothing completely covered our bodies and red material covered our faces and heads. In the final moments one young girl showed her face to the audience wiping the blood off her mouth. This was truly an emotive piece. The anger we suffer as woman as a consequence of war
Pride facilitator, Daniella Finkenauer
chose to highlight the positives of the sins. What is wrong with pride when throughout
you maintain a strong and loyal presence? Stage presence, and the use of spoken word
brought the Seven projects to final conclusion with a strength that was strong, proud
and positive. She used dance strategies from her work, titled PRESENCE. She continually
work shopped throughout the cycle to produce strength and pride within the group.
The final outcome was the conclusion to the final dance piece ‘Just Like a Woman’
by Bob Dylan. The seven sins were spoken continuously in a loop with a strong movement
motif held to represent each sin. Daniella worked the women’s’ group in a circle
using the spirit of the dance within and presence. She unfolded each individual’s
spirit. Daniella summed up the Seven Deadly projects with this quote.
‘The 7's that steer us toward more LIFE’ (Daniella Finkenauer 2005)
The culmination of the project was the presentation in the Dances for Dylan performance. Women of all ages were involved presenting a final dance piece to Bob Dylan’s “Just Like a Woman” that combined the work of all the choreographers. It was interesting to be performing to the words of Dylan. The dynamic environment and talent of the group easily bought the dance piece together. Each of the sins fell easily into place with Dylan’s verses. Working together on this project brought the women together.
References
seven@deadlysins.com
WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM WOMEN WHO WERE INVOLVED IN THE PROJECT.
REFLECTIONS ON THE PROJECT.
WE BONDED AND GOT TO KNOW EACH OTHER - OUR ECCENTRICITIES HIGHLIGHTED....
Get in touch with Sally dancelinks@hotmail.com
if you'd like to participate in the forthcoming womens project at Stamping Ground
2006
