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NothingIn 'Nothing', the new work by Australian Dance Theatre, Artistic Director and choreographer Garry Stewart discusses how on an artistic and personal level, his original idea of the ritualistic aspects of death and dying (presented as a half hour piece to an audience of 14,000 at WOMADelaide 2003), evolved into its current full bodied state. "Initially I wanted the work to be more focused on the idea of death and decay; I was reading 'The Tibetan Book Of Living and Dying' by Sogyal Rinpoche and also 'On Death And Dying' by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross," he mentions, early in our interview. "As I was making the work, one of my very best friends died and I was really taken aback by the coincidence. I felt a connection between the work I was making and his passing... I'm focused more now on a positive rather than tragic connection to the work." The work, utilising 10 dancers, is presented in two halves. "In this work I have tried to represent through the body, heaven and hell, wrath and beauty...and depict their body as being something ancient and primeval...the dancers move like creatures rather than human beings," Stewart also mentions that the work has a tenuous relationship to Buto, the Japanese theatre/dance form. References are also made to yoga postures and other gestures from eastern religious art, drawing from the eastern notions on the journey of the soul and afterlife and also the paintings of 15th century Dutch painter Heironymous Bosch which deal with heaven, hell and mans struggle between the two. He says, "Symbols of transformation connect to the logic of the unconscious in that they are dreamlike in nature and to a degree surrealist," not unlike Bosch's work. Stewart explains that the concept of time is very stretched in the work. "Dancers might suddenly switch from frenzied action to a slow motion state...in the work there is a preoccupation with disruption and decay as well as serenity and ecstasy and peace...a constant metamorphosis." Perhaps in the same way that reality constantly reinvents itself. As we discuss physical differences to previous works, Stewart admits that this work is "in many ways a departure from my usual work which is fairly ballistic and aerial and gymnastic. This work is much more grounded and not so presentational...it's somehow darker, like a ritual but has a fairly far reaching cosmic presence. It can be described as a Fantasia on the afterlife." Musically, composer Luke Smiles makes references to world music instruments that he has sampled and translated into an electronic score. Darrin Verhagen also adds his darker soundscapes to the second half of the performance. "They are two contrasting scores....Darrin writes incredibly dramatic Gothic electronic music...Gothic in the real sense, that it's dark, dramatic and quasi orchestral and very powerful...Luke has written a lot of music for the Chunky Move dance company. Being a dancer. he understands the work." In dealing with these themes, Stewart confesses that he has approached the overall creation of this work differently from his others "It's been an interesting piece to make...normally I try to represent ideas in a rational linear manner, but I have allowed myself to respond to the work on an intuitive and emotional level, rather than on a more tangible, logical and rational figurative....It's a great way to work, and maybe not appropriate for all my way works but certainly it's worked well for this because this work is very expressionistic and abstract and emotional and atmospheric." It seems somewhat ineffectual to talk about 'Nothing', the title that is. Yet the title comes from the notion of emptiness, "the idea that behind everything there is an emptiness to all things and everything exists like a dream or an illusion. It's not saying there is no existence, but it has no absolute meaning, and so therefore it is empty of meaning but full of potential..." My sense is that the work aims to speak to audiences on a deeper level, one which their being will understand but their minds may not. Stewart agrees that "the audience won't necessarily, immediately be able to pin point exactly what the work is saying to them, but they will receive a very strong powerful impression."
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