When Annette McLernon, the Executive Producer of FORM Dance Projects, approached Elena Kats-Chernin about working with some dancers at a workshop at the Bundanon cultural complex in the Shoalhaven region of NSW, Kats-Chernin contacted Meryl Tankard.
The composer and choreographer had collaborated on Deep Sea Dreaming for the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 and then on the 2003 ballet Wild Swans, commissioned by The Australian Ballet and Sydney Opera House. It had been a fruitful partnership, and Kats-Chernin felt that Tankard would be a valuable addition to the workshop. McLernon agreed.
Cloé Fournier in a costume for Kairos. Photo © Régis Lansac
As inspiration, Tankard showed the dancers a series of portraits that Sidney Nolan made in the 1980s using spray paint, then guided them, while Kats-Chernin improvised on piano.
The workshop proved so successful that FORM Dance Projects commissioned Tankard and Kats-Chernin to create a dance work. Kairos – which means “the right or opportune moment” in Ancient Greek – will have its world premiere at the Sydney Festival.
It is billed as “a vibrant new dance work responding to the political, social and...
Comments
Log in to join the conversation.