Prue Lang
WORKS
STELLAR PROJECT
[…] {…} […] Handovers + Translations
SPACEPROJECT
A Ten Minute Event Of Lived Abstraction
Prue Lang: STELLAR PROJECT
Following Lang's previous works, Timeproject (2013) and Spaceproject (2015), Stellar Project continues the exploration of space and time via the experience of the human body, this time expanding into unquantifiable space and unquantifiable time. Creating a unique choreographic language, Stellar Project investigates the dual notions of COSMOS and CHAOS and the way that our human bodies imagine, manifest and transform these understandings of the universe.
Images: Pippa Samaya & Gregory Lorenzutti
CREDITS
Prue Lang: STELLAR PROJECT
Presented by Dancehouse
DANCE MASSIVE
18 - 21 March 2017
Choreography & Concept: Prue Lang
Performers: Mikaela Carr, Benjamin Hancock, Lauren Langlois, Amber McCartney, Harrison Ritchie-Jones
Dramaturgy: Rebecca Hilton
Lighting design: Danny Pettingil
Sound design: Mark Pederson
Costume design: Fozia Akalo
Producer: Alison Halit
Stellar Project is supported by the City of Yarra through Dancehouse; by the Australian Government through the Australia Council; the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria; the Besen Foundation; Lucy Guerin Inc.; City of Melbourne; the Victorian College of the Arts; and Maximised Chunky Move.
VIDEO
WRITING
"Imagine creating a dance about the universe. Do you begin with science – complex mathematical equations and theories – or with philosophy, art, the human body – or even, perhaps, the daily horoscopes – for guidance?
Prue Lang's new work Stellar Project touches on all of these themes. As with her previous work in this series (2015's Space Project), Stellar Project is a work that digs into what we do not understand from many angles and perspectives.
This complexity of intention lends itself to contemporary dance quite well, and the movement that Lang has developed for her five dancers exploits the fact that dance can be many things at the same time, and perhaps – like our universe – be many things that we simply do not have the language to describe.
Mark Pederson's sound design draws initially on the familiar noise of city life. Sirens wail and birds chirp as the dancers' focus is drawn repeatedly up to the sky above them. They seem to be looking beyond the clouds, and the score eventually charts the shift from known to undiscovered through its increasing abstraction.
The dancers (Mikaela Carr, Benjamin Hancock, Lauren Langlois, Amber McCartney, Harrison Ritchie-Jones) play what seem like parlour games, shouting out the "answers" as a way to assign meaning to the movement, as though reciting from Wikipedia. Here it is as though Lang is drawing attention to the fact that our understanding is insignificant and, quite frankly, inadequate.
Stellar Project is ambitious in the ideas that it is grappling with, but it is presented in a way that makes the exploration and experimentation a visible scaffolding in performance. The dancers even wear tracksuit pants, as though to underline that our thinking is evolving and unresolved – this is a project under construction and still questioning its place in this world."
Dance Massive Stellar Project
★ ★ ★ ★
Jordan Beth Vincent The Sydney Morning Herald March 20 2017
Fayen d’Evie & Prue Lang: […] {…} […] Handovers + Translations
Gertrude Contemporary is pleased to present 'Handovers + Translations' at Gertrude Glasshouse. This project was initiated by Gertrude Studio Artist Fayen d'Evie in collaboration with Troy McConnell, Sophie Takách and Prue Lang.
Throughout October Glasshouse has been the site for a series of trans-sensory and inter-material translations, accumulating as an evolving haptic exhibition with Bryan Philips, Terry Foley, Louella Hogan, Benjamin Hancock and Harrison Ritchie-Jones. Glasshouse will be open to the public at select times to view the exhibition outcome. There will also be two public events and performances.
Images: Pippa Samaya
CREDITS
Fayen d'Evie & Prue Lang: […] {…} […] Handovers + Translations
Gertrude Glasshouse
Gertrude Contemporary Collingwood
21 -29 October 2016
Artists and Collaborators: Fayen d'Evie, Troy McConnell, Sophie Takách and Prue Lang
Performers: Louella Hogan, Benjamin Hancock, Harrison Ritchie-Jones and Prue Lang
Prue Lang: SPACEPROJECT
As architect and designer Fredrick Kiesler pointed out in his manifesto for stage space that embraced three-dimensionality: “There is only one space element: motion.” And if we map ‘motion’, it is against one axis representing space and one representing time.
Timeproject (France, 2013) was an investigation of movement through the perception of time. Spaceproject (Australia, 2015) is the investigation of movement through the perception of space. Both works have at their heart the human body; the body as living receptor, measurer and generator of understandings of space and time.
Images: Pippa Samaya & Gregory Lorenzutti
CREDITS
Prue Lang: SPACEPROJECT
Presented by Dancehouse
DANCE MASSIVE
10 -13 March 2015
Concept & Direction: Prue Lang
Choreography: Prue Lang in collaboration with the dancers
Performers: Lauren Langlois, Amber McCartney, Benjamin Hancock, James Batchelor
Texts: Lygia Clark, Brian Massumi, Deleuze and Guattari
Lighting: Danny Pettingill
Music: The Cure, David Lang, Martial Solal
Sound edit: Maxwell Dowling
Supported by Arts Victoria, Besen Family Foundation, Dancehouse. Studio space at Chunky Move.
VIDEO
WRITING
"From beneath a small table, a dancer speaks of the “post-modern apocalypse” and “an implosion of meaning”. In her program notes, choreographer Prue Lang refers to the human body as a medium for the comprehension of space and time, a notion both mathematical and emotional.
Lang employs complex movement to edge up to these thematic ideas, drifting through a seemingly random, and yet carefully curated collection of concepts as though she is stringing beads from one hundred different necklaces on a single thread. There is a sense that Lang is toying with us – daring us to cobble together a cohesive grasp of her processes and intentions when they might be deliberately obscured.
How we find our way (and indeed, how the dancers themselves find their way) is a recurring theme in Spaceproject, explored through gestures that inscribe connected loops, shared points of contact, or navigational references such as a compass. Taking on roles as poets and philosophers through to friends bickering during a bushwalk, the dancers embody these loops, points of contact and compasses, seeking moments of engagement with the space around them.
There is something generous about the movement in this work. Dancers (Lauren Langlois, Benjamin Hancock, Amber McCartney and James Batchelor) dive into movements that seem to be drawn from inspiration as varied as the expanse of our universe, or as insignificant as a mosquito bite.
Lang was a dancer with The Forsythe Company, and there is certainly something Forsythe-esque about her integration of ideas with movement, text and sound. However,Spaceproject offers a unique exploration of ideas, and is a fine addition to Dance Massive’s investigation of contemporary dance in its many forms."
Spaceproject takes on infinite and minute
★ ★ ★ ★
Jordan Beth Vincent The Age March 12 2015
Prue Lang - A Ten Minute Event Of Lived Abstraction
