OCEAN WAVE CONCERT A SENSATION!!!

Life Savers

Titanic

St Kilda

 I was so proud of the Forbury children - they actually stole the show! Moving people to tears of joy with their passionate dancing.

I will post some more images and footage as they come to hand.

Here are links to the  Channel 9 story ,  ODT article and Star article

All at sea: With Forbury School pupil Sophie Smith (10)

 The Brass Band and all the other performers were incredible as well - a celebratory community dance event to gladden the heart.

Next Phase - "Ocean Wave"

Contemplating video component of the concert.
Found this great little clip by Nic Reeves food for thought about carbon emissions.
The surfing community rallies to support a cause.
350 World climate change awareness day 

Fabulous Forbury!!

The past few weeks have been swallowed up by total immersion in the shifting tides at Forbury School.
At present we are waiting waiting to see whether the school will close and merge with MacAndrew Intermediate. This has had a major impact on the community - consequently we had a large march down George St to the Octagon to voice our opposition to this possibility. Story here
This term my challenge has been to learn the names of every student in the school - I reckon I'm sitting at 70% of 145 at this point - it has made a huge difference in the interaction with the children. The whole school has embraced the theme of Oceans this term - awesome!
This phase (5months) of the project wraps up with a showing in the school hall on the last day of term.
It will be an ecstatic-celebratory- fish swishing- rolling- crashing-popping-whispering-roaring, full school choreography!

One of the pieces I am choreographing for the Brass Band concert is to a Gareth Farr work Waipiro - grand oceanic and beautiful - a group have been working after school to achieve more complex choreography. There will be about 16 of them. Joining them will be Rasa Dance Company and a savvy group of dancers doing surf life saving choreography.

St Clair Surf Life Saving Centenary Celebrations April 8th - 10th

 Information about the St Clair celebrations

St Clair Centenary

 In order to honour this social service I would like to reconstruct the original drills - precise, stylised,  life saving choreography. Celebrating 100 hundred years of Surf Life Saving clubs throughout New Zealand. Check out the travelling exhibition in the Octagon until April 10th 

SLSNZ 100 Years - Between the Flags

Surfers, Footprints, Walking Patterns, Loving Forbury School - casting a big net at this stage

I am spending a lot of time watching surfers - it is extremely rare to not have a surfer somewhere on these beaches - local surfer and ex contemporary dancer Steev Peyroux agrees it is a kind of communion and definitely a dance. 

Thinking alot about wonder and awe - this is why I am enjoying the work with the children at Forbury School - so many great characters and fantastic teachers - a thriving and caring community.
"A cosmic sense - that human beings need to take in, reshape and give out in some altered form their perception of the natural world, the cosmos". Margaret Mead
We make waves together when we are not dancing to the beach boys and they are patient with me when I get out of my depth.

Contemplating the idea of simple walking patterns - one method of engagement with the environment.
Bipedal footprints in the sand - fleeting.
Carbon footprint - indeterminate time frame.

And of course the Tsunami resonates as does the CHCH earthquake which happened on my first day at the school.

Shark Attack!!!!

The name of a Split Enz song
And interesting debate here
http://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/magazine/142825/shark-nets-are-they-worth-it
about the worth of the shark nets at St Kilda and St Clair.

 

University of Otago forensic dentist Prof Jules Kieser with Barry Watkins' surfboard and a set of shark jams capable of making such an attack. Watkins was attacked by a shark in 1971

Mind Mapping and Key Players

Possible titles ...... St Kilda St Clair - Celebrating our community through music and dance!
Catch the Wave - St Kilda St Clair!
The challenge - making a piece of community theatre about these beaches as opposed to simply going there?
The event needs to point to the sublimeness of nature and add something to it? A gnarly puzzle.
Contacts made - clubs, groups, people - the community
St Clair Surf Club 100 annivesary April 8 - 10th.
Barbara Newton passionate ocean person and local historian Our St Clair a residents history,
Nic Reeves awesome surfing photographer, surfer, environmental activist extraordinaire http://www.phoam.blogspot.com/
Two young scientists from the Departement of Science and Communication at Otago Uni - making a film about the shark nets - one a possible standup comedy act - interesting fact - you are more likely to die from instant combustion of your underwear than a shark attack!
Resident's oral histories - the people who go to the beach everyday and the people who live beside the ocean - wonder how they feel after the tsunami events in Japan these last few days.
St Kilda Brass band - possible concert in the King's and Queen's auditorium - ocean music for brass.

The story of St Kilda Brass begins in 1901.

Listening to Herbie Hancocks Maiden Voyage and Debussy's La Mer.
The surfing community ceaseless dancers on the waves - an enormous group of people in constant motion - Who are they? What makes them tick? Why do they do it?
And many more!!! Watch this space.

Partnering Forbury School

One of the key partners in the St Kilda St Clair project is Forbury School - this is a fantastic and lively school in South Dunedin.

Lyne is resident at the school 3 days a week, at this stage working with the whole school to introduce them to her particular brand of dancing. The students are enthusiastic and talented; Lyne hopes to incorporate as many children as possible into a performance in September.

St Kilda St Clair - Celebrating our community with Dance and Music

Lyne Pringle is the Otago University Caroline Plummer Community Dance Fellow for 2011. During her 6 month fellowship she will facilitate a community dance event that celebrates the St Kilda and St Clair communities. The resulting performance will reflect on the solace that people find in the ocean. She has been inspired by this poem written by Caroline Plummer as she battled with cancer.

Tonight I walked the lengths
of St Kilda and St Clair,
those two beneficent, oceanic sisters
whose sands have long grounded and caressed my feet,
whose hazy pastel light and eternal fluid breathing
have long felt like home.
Tonight, as I walked
I gathered my cloaks of determination and of faith
and wrapped them tightly around myself
against which no wind, no matter how cold nor cruel,
could stop me in my march.
St Kilda and St Clair let forth their waves,
pounding a rhythmic battle song
that now sings in my heart.
When I stood
energised and exhilarated
on a sand hill and saluted my leave
I knew that I was ready.

More about Lyne and her company Bipeds Productions