A Study of Being
8 subjects in a clinical space contemplate their own significance. Why is it that they came into ‘being’? Is there a greater significance to ‘being’? Or do they as ‘beings’ just simply exist?
Arising from the desire to understand the meaning of this existence, the work takes the ‘human being’ and places it under a microscope to be examined. The test subjects are deconstructed, tested, analysed and reassembled again in order to try to better understand their purpose and significance.
Through a feat of human movement the subjects swarm together in dynamic unison and draw apart in striking individuality. The work shifts from being physically high impact to incredibly heartfelt as they tap into the authentic intricacies and complexities of the human condition.
Choreography: Kayla Douglas
Performance: Adrien Tucker, Angus Syben, Damian Meredith, Kaitlin Malone, Larissa Anthony, Michaela Tancheff, Nikki Tarling, Sarah McCrorie
Sound Design: Remy Bergner
Kayla Douglas is an emerging artist born and raised in Perth, Western Australia. In 2014 she began her contemporary dance training at John Curtin College of the Arts. She went on to acquire an Advanced Diploma in Dance at Transit Dance, as a part of Tr.IPP (Transit International Professional Pathway) under the directorship of Israel Aloni, from which she graduated in 2018. During that time she performed a remount of Garry Stewart’s Birdbrain and developed new works with choreographers including Stephanie Lake, Jo Lloyd, Kialea Nadine-Williams and Paea Leach to name a few. Whilst creating a piece for Transit Dance’s Motion Gallery program in Melbourne Fringe Festival (2017), Kayla discovered her interest in creating work and at the end of that year received a grant through Dance Architect Choreographic Award to develop her work ‘The Woman’ which premiered in Melbourne in October 2018. She has also had the opportunity to work with Stephanie Lake as both a dancer and rehearsal director in Colossus which premiered at the Arts Centre in September 2018.
Adrien Tucker was born in Queensland and raised in Mount Gambier South Australia before moving to Melbourne in 2016. He is currently investigating how he can form situations in which live performance can set atmospheres where the audience feel directly apart of the performances, by creating works which directly relate to human every day physical and emotional experiences. and how the audience reacts to seeing these ideas in a performance setting.
Angus Syben, from Napier, New Zealand, graduated as a contemporary major from the internationally recognised New Zealand School of Dance. While in New Zealand, Angus performed in the World of WearableArts Award Show (2015), choreographed by Ross McCormack, choreographed and performed a piece in the Wellington festival of New Work as well as performing in both the New Zealand School of Dance 2016 choreographic season and 2016 graduation season. After graduating from New Zealand School of Dance, Angus then moved to Melbourne, Australia where he is currently completing the Transit Dance Graduate Programme. Angus has worked on various projects in Melbourne such as ‘Simulcast’ with Alice Lee Holland, Adam Wheeler and James O’Hara and in ‘Invert’, choreographed by Alya Manzart, as a part of Transit Dance’s ‘Midpoint’ season.
Damian Meredith is a passionate dancer and teacher, with an aptitude for music and sound design, and has trained in a variety of modalities including ballet, contemporary, hip hop, and circus. In 2008, He was accepted into VCASS to train in dance from year 7, and went to NICA to train in circus in year 10. Finishing high school, Damian got involved in performing amongst the music festival scene, including Strawberry Fields Festival, where he now manages the performance art program. In 2016, Transit Dance took Damian as a second year contemporary student. The same year, he performed in the remount of Transit Dance Company’s “Yours Truly”. Since then he has been working as a freelance dance artist, sound designer and teacher, performing in Matthew Bourne’s “Lord Of The Flies” at the Melbourne Arts Centre, and with Shaun Parker & Company on their international tour of “Happy As Larry” and “King”.
Kaitlin Malone has developed her artistic practice under the mentorship of Paul Malek and Israel Aloni at Transit Dance, since graduating in 2018. Kaitlin recently worked with Stephanie Lake Company in ‘Colossus’, Transit Dance Company’s continuing work ‘Jumbled’, and in development for a new work to premier in Melbourne Fringe Festival later this year. Alongside her artistic practice, Kaitlin is also passionate in teaching, mentoring, and choreographing. Since 2017, she has been an assistant choreographer for various productions of Transit Dance’s Origins Dance Company. Moreover, Kaitlin is a dancer and performer with Transit Dance Company in 2019.
Larissa Anthony, originally from The Central Coast NSW, moved to Melbourne in 2017 to study Contemporary dance under the creative guidance of artists; Paul Malek, Daniel Jaber and Adam Wheeler. Currently training in the Graduate Program at Transit Dance, Larissa’s focused on developing alignment between her physicality and her curiosity of the human body and mind. Larissa’s recent influences stem from her time working with artists Tara Jade Samaya and Cass Mortimer-Eipper in works not only sparking interest for her physically and mentally but that also reflecting Larissa’s personal values; igniting critical conversation. A personal highlight of Larissa’s past performances includes the ever empowering work of “The Woman” by Kayla Douglas.
Michaela Tancheff grew up in Victoria’s southern coast on Phillip Island. She commenced her training under the mentorship and direction of Adam Wheeler, then went on to complete her Diploma at Transit Dance in 2018, there she received the award for Most Outstanding Dancer. In the same year Michaela performed in Kayla Douglas’ ‘The Woman’ and Stephanie Lake’s sell out season of ‘Colossus’ as part of Melbourne Fringe Festival, as well as supporting CC:DISCO’s DJ set at Strawberry Fields Festival. She is currently completing a graduate program at Transit Dance.
Nikki Tarling graduated from the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts with her Bachelor in Performing Arts in 2016. Upon graduation, Nikki landed her first dance contract with Tasdance working on a new work ‘Fragile Matter’ with Paul Blackman and Christine Gouzelis (Jukstapoz). Nikki has had great experience in performance which has led her to be nominated as ‘Dancer to Watch’ in Dance Australia’s magazine for 2 consecutive years. Some of these performances include works as a part of Perth Fringe Festival, ‘Alone’ presented at Chunky Move, The State Theatre of WA, and Canberra Theatre Centre, ‘Colossus’ by Stephanie Lake Company at Arts Centre in Melbourne.
Sarah McCrorie was born in Melbourne, Australia and began her full time dance training at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School. She graduated from a five-year scholarship in 2015. Since then Sarah has completed a Certificate IV and Diploma in Dance at Transit Dance. During this time she worked with artists such as Kialea-Nadine Williams, Jo Lloyd, Daniel Jaber and also performed an excerpt of Garry Stewarts ‘Birdbrain.’ In 2018 Sarah completed Transit International Professional Pathway (Tr.ipp) under the mentorship of Israel Aloni. She performed in Melbourne Fringe Festival in ‘Sonos’ by Aimee Schollum and also took part in the creation process of Colossus by Stephanie Lake Company.
Remy Bergner is a Melbourne based composer, guitarist and producer. Playing in bands around Melbourne for a number of years, Remy is currently in his final year completing a Bachelor Of Applied Music – Composition at Box Hill Institute under Warren Burt. He was recently granted a funded place in the ‘Sound Production for Screen Composers and Songwriters’ course at the Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio run by James Cecil. Interested in working in dance, film and performance, Remy takes influence from a range of styles, namely electronic, chamber music, minimalism and experimental. Remy is presently working in collaboration with Myriam Van Imschoot and Marcus Bergner to develop a performance work based on the poetry of the Russian Futurist Elena Guro to be presented in August at the Melbourne Art Theatre curated by John Nixon.