June 10, 2008

Garry Stewart's "Magnification" (Videos)

Garry Stewart, artistic director of Australian Dance Theatre, recently collaborated with Birmingham, England-based Bare Bones. He choreographed "Magnification," part of "in Action," which Bare Bones performed this May during the International Dance Festival Birmingham.

Martin French of Article19 conducted an interview with Stewart about "Magnification" and shot a preview of the performance.

Interview with Garry Stewart:

I especially enjoyed the opening of the above interview during which Stewart discusses how the sounds of the biological process informed "Magnification." I'm paraphrasing a bit:

It's about turning the body inside out through the amplification of the sounds of the biological processes of the body. The blood circulating, nerves synapsing, bones and ligaments creaking and crunching as they take the weight of body. Also, it's an interesting moment when the body breaks down or is under stress, that's when we notice our bodies the most...The invisible becomes visible through technology, especially electron-microscopes which have allowed Twentieth Century medicine to understand the intimate secrets of how the body functions.

Extended Preview of "Magnification":

I've written about Garry Stewart's work before:

Devolution

Here are video highlights from ADT's "Devolution," which features dancers and robots performing on stage together (my 2007 post):

Held

"Held" was a collaboration between Garry Stewart and famous dance photographer Lois Greenfield (my 2007 post). Here's a brief clip, which gives you a flavor of this piece:

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