DV8&

Push Physical Theatre

DV8Who are they?

• DV8 Theatre company was formed in 1986 and is lead by LloydNewman.

• They have many different people working for them across all of theirdifferent productions and they have 5 permanent members of theteam including the artistic director and executive producer.

• Interestingly, although their theatre company wasn’t formed until1986 their 1st production was actually in 1985 and it was called “BEIN'A PART, LONELY ART”. This was created when Lloyd Newmancollaborated with dancer Michelle Richecoeur.

• For Newmans second production he collaborated with NigelCharnock who was a performer, driector and choreographer. Theyperformed the duet ‘My sex our dance’ and he became both a co-founder of the company and a principle performer with WendyHoustoun.

DV8Lloyd Newson

• Lloyd Newson was the original creator of DV8 and still continues to lead the company today.

• Originally, Newson studied psychology and social work at Melbourne university. These educational interests cold link to his current

performances. During this time he found his passion for dance. • Before he created DV8 Newman had lots of different experiences with a range of dance and theatre companies inlcuding Modern Dance Ensemble, Impulse Dance Theatre/New Zealand Ballet Company, One

Extra Dance Theatre and Extemporary Dance Theatre. • During his time both choreographing a performing he was constantly

trying to combine both dance and text and experimenting with different medias including both theatre and film.

• When Newson left Extempory Dance Theatre and created DV8 he baffled critics, his work work was decribed as “too wordy for dance,

too dancey for theatre” it was unique.

DV8• His work was different to other contemporary performances

because he disliked the abstract element of dance. Instead his work often had political or social messages within them and

followed a narrative structure and this is how he blurred the lines between drama and dance.

• Lloyd has received over 50 international and national rewards for his performances and one of his latest works ‘can we talk about

this?’ has recently won the Helpmann award for best ballet or dance. This particular show was very political it deals with

freedom of speech, censorship and covers the issue of Islamic extremism.

• Many of his performances are a harsh take on sexuality, violence e.g. the case of mass-murderer Dennis Nielson in Dead Dreams of

Monochrome Men” and disability and prejudice as in “The Cost of Living”.

DV8What is there style?• DV8’s performances are always very dance based they call

themselves a dance company and their aim is to challengethe preconceptions of what dance can and should address.

• Their artist policy is about “taking risks, aesthetically andphysically, about breaking down the barriers between danceand theatre and, above all, communicating ideas andfeelings clearly and unpretentiously. It is determined to beradical yet accessible, and to take its work to as wide anaudience as possible.”

• Their work is very physical they use contrast to show amessage however as a company they have developed forexample the cost of living is all physical with very little wordsor phrases wheres ‘Can we talk about this’ is very different itis a lot more political it contains lots of text lots of politicalmessages.

DV8Here are two contrasting examples of their work

THE COST OF LIVING:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NShJJr1ztkM&safe=active

CAN WE TALK ABOUT THIS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWKlg-wGjc8&safe=active

DV8top girls

DV8Why it fits?

These pages of text are when Marlene and Joyce are arguing when Angie has gone to bed. They discus there past

and current living bringing up themes on class and gender and also briefly Angies disability.

The reason I think DV8 would be an appropriate practionerto perform this in the style of is because I know they base

there performances on sensitive and current issues e.g. ‘Can we talk about this’ is about Islamic extremism and ‘the cost

of living’ is about disability. The way in which they cover these issues is highly effective and they get across their

own message without forcing their view on audiences yet the whole experience is unforgettable.

Push Physical TheatreWho are they?

• “This talented group of performers inspires awe with physical illusions and gravity-defying, dance-infused, acrobatic high-jinx.”

• The company was founded in New York in the year 2000. It was founded by husband and wife Darren & Heather Stevenson who created the theatre group with the intention to ‘push’ the boundaries of traditional theatre.

• This is similar to DV8 who are trying to break the boundaries between drama and dance.

• As well as the two directing members of Push Theatre there are also two company members: Jonathon Lowerywho has an extensive theatrical background combining both new and old techniques that create his unique style. Avi Pryntz-Nadworny has more physical training after studying juggling & gymnastics as well as acting.

Push Physical TheatreDarren & Heather Stevenson Founding Directors

• Daren and Heather were both born in England they met during there similar studies in The Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

• They both had a found love for drama which lead to there ultimate collaboration. As well as a primarily theatrical background they both studied with Several Dancers Core and The Goldston & Johnson School for Mimes at Kenyon College. Which enabled them to gain key dance and physical training.

• As there company grew the Stevenson's started to expand and develop it. The company were able to create an arts in education program which they introduced into various schools. Additionally Heather runs both summer and after school programs for younger children (PUSH Pins) and Daren runs an Intensive adults summer course which attracts many national and international students.

• This demonstrates there want and need to spread there company and the love of art to all ages and abilities.

Push Physical TheatreWhat’s it all about?

• Daren & Heathers work stems from the belief that all performers should be able to bring there own life experiences to the stage and include them in performance. Even though, all members have advanced technical training Push Physical Theatre doesn’t limit themselves to rules and techniques. They don’t hesitate to use any type of move if they believe it will affect the audience they want the audience to feel real emotions through there performance and they will use any means to do so. “If the perfect method doesn’t exist, they invent it.”

• There work is often indescribable it doesn’t fit into a traditional style of theatre like dance or drama and the company also resists being described as physical theatre instead they argue that “the performance itself becomes it’s own definition”.

• PUSH’s aim is to bring people together. They want there work to be assessable to everyone however Push ‘hits hard emotionally’ there work makes people feel real emotions, emotions that they didn’t realise performances could make them feel. Because this is one of the primary aims of there work, you could describe their style as expressionist because it focuses mostly on emotions rather than physical reality.

Push Physical

Theatre• “The style is non-traditional, but the impact on the people who’ve seen them puts PUSH at the heart of the essence of theatre.”

• Push’s theatre varies dramatically, they do creative performances and appear at fringe festivles however they also attended US Classic Gymnastics Championship. Some of their theatre is particularly acrobatic and others are more about the precisely in sync yet subtle movements. It is the combination of these styles which makes there work so effective.

• Many of PUSH’s performance advertisements such as there upcoming performance of ‘strangers’ do not give any detail about what the actual show is about. This is unusual yet probably intentional as they probably want you to go to a performance without any expectations so you can watch everything for the first time and experience the raw emotions they want you to feel.

Push Physical TheatreSome examples of there work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8ja7YvegHo

Here is a slightly longer example which shows how they use more subtle movements to effect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I55JdLjTWD0

This is short video showing some of the highlights of there work that are particularly acrobatic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhlShytmHLo

This is a promotional video for their performance ‘Different Bread’.

Push Physical TheatreTop Girls:

Push Physical TheatreWhy it fits?

• I chose this passage of text because her depiction of hell is full of various imagery about the different devils and what’s happening therefore I thought that Push Physical Theatres very physical and acrobatic style would be very appropriate and effective in creating these ‘funny creatures’.

• Additionally I noticed that this part of the story was quite an emotional time for Gret and I know that Push theatre is very emotional and would be able to convey Grets feelings in a very empathetic way.