The first ever contemporary dance show Deija Vukona saw as a teenager was choreographed by Holly Newsome.
Now the young dancer, fresh out of the New Zealand School of Dance, is about to perform in the choreographers’ new work.
"So that is a bit of real circle. I was like no way, pretty amazing opportunity to start off with something like this."
Vukona first saw Newsome’s work as part of Footnote Dance’s The Rebel Pink in her hometown of Tauranga as part of the dance company’s outreach programme to take contemporary dance to smaller communities.
Now Vukona is performing in Newsome’s Advance to Go in her first professional opportunity alongside Premonition by Forest Kapo. Both works are touring some of the country’s smaller centres this month including Queenstown.
Wellington-based Newsome was in Vukona’s shoes in 2017 when she created her piece for The Rebel Pink, fresh out of dance school and enthusiastic about starting her career as a choreographer.
"It’s my second time working with [the] company so it has been nice to see how I’ve grown as [a] choreographer and that what I’m working with has developed; the dancers are super talented. It has been a nice experience to work with them."
"The dancers are almost characters or players navigating alliances, enemies that sort of thing."
It has been an opportunity for Newsome to hone in on aspects of humanity in a less serious way.
"I’m really interested in the physicality of the dancers and how contemporary dance can be physical and powerful — I wanted to highlight and push that."
To do that she collaborated closely with sound designer Emi Pogoni and lighting designer Elekis Poblete Teirney which really impacted on how the work developed.
"Sound especially, more often than not you have the sound first and then you make the dance but for this piece we kind of worked in reverse."
It meant working in the opposite way to what she usually would.
"We were almost working with a metronome using different speeds and counts as we were having to pull inspiration from things other than sound, which again provides a new way to create things — you have to push past the idea of music telling you what to do."
"There is an outside force controlling them, on occasion they pull out of that and come back to [a] humanistic way of moving.
"There are two kinds [of] physicalities I’m moving them between, it’s the digital world or this realistic human zone."
It is part of Newsome’s goal to push the dancers as much as she could so the audience could see the athleticism as well as the art. It was something the dancers were keen to pursue as well.
"We really leaned into it, [it’s] just as much as physical sport as it is telling a story. That is what I set out to do from get-go.
"Every time you work with new people, there are new challenges. It is trying to work with what is in front of you and let them bring out what they are good at."
It has meant the dancers have had to train to do the work especially as they are touring it.
"It is like training for a marathon.
"So there has been a lot of conscious decisions around when, and how long, and how to build up their stamina to reach peak when they get into the performance."
The work is different from her more recent work which has been bright, colourful and light, she says. That is mainly due to the influence of Pogoni and Poblete Teirney.
"It’s gone into more of a dark world.
"The space is quite harsh, a cube that centres the space has brought a different tone to the work.
"It’s very different to how I made work before but it’s been cool to go into that zone."
Looking back, Newsome is grateful for the opportunities she had. Like Vukona she grew up in regional New Zealand — New Plymouth — and did not realise contemporary dance as a career was an option.
However, when it came time to decide her future she tried out for the New Zealand School of Dance as well as university.
"One thing has led to the next and I’ve learnt a lot along the way."
In her third year she was required to choreograph a piece and found she really clicked with the process.
"I felt the most connected to that and I decided I really wanted to pursue it."
While for many dancers, choreography comes later in their careers, Newsome decided it was what she wanted to pursue straight out of school.
"It’s hard, but I just kept chipping away, I never thought very far into [the] future.
"I know [I] like doing this, so you take small steps and eventually you get there. If you are genuinely interested then things kind of just happen."
She now juggles choreographic projects with teaching at the dance school, something she finds feeds into her practice. The school is also very supportive of her own creative practice.
"It’s such an amazing time for students. I remember my time vividly — in that sense I can support them quite well. The dancers are amazing, and every day I get to practise and work on my thing and help them, it is very give and take.
Vukona, who is on an internship with Footnote, is really excited by the opportunity to perform in both works which are very different and require different skill sets.
Fellow dancer Airu Matsuda, who is Christchurch-born but grew up in Sydney and is in his second year with Footnote, is also excited to be working with two new choreographers but admits flipping between the two works can be challenging at times.
"It’s a challenge to pick up the concepts really quickly, as they’re both very different, quite contrasting. It’s a real cool double bill."
Both are excited to be going on tour, especially to different communities which might not necessarily get to see contemporary dance regularly.
Matsuda says going out to schools and different community groups doing master classes and talks is a great way to connect with different people and make dance more accessible.
Vukona says its easy to get stuck in the bubble of the dance community so reaching out to schools and working with other groups is great and also helps develop the dancer’s teaching skills as well.
To see:
IYKYK, Footnote Dance Company, Queenstown Memorial Centre, March 23, 7pm.
