Australia Dancing - HELD (2004

HELD (2004 - )

Webster, Tim: Lois Greenfield (foreground) with dancers of Australian Dance Theatre in HELD, Adelaide, 2004

HELD, a work uniting the mediums of photography and dance, was commisioned for the Adelaide Bank 2004 Festival of Arts. Choreographed by Garry Stewart for Australian Dance Theatre it opened at Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide, on 3 March 2004. Dancers in the original production were Shannon Anderson, Antony Hamilton, Sarah-Jayne Howard, Anastasia Humeniuk, Daniel Jaber, Lina Limosani, Ross McCormack, Larissa McGowan, Xiao-Xuan Yang and Paul Zivkovich. Photographer Lois Greenfield appeared on stage with the dancers and images captured during the performance were projected onto two onstage screens seconds after being shot. Her photography and Stewart's choreography created a synergy of imagery and movement.

In program notes Greenfield said:

... incorporating my abstracted and composed imagery back into the flow of choreography (from which of course all movement comes), allows me to examine the relationship of the photo to the dance, like throwing a caught fish back into the ocean and watching it swim.

Other program notes stated:

... HELD juxtaposes solidity with liquidity, heaviness with lightness, stillness with flow, clarity with illusion into an extraordinary live performance. Using electronic strobes to photograph the dramatic explosions and propulsions which are Garry's signature kamikaze style, Lois will create the illusion of weightlessness by freezing these dynamic moments at 1/2000 of a second, projected instantaneously, revealing to the audience a moment that exists beneath the threshold of perception.

HELD has toured nationally and internationally.

Other resources

Find more about HELD in:

Internet - Google