Be Your Self

source: paris-art

De la biologie à la philosophie, le chorégraphe fait de nous les témoins d’une véritable dissection de l’ «identité», donnant chair au concept comme pour mieux le soumettre aux tests scientifiques les plus extrêmes.

Au centre de l’environnement stérile que suggère l’épuration du décor, plateau immaculé réfléchissant la crudité clinique de l’éclairage, tombe comme d’une éprouvette invisible, un corps. Tout commence par une méthodique opération de vivisection verbale, alors qu’un premier discours défait l’intégrité physique de l’ « échantillon » évoluant avec lenteur sur scène. La voix de speakerine, froidement atone, s’enfonce tel un scalpel sonore de plus en plus profondément dans l’intimité des organes. Elle met virtuellement à nu, à travers l’érudition ― exagérée jusqu’au comique ― de la glose scientifique, les terminaisons nerveuses, « cellules de Schwann », « nœuds de Ranvier »…, éclatant le corps en ses milliers de corpuscules.

Quand les neuf autres interprètes surgissent à leur tour sur la lame du « macroscope » théâtral, l’expérimentation passe brusquement de la théorie discursive à la pratique effective. L’expérience du « moi » sera mise à l’épreuve du corps, consistera à épuiser, éreinter la corporéité, à dissoudre l’opacité de la surface pour parvenir à l’essence. Dans ce laboratoire scénique, tout se passe en effet comme si Garry Stewart tentait de résoudre la métaphysique question de l’identité en passant par l’exacerbation du physique problème spinoziste : « ce que peut un corps ».

Automates dépourvus de volonté propre, les danseurs semblent manipulés de l’extérieur. Comme soumis à d’invisibles décharges électriques, ces corps-robots, aussi malléables que des mannequins pour crash test, convulsent violemment au sol, se désarticulent, se plient, se ploient en des mouvements stroboscopiques.

Peu à peu pourtant, une évolution : les saccades gestuelles se fluidifient, se fondent en une matière plastique, à la fois ductile et caoutchouteuse. Bonds et rebonds défiant la gravité alternent avec de profonds lâchers, évoquant soudain la transe des danses tribales. Nous assistons à une (ré) « animation », au sens littéral du terme, tandis que l’énergie insufflée du dehors est peu à peu absorbée par ces embryons d’humanité prenant vie sous nos yeux. L’électricité se convertit en respiration. Le souffle, « anima », se fait réellement entendre, sifflant depuis les poumons des danseurs précisément à « bout de souffle ».

Poussés jusque dans leurs ultimes retranchements, les corps se désagrègent, ou plutôt dépassent, éclatent leurs limites charnelles pour devenir parties d’un tout plus vaste. L’ « identité » surgit ainsi du craquellement des barrières épidermiques, non comme indéfectible « unité » mais comme connexion éphémère et circonstancielle de milliers d’unités, dans l’ici et le maintenant chorégraphique. L’expression « corps de ballet » prend tout son sens, en particulier lorsque chaque danseur se fait «membre », mimant les flux et reflux d’énergie qu’activent vaisseau sanguin, rein, cage thoracique, bouche… tandis que les contractions cardiaques figurées par une danseuse ― sur la gauche de la scène ― s’emballent peu à peu jusqu’à la crise.

Le cardiogramme du ballet s’apaise enfin. Glissant depuis le fond de la scène, un grand plan incliné tendu de tissu blanc, excroissance scénique, se métamorphose en tableau vivant ― matière poreuse percée, traversée de têtes, bras, jambes, torses dénudés et anonymes, particules de danseurs démembrés, se recomposant en d’aussi infinies qu’éphémères combinaisons. La lumière, substance tactile et colorée, relie entre eux ces fragments corporels, devenus chromosomes charnels. L’expérience s’achève sur l’observation de ce bouillon de culture, entre mitoses et méioses chorégraphiques, parfaite illustration génétique d’une philosophique de l’identité: « réseau dense d’interconnexions pour donner sens au vide » selon Garry Stewart.
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source: trovenlagovau

Garry Stewart is artistic director of Australian Dance Theatre. He was appointed to that position in 1999 and followed Meryl Tankard who had directed the company, then called Meryl Tankard Australian Dance Theatre, from 1993.

Stewart began his dance training in 1983 at the Sydney City Ballet Academy before studying at the Australian Ballet School between 1984 and 1985. As a performer he appeared with a number of companies including Australian Dance Theatre, the Queensland Ballet, Expressions Dance Company, One Extra Dance Company. He also worked on many independent projects. In 1989 he performed the role of Luke in the Sydney Theatre Company production of Harold in Italy.

Stewart’s interest in choreography began early in his dance career. In 1985 he choreographed Untitled for an Australian Ballet School production and in 1986 Zen Do Some Nothing for an Australian Dance Theatre choreographic workshop. Since then his major works have included Spectre in the Covert Memory for the inaugural season by Chunky Move in 1995, a solo piece called THWACK! made in 1996 on Bradley Chatfield for Sydney Dance Company, and works for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. In 1997 Stewart founded the dance company Thwack and created Plastic Space for it.

Since his appointment as artistic director of Australian Dance Theatre Stewart has continued to create new works, especially works that explore the role of new media in dance performance. His first project for this company was Housedance, commissioned for the International Millennium Broadcast and performed on the outside of the main sail of the Sydney Opera House on January 31, 1999. His first full-length work for the company was Birdbrain, a deconstruction of Swan Lake that the company has toured extensively. Other works he has created for Australian Dance Theatre include Plastic Space, Monstrosity, The Age of Unbeauty, Nothing, HELD, Devolution, and G.

Stewart’s involvement in dance film has included choreographing Nascent with United Kingdom film maker Gina Czarnecki in 2004 and co-producing Vocabulary with Kat Worth and Restless Dance Company in 2005.

Other of Stewarts’s diverse projects include co-producing and directing the 2006 dance gala UNIFIED for Unicef and choreographing ‘The Sydney’, a piece performed by 300,000 people on the opening night of the 2009 Sydney Festival. Other notable choreographic commissions include Infinity for Rambert Dance Company (2007), a remount of Currently Under Investigation for the Royal New Zealand Ballet (2009), The Centre and its Opposite for Birmingham Royal Ballet (2009), and Un-Black for the Ballet de l’Opera National du Rhin (2009).

Stewart has received a number of fellowships and scholarships including the biennial Sir Robert Helpmann fellowship, an Australia Council fellowship and two fellowships from the Australian Choreographic Centre. In 2001 he was awarded a Centenary Medal for his service to Australian society and dance and he was the recipient of Australian Dance Awards for outstanding choreographic achievement for The Age of Unbeauty in 2002 and for Honour Bound in 2008. Devolution won the 2006 Helpmann award for best new Australian work.
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source: realtimeartsnet

Garry Stewart began his professional dance career at the age of 20. Following his work as a dancer in many notable Australian companies, including Australian Dance Theatre, he began his career as a freelance choreographer in 1990. For the next eight years he was based in Sydney, creating works for some of Australia’s most notable contemporary dance companies including Chunky Move and Sydney Dance Company, and presenting his independent works at venues such as The Performance Space (Sydney).

In 1998, Stewart established his own company, Thwack! He created two dance works: Plastic Space, which premiered at the Melbourne Festival and subsequently toured Australia, and the first stage development of Birdbrain, a deconstruction of Swan Lake.

Stewart was appointed Artistic Director of Australian Dance Theatre in late 1999. His first project for ADT, Housedance, was commissioned for the International Millennium Broadcast and performed on the outside of the main sail of the Sydney Opera House on New Year’s Eve 1999. Housedance was seen by an estimated global television audience of two billion.

Stewart’s first full-length work for ADT was Birdbrain which has been performed to audiences totalling ten of thousands across four continents over five years. His repertoire of main stage works for ADT exemplifies his distinctive choreographic style and has been the foundation upon which the company has been able to rapidly grow its national and international reputation. The Age of Unbeauty, Nothing, HELD, Devolution, G and Be Your Self are tremendously varied thematically and in terms of their dance vocabularies.

Garry Stewart’s growing influence on the international scene has led to invitations from prestigious international companies and dance festivals to create new works for them. Rambert Dance Company (UK), Bare Bones Dance Company (UK), the Birmingham Royal Ballet (UK), the Royal New Zealand Ballet (NZ) and Ballet de l’Opera National du Rhin have all requested Stewart as a guest choreographer.
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source: rollingstoneuolcombr

O artista multimídia britânico Gary Stewart esteve no Brasil com o projeto Encontros, que reúne artes visuais e iniciativa de cunho social, oferecendo oficinas a jovens do Capão Redondo. Stewart, que já expôs na prestigiosa galeria Tate Modern, em Londres, e trabalhou ao lado do Massive Attack, entre outros artistas da música, já esteve no Rio de Janeiro e ofereceu na capital paulista a oficina, conceitos da tecnologia digital. Em troca, após as aulas, foi a vez dos jovens mostrarem o que produziram ao público. O material realizado durante as oficinas, que tem girado em torno do tema Declaração dos Direitos Humanos, será exposto em novembro na cidade.

“Criamos uma forma de jovens conseguirem oferecer suas próprias instalações interativas, usando tecnologia de vídeo”, explica Stewart. “Além de trabalhar dentro de galerias contemporâneas, também sou VJ, e usamos as mesmas técnicas de performances ao vivo com vídeo com jovens de comunidades, assim eles podem criar as próprias histórias. Os jovens têm a oportunidade de se expressar, dizer seja lá o que for para quem quer que seja.”

Stewart já realizou um trabalho semelhante na Síria e na Palestina e esta é a segunda vez dele no Brasil. Ele cita março de 2011, quando esteve na Providência, no Rio, como a experiência mais marcante, desde que começou a viajar com o projeto. “Tivemos a chance de trabalhar em uma das favelas mais antigas do Rio, um lugar bem isolado, cheio de jovens que puderam criar coisas que de fato refletiam a realidade deles”, ele relembra.

Para quem acha que o trabalho de um VJ se resume a apertar um simples botão, Gary Stewart explica a profissão, em poucas palavras. “Ser VJ é uma experiência completamente performática. Previamente, cabe a cada artista escolher o tipo de conceito visual que quer usar”, conta. “Quando chega no ao vivo, tem toda uma dinâmica de ritmo e técnica que entram em jogo. É diferente de apertar um play, como acham. É você tentar criar uma sinergia com o público.”

Além do trabalho solo que faz, altamente carregado de doses de consciência social, outro destaque da carreira de Stewart é sua parceria com o Massive Attack, comandando o visual da porção Dubstep Chronicles do Meltdown Festival. O evento é organizado cada ano por uma banda e com a direção de uma atração musical renomada. O Massive Attack esteve encarregado em 2008 e, sabendo do envolvimento dele com o movimento dubstep, o convidou para ser VJ. O line-up contou com diversos grandes nomes do estilo musical, que está cada vez mais em alta, como Skream, Pinch, Horsepower, Jazzsteppa e The Moody Boyz.

VJing e consciência social
Uma das coisas que Stewart defende com mais paixão é a química entre a arte que ele promove, o trabalho social e a forma como essas duas coisas andam tão bem juntas. “É mais do que a soma das duas partes, eu diria. A intenção toda por trás de ser VJ é uma resposta do ambiente no qual vive, que transparece na improvisação. Não é um vídeo linear que é exibido somente de uma forma. E tem uma sedução visual, que convida o público a entrar naquilo, quando é bem-sucedido.”