INTERVIEW INTERVIEW SOMETHING IN COMMON THREECHOREOGRAPHERSANDDANCERSDISCUSSWHATTHEYHAVEINCOMMON For FORM Dance Projects final Dance Bites season show for 2017, three very different dancers perform their own choreography in a triple bill show that weaves their contrasting styles together to demonstrate their common anomalies. Meet Bhenji Ra, Imanuel Dado, and Carl Sciberras. What is your role in Common Anomalies? Imanual: I'm a choreographer and dancer in my own solo work. Bhenji: I am choreographing a solo on myself, I will be bringing personal mythologies and fractured narratives to the work. Carl: I am presenting a solo and I’m also the curator of the triple bill. I approached Bhenji and Imanuel, whose work I admire, and thought would sit nicely along side the work I have been developing. Is it difficult to be a choreographer and also performer of the same piece? B: I think of my work as visual work, as opposed to a dance piece. So yes, in that case it's hard to see what reads visually in the work if I don't have an outside eye. I: The difficulty comes in not being able to view your work as you are developing so it slows down your progress. It is also hard since it is a solo it is very open, you are the only person on stage presenting your own work. In this manner it becomes intimidating and difficult as you start second guessing every decision you make. C: It can get very lonely creating and performing alone, although this work is a solo being created on myself I have brought in other artists (composer and visual artist) to contribute, having these other artists has allowed me to discuss and hone my ideas. I’ve never created a solo on myself before, it has been challenging not being able to step outside of it, but I’m lucky to have the support of other talented creatives providing feedback. Have the three of you worked together before and how do you think that will play out with this work? I: Carl and I have worked together back when we were both studying at WAAPA so we've had experience with each other on stage and know what each others’ interests are. Bhen was in my 3rd year piece back in 2011 but outside of university I haven't shared the stage with them since. C: We all studied together in Perth, and so are familiar with each other’s work and have had some similar formative experiences as makers. Each work in this triple bill is being created in isolation, but I’m excited by how the pieces will sit together. What is your cultural background and why is that important to this piece? B: My mother is Hispanic Filipina from the island of Luzon and my father is Anglo-Saxon. I: I'm culturally Indonesian but it does not play a big role in my choreography. My work is usually about me researching and trying to answer a certain question. C: I know that for the other two their cultural backgrounds don’t expressly play into the content of their pieces, for me this is at the centre of the work. I have some Maltese, Italian and English ancestry, but the ‘customs’ of these lineages are not part of my lived experience. My piece is exploring identity and I’ve been researching my Maltese heritage in particular to address this – I’ve looked into my Maltese heritage foremost because it’s the most pronounced part, my surname is Maltese. How do you work and how has that contributed to the development of this new dance work? B: I've been working as a visual artist for the past three years and often find myself liberated in this medium. If I begin to think of building a dance work I often fall into dance conventions so I like to constantly remind myself that this work can sit in any medium and shouldn't have to be framed by theatre, although it's in a theatre. I like to build ideas along with music scores, often translating my body lastly as means of provocation but not necessity. I: My way of working changes all the time, it could be that I've just finished a book and started questioning the topic those books bring up. I'm currently reading through a few books from Alain De Botton, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. C: I often have many things on the boil at once, creatively and in life. I also more often than not work with artists from other disciplines, and usually collaboratively. Even though this is a solo I am approaching it in this collaborative and multitudinous way. I imagine the space as having more than just me in it, and my dance is affected and influenced by the ideas, stories and images generated by family, my ancestors, the work of the other artists involved and the quirks of my imagination. A lot is happening at once for me in this work, I’m cooking my Nanna’s soup, juggling conflicting thoughts and emotions about who I am, translating this into dance and imagery. What themes do you pursue and what gives you inspiration? B: I often relate my work to the body as a public figure, what affects me in the public and day-to-day. Maybe it's my body in relation to society or something I've experienced emotionally. I'm inspired by my friends, artists who also make politically driven work. I: My themes are changing all the time. But my choreographic inspiration would be the classic choreographers such as Pina Bausch, Lloyd Newson and Wym Vandekeybus. I guess you can say I am more influenced and inspired by physical theatre makers than pure dance. C: I have a dual practice as a maker, I’m 8