The Clearing

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Footnote New Zealand Dance

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Choreographer - Ross McCormack

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Taking inspiration from the impact of our carved out spaces, both natural and designed, The Clearing is set within an otherworldly terrain where a faint echo of reality exists. Alluring and perplexing, The Clearing reverberates with a mysterious energy that stirs its occupants to test themselves against the environment and against each other.

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Integral to the production is the sound design of composer Jason Wright, whose blend of natural, instrumental and electronic sounds both drives and supports the unfolding drama. The speakers themselves take on lives of their own, being placed on the ground or lifted onto their stands, sometimes rotated or cradled in the dancers arms. Microphones lie on the floor and are occasionally draggled across the surface or dangled off the stage for percussive effect, or used by the dancers for brief monologues. A dancer even appears with a speaker box where his head should be. Is this a dream world or some other reality? Speaker stands become weapons or, inverted on the mound, skeletal trees.

Dr. Ian Lochhead - 2019

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The Clearing is accompanied by Jason Wright’s stunning soundscape which has a life force entirely of its own. Fragments of conversation are pitted against this disturbing force. At times the energy of the sound makes the seats of the theatre reverberate as if in an earthquake, reinforcing the idea that nothing is certain on this planet and we, humans cannot control the environment.

Kerri Fitzgerald - 2019

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National Tour 2019

Christchurch Arts Festival

Ashburton

Invercargill

Queenstown

Oamaru

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