Flamenco a go go

I'm curating the next Algae Rhythm event with Alex Papasavvas, and at the moment we're on the hunt for flamenco dancers for a light show installation. The brief is below- if you live in Sydney and this sounds like the kind of crazy stage you want to be stomping all over, let me know on the deets at the bottom of the brief.

Algae Rhythm 0.02 (May 4, 2009)- Dancer’s Brief

Punk Monk Propaganda’s second intermedia gallery night Algae Rhythm 0.02 will focus on lost organics and found vibrations, and aims to reconnect the humans in the room with the biology that drives their innate need for creation.

A central feature of this evening will be a liquid light installation. In the heady days of psychedelia, liquid light shows were an integral part of the experience of the music. In the early experiments at the shows of psychedelic musicians such as the Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company, the liquid in the projector (coloured oils) was impacted on directly by the vibrations of the music. We’re hoping to achieve a similar effect with the vibrations created not primarily through the music, but rather through the dancers.

We will have a small, low stage set up for amplification so that the dancer’s steps will be creating the vibrations that impact the light show.

We are particularly interested in these dancers being familiar with the flamenco style, as it is given to the kind of loud stomping that we need to make our projector work. We are very open to co-curating with the dancers involved, and feel that the dancers should be as much a part of the creative process as the projectionists.

When considering this invitation to participate, feel free to start thinking about the following aspects of the installation:

MOVEMENT: you’re welcome to make the dance as free form, traditional, unrehearsed, or experimental as you wish. You are the expert in this form of expression. Draw on your craft’s heritage and use it to express your creativity.

MUSIC: while you’ll be dancing in a flamenco style, feel free to experiment with the music that you’re dancing to. It doesn’t have to be traditional.

COSTUME: performance through costume design has always been an integral part of the Punk Monk story. Feel free to be as traditional, creative, non traditional or bizarre as you see fit. We create new meanings by fusing the confused- you’re encouraged to play.

Algae Rhythm nights are by their nature small, organic gatherings of creatively supportive participants (max 30 people). So whilst you will be performing, so will everyone else in the room. Our approach is that all participants walk in as artists.

If you do choose to play with us, you’ll be required on the evening of Monday May 4, as well as for a couple of hours for some testing before the actual event.

For any questions, clarifications, explanations or distillations, please feel free to contact Punk Monk curators Alex Papasavvas and Kate Taylor directly through the details below:



e: kate@punk-monk.com
m: 0466 452 919
a: The Warehouse, 84b Henderson Road, Alexandria