Swerve

30 November 1999

Presented by Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts Showcasing their talents in choreography, as well as their physical interpretation of dance works, are 2nd and 3rd Year Dance students in Swerve. Eleven short works will be on show in a performance season at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA), commencing 19 August. The PICA performance season is seen as very prestigious, with only the best of WAAPA's contemporary dancers picked to showcase their talents. The successful choreographers gain the opportunity to work in a professional context and work with their own design team, realising the full creative expression of their conceptual framework. 'It's a good opportunity to make what you're interested in,' comments 3rd Year choreographer Pamela Kenign, who will present an abstract narrative based on A Streetcar Named Desire. Entitled Two Southern Bells and A Blue Coloured Man, Kenign describes her work as an exploration about the consequences of ignoring the truth and getting trapped in a vicious cycle. Another of the works, Reel versus Real by Laura Ross, is an exploratory piece based on the work of American photographer Cindy Sherman. It visually explores Sherman's feminist photography through a physical recreation of her still shots. Sharlene Campbell's work however, entitled This Crease of Mine, is purely movement based, touching on the idea of folding and unfolding as the dancers become human representations of origami. The PICA season will be a vast and hugely individual selection of student choreography on the edge of their burgeoning careers. 'In life, as in art, the beautiful moves in curves.' - Bulwer-Lytton