{"id":27292,"date":"2007-03-14T12:01:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-14T12:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/?p=27292"},"modified":"2024-07-04T13:50:01","modified_gmt":"2024-07-04T05:50:01","slug":"the-60-second-plug-balletbases-take-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/artikel\/2007\/03\/the-60-second-plug-balletbases-take-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"The 60 Second Plug: Balletbase’s “Take Flight”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n

Tell us a\nbit about yourself.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1997, I went off to Harvard for four years, where\ndancing was a huge relief from my daily cerebral struggles. Not knowing what to\ndo next, I moved to Australia and earned my graduate diploma in Choreography at\nthe Victorian College of the Arts. Art school wasn’t really my thing — too\nmany artists! — so my first reaction was to rush off and get a Masters in\nApplied Anthropology, instead. I worked for non-profits in Melbourne for a few\nyears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, I hope I can make the two sides of my brain\nwork together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\nfounded the ‘fledgling dance company’ Balletbase yourself. What made you decide\nto do it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

People who know me well weren’t surprised when I\ndecided to embark on Balletbase. Apparently I have wanted a dance company since\nI could talk … or dance! Maybe it’s because I don’t work well with others —\nI just want things done my way. Being an artistic director is great for that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nprogramme for Take Flight!<\/em>\nBalletbase’s first production, includes three contemporary ballet pieces which\nyou choreographed. What exactly are we to expect?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quite a lot of atmospheric pieces, pertaining to the\ndestruction of the natural environment — which is something I feel strongly\nabout. Hopefully there will be a few serene moments (aaah!), a few sweet\nmoments (awww!), and not too many dancers falling over and breaking their\nankles. Look out for tai chi movements incorporated into ‘Flight Risk’ (a piece\nabout migrating birds), and multicoloured, pointed shoes in ‘Fireworks’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a\ntypical rehearsal like? Are you all Nazi-like?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I try to be Nazi-like, but all my dancers laugh at me\n— must be because I’m 5 foot 2. But, really, this performance is about — and\nfor — the dancers: I want them to have fun, discover new things, and challenge\nthemselves, without me pushing them every step of the way. A good rehearsal\nalways includes some time spent rolling on the floor, engulfed in giggles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell us\nabout the other dancers. Where did you find them all?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Balletbase dancers are, without exception, lovely,\ntalented and obliging individuals. There also must be something seriously wrong\nwith them, since they allow me to twist them into odd positions for hours at a\ntime. I’m still waiting for them to blossom into raging prima donnas … but\nthey’re young, so there’s lots of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point, their major obsessions are food —\nlarge amounts of chocolate play a role in our rehearsals — and where they can\nall buy matching handbags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any funny\n\/ strange stories?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday, I had a rehearsal at KLPac, where the\ndancers practiced, for the first time, on platforms made specifically for the\nperformance. When we arrived, the platforms were still in the workshop, and we\ncouldn’t lift them, so we spent a few minutes trying them out on the workshop\nfloor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authorities came down to shoo us out, but not\nbefore telling us how strange it was to see dancers cavorting in the workshop.\nI don’t know — maybe arabesques look best when garnished with sawdust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is\nyour first major production. Have you developed a healthy hatred for everyone\nin the arts, yet?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, I’m still bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. So far,\nmost people have been extremely helpful in offering advice and support, and\nI’ve been amazed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the list of things I’ve learnt not<\/em> to do when producing a show is\nlonger than all of my dancers, lying head to pointed toe. Hopefully I’ll be\nable to redeem myself in our next performance!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who\ninspires you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good teachers. The world can’t have enough of them. My\nblood boils whenever I hear someone tell me that they quit ballet because their\nteacher told them that they were too fat. Let’s face it, folks, this ain’t the\nNew York City Ballet. Not everyone is cut out to be a dancer, but the size of\nanyone’s talent is not related to the width of their waist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any\nregrets? Or would you do it all over again in a flash? Any sage advice for\npeople who’re thinking of heading down a similar path?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every time I embark on a production, large or small, I\nknow that at some point I will wonder why the hell I am doing it — and I will\ntell people to forcibly prevent me from ever doing it again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I’m addicted to being in rehearsal, and you can’t\nhave rehearsals without a show. My advice: make lots of friends, then work them\nto the bone! Having been overseas for eight years, this was my main lack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are\nyou up to, next?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Balletbase will be performing for the Art for Nature\nexhibition opening at Rimbun Dahan in May, and we have innumerable other\nprojects in the pipeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Also, the choreographers’ residency at Rimbun Dahan\nis also kicking off in March, with cutting-edge Filipino choreographer Donna\nMiranda staying in Malaysia for three months to develop new work.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s\nirony to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact that Malaysia has two of the most beautiful,\ncomplex and diverse ecological systems in the world — the tropical rainforest\nand the coral reef — and most Malaysians have neither seen, nor give a hoot,\nabout them. I guess we won’t miss them when we lose them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you were omnipotent for 10 minutes, what’s the first thing you would do?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can’t overlook world peace, but I’d settle for inflicting recurring nightmares about global warming on everyone on earth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Published: 14.03.2007 on Kakiseni <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tell us a bit about yourself. In 1997, I went off to Harvard for four years, where dancing was a huge relief from my daily cerebral struggles. Not knowing what to do next, I moved to Australia and earned my graduate diploma in Choreography at the Victorian College of the Arts. Art school wasn’t really […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"iawp_total_views":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7758,7763,7772],"tags":[3710,234,3711,228,855],"writer":[7969],"class_list":["post-27292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artikel","category-tarian","category-temuduga","tag-balletbase","tag-dance","tag-donna-miranda","tag-interview","tag-rimbun-dahan","writer-juliet-jacobs-ms"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27292"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39079,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27292\/revisions\/39079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27292"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/writer?post=27292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}