The last few years of pandemic ups and downs have kept Tempo Dance Festival from returning to our spaces since 2019! It's also kept international dancers from coming to our shores to perform. But as the pandemic begins to fade into the past, we are stoked to see Australian dancers and creators joining the Tempo 2022 line-up. We spoke to Carlene Newall de Jesus about what the Aotearoa and Australia connection means to Tempo.
Body of Work + QWERTY, Gudirr Gudirr and What They Said all have connections to both Aotearoa and New Zealand and so to see them able to come to life at Q Theatre feels really significant.
Left to right: Body of Work + QWERTY, Gudirr Gudirr and What They Said
Before the pandemic, our dance communities' relationship with Australia leaned heavily on the opportunity to meet and collaborate in person. As flights shut down and both countries entered lockdowns, the relationships previously formed between countries had to move into the digital world. However, in some ways, this shift helped the connections and led to the collaborations we see at the festival this year.
While zoom calls can never replace the energy of sharing space together, it allows new opportunities to form and in this instance has supported the conversations to continue to flow.
Conversations about works like Body of Work + QWERTY and Gudirr Gudirr being presented in Tempo go back to pre-pandemic times, which feels like many lifetimes ago. Honouring those conversations and finding a way to bring that history to a place where the works can finally connect with audiences has been a long but important journey for Tempo.
The creative focus of these works shines a bold spotlight on themes that are so important across Aotearoa and Australia, and the opportunity for audiences to be challenged, inspired, and reflective is most exciting. Gudirr Gudirr calls a warning to a community facing massive industrialisation on traditional lands, loss of language and major gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous wellbeing. At the same time, Body of Work + QWERTY questions the relationship between the physical body and the digital realm.
The creative possibilities and sharing that can more freely flow again opens up new potentialities. We are strengthened by our connections near and far, and the hope is this flow will continue to offer opportunities for our audiences and dance communities in Aotearoa to be supported, inspired, uplifted and connected.
Body of Work + QWERTY, Gudirr Gudirr and What They Said all have their ties to our friends across the ditch, and it's so good to host artists from Australia once again. While they are indeed a Tasman sea away, they share an oceanic bond with that that both nourishes and is nourished by the art we make down here. So let's have more of that, aye?
