Eesti: Myths & Machines
Halifax’s Live Art Dance jump-starts
its season with a ‘visceral,
physical, and emotional experience’ this weekend with Eesti: Myths &
Machines, Peter Trostzmer’s voyage of
self-discovery that reveals the resiliency of the human spirit and the ravages
time exerts on our collective memory. Recently we spoke with the performer
about the production.
When and why did you
first become interested in dance?
I
guess I became interested when I was in 1st year University. My roomate
danced and a friend at work danced. I think before this I did not
know it was something one could do. It was not for a few more years
before I began to study it myself. I took a movement class for actors in
my last year of studies at Concordia University - it was after this that I
began to study and train full time. Before this I took movement classes
(some martial arts and ballroom classes mainly)
Are they the same
reasons that you continue to be involved today?
No
- completely different I think. There is still a passion for the body,
physicality, and movement - however I think my understanding of what the
responsibility and position of an artist is has formed into something
completely different. I guess I just had no idea what spending the rest
of my life as an artist would mean. Some of the same reasons continue to drive
me - training, body, movement yes however my idea of myself as a performer has
utterly changed. When I began I had no really concept of what it was
going to be like to be an art maker and performer.
What are the challenges
of the vocation?
I
would say there are a range of challenges. It is exciting and a challenge
to create work and research artistic idea's and balance a life, family, and
friends. Dance - maybe art in general can be all consuming. I think
we as dancers give so much of ourselves in rehearsals, bodies, soul, thoughts,
emotions. As a leader of a project - the work continues often past the
hrs of the day - contemplating, planing, communications, applications, - it can
be a work sometimes just to insure that you don' t work all the time. On top of
this when a project gains momentum it can be difficult to not have it in your
head all the time. Really the biggest challenge is finding a balance
between work, family, research, training, politics, market place, artistic
integrity and the soul.
What are the rewards?
Incredible
experiences with wonderful people in studios, theatres, performances, all over
the world. I feel as artists get and access to the self. We develop
tools for affecting people, audience, co-workers. We attain a deep
understanding of our bodies, an intimate relationship with its frailty and
vulnerability. We get to dig deep sometimes into politics, philosophy
sociology .
Is your creative process
more 'inspirational' or 'perspiration'?
Inspriational, but I do do manage to sweat in most of the work I do.
How has your work evolved over the years?
It
has become rooted n research, bigger experiences of the mind, soul and body - with a deeper understanding of my relationship too. Politics have remained an
in important aspect of the work. Lately I have gravitated towards instillation
based work and I am searching for a new contexts for performance altogether. I feel I am trying to experience dance performance art making, process as
event. Teaching and community engagement is becoming more important to
me.
What inspired Myths & Machines?
The
work really had 2 inspirations. Jeremy Gordaneer and I have a
facilitation with machines. We discussed and began jamming over a Wallis
and Gromit world. Jeremy built what we affectionately refer to as the
cyclophone and has become the "Machine" in the piece. At the
same time I had a fascination with my families roots and WWII, migration,
stories of displacement and Trauma. I began to try to understand where I
came from and the circumstances around this. I was drawn to stories of my
Grandfather - for who and what I am. This is where the idea of
"Myths" comes from. Most of the stories I have gathered (about
100 pgs) were passed to me through speech. I tried to gather as many 1st
hand accounts as I could - even going back to Estonia 2 times during the 3 yrs
of research on the piece. We camped the coastline where people the small
boats left in the night. I spoke to anyone who remembered my Grandfather
or were alive at the time. Unfortunately the stories of the Loosers are
often not accurately described in History books. This has been and is
being rectified since 1990 with the singing revolution. So the stories
were passed on in an ora tradition (essentially myths). The sculpture -
the "Machine" - for me is the Unstoppable force of War, Machine of
Migration, Industry - where immigrants worked when coming over). But also Machines are a metaphor for the unstoppable resilience of the
Human Spirit.
What can audiences
expect to experience?
The
work is a visceral, physical, and emotional experience. The visual
aesthetic is simple and beautiful. The sound is connected directly to the
movement of the performance as 60% of the sound is generated from the
performance itself. The work is dense and integrated carefully thought
out and rehearsed w rigger and performed with abandon.
What has the response
been like so far to the production?
Reviews
have been nicely complimentary. But what I think I take most from the
performances are some of the conversations after. I believe the work is
a North American experience in so many ways. I think offers reflection to
those of us who have organs in other places - and I think this represents most
of us.
What are your thoughts on the current state of dance?
Dance
has always been the most heartbreaking of the performing arts for me. Tragic and beautiful, the body becomes the sacrificial lamb - freely
given up. At least we still have a public funding body to help support
free work - without corporate - or private agenda. Our current system of
public fusing is still problematic at themes. A jury of the peers can
become a popularity or political competition. on the interesting side -
there is amazing, creative work still coming out - art is being expressed by the
body in very exciting ways and the form continues to grow. Idea's of what
process and dance making and dance presenting are still being put on the table
for debate and I think that is a great thing. I think it is important
that we continue to try to expand the form.
What can we be doing
better?
I
think we could and are making inroads in the are of education - in dance
schools for dancers - more like that of a visual arts program, looking at
history of cinema, visual art movements philosophy etc. But I think that
this kind of education would be amazing for everyone - just as we all need
courses in business - as all the world is commerce. It could be a whole lot
more grounded and human if we all need a solid background in the histories of
the fine arts.
What's next on your creative agenda?
The
game has changed for me in many ways. I am currently artist in residence
with Jeremy Gordaneer (visuals and sculpture) and Thea Patterson (dramaturge)
at Teckno Lyth (Harvey Lev) in Montreal - so we have access to 3 amazing spaces
in a 200 yrs old building near Old Montreal. I am starting to look to the
future in terms of integrating this space into my community and indeed thinking
about international collaborations in the space. There is limitless
potential in the building. But the spaces have given my work a new
perspective. I now have an incredible work / venue space. I am
able to work instillations and leave them in place - create dances for the
space - and now this has began to branch out into dances for other spaces. My work has become industrial, architectural, post industrial, community
environment, perception, event … I can set up what what I want in the space and
invite people to come see it. But the experience of working in the space
has lead me to reach out to other unique spaces to create and work. I
will be looking at some spaces with Paul when I come into town for some instillation
performance work. I feel in many ways within our current social, political, and
economic environment it is important to question our current presentation
environments. It is a responsibility to question and challenge - systems. I am investigation the ecology of theatre, community, building, growth,
and structure. We will set up the sound sculpture element of the piece at
Parenthesis Gallery space on 2168 Gottingen on Sunday after the shows. I
feel that in this way the piece can be experiences from within - as people will
be invited to play the cyclophone. All the artists working on the piece - Lois
Brown (Dramaturgical and Directorial support, Jeremy Gordaneer (visual artist),
Jean Sebastian Durocher (Sound Artist), Rasmus Sylvest (lighting
designer) are essential to the research, and creation of the work, and
now the continued performances of the work are only really feasible with the
hard work of TD Paul Chambers.
Eesti: Myths &
Machines
Thursday,
Sept 25 - Saturday, Sept 27, 8pm
Sir James Dunn Theatre, Halifax
www.liveartdance.ca
