Project: Into Thin Air
Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, 2007
Choreographer: Michael Whaites
Set and Costume Designer: Matt McVeigh
Lighting Designer: Deidre Math
Music: "Fatal" from the album “The Chemist” by the Necks
"The progression of age, the ephemerality of dance and the morality of life has prompted me to make Into Thin Air. The material you see before you is a recapitulation of reworking of steps and phrases from the past 20 years together with completely new material that has come whilst improvising around these themes in the studio. The music has also played a large part in the inspiration of this work"
- Michael Whaites
This design came from a totally emotional response to the movement and music of this piece. I wanted to depict time and change as inevitable. Time sometimes moves faster than we realise. It’s hard to define the actual moment of change in our lives. In most cases it subtly occurs without our realisation.
I chose to pivot shark tooth gauze over the dancer’s space. As it rotated almost 360 degree over the length of the piece, it changed the space within the proscenium. It also had an eerie sense when it moved, as it transformed from a solid to a transparent appearance, through haze and the angle of light hitting it. The space also enlarged as the number of dancers diminished.
I chose to pivot shark tooth gauze over the dancer’s space. As it rotated almost 360 degree over the length of the piece, it changed the space within the proscenium. It also had an eerie sense when it moved, as it transformed from a solid to a transparent appearance, through haze and the angle of light hitting it. The space also enlarged as the number of dancers diminished.
