Grotto is inspired by the Mogao Caves, Dunhuang. When I visited the region, I was struck by the diverse details in the caves, the colours and loneliness in the desert and the feeling that the landscape had hosted many a traveller/pilgrim for thousands of years. Later I discovered that Dunhuang Dance was created in the 1980s by a conscious decision to develop a dance technique from the paintings on the walls of the Mogao Caves.
Using this type of movement directive in Melbourne, Grotto will explore the short-term affects of what happens when Melbourne artists are given similar, specific directives to create movement. We worked with structures and sentiments that exist in the City of Melbourne, the artists’ impressions, specific architecture, chosen sites within the streets themselves. The results of our experimentation were adapted to cave-like pockets inside the Immigration Musuem. The resulting work contains the personality of each of the artists involved and reflects the group’s perspective on contemporary Melbourne February 2017.
Choreographer: Victoria Chiu
Dancers: TraMi Dinh, Amelia McQueen, Sarah Mealor, Shian Law,
Musicians: Mindy Meng Wang, Roland Cox
Presented at Immigration Museum Melbourne, 15-18 February 2017
Supported By: City Of Melbourne, Immigration Museum, Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, Multicultural Arts Victoria
Photography by Gregory Lorenzutti
HISTORY OF GROTTO
Contemporary Dance inspired by the conception of Dunhuang Dance
Credits for this research:
Victoria Chiu- Dancer
Mindy Meng Wang – Musician
David Shea – Musician
Eddie Postma- Cinematographer/Editor
Paul Ransom- Director
Ms Jill Morgan AM, CEO Multicultural Arts Victoria and staff
Mr Qi Weiquan, Director of International Cooperation and Exchange Division of the North West University of Nationalities and staff
Supported by University of Nationalities Lanzhou, Multicultural Arts Victoria and the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria
Extracts of research at Mogao Caves and Crescent Lake - longer research extracts available on request
Film by Paul Ransom and Eddie Postma
Short documentary to become a series of films