Neil Ieremia, artistic director of Black Grace, has gone back to his Samoan roots for inspiration for the new full length work ‘Gathering Clouds’

Cheesman, Sue

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A Pacific Island story

Research Commons@Waikato

 A Pacific Island Story By Sue Cheesman Nei l  leremia, Ar t ist ic Di rector of Black Grace, has gone back to his Samoan roots for inspirat ion for this new ful l  length work . 'Gathering Clouds'  wil l  premiere a t the Civ ic in March 2009, as part of the Auckland Festival. Neil explains, "The spark for this work started with the idea of human zoos. German people who occupied Samoa took away a family to display in a zoo in Berlin as objects of curiosity. The whole idea of putting people on display has been disturbing me for a long time," "Embarking on a s ix month rehearsal  period has al lowed me t ime to revisi t  these ideas and to look at support ing material  around this piece.  Furthermore,  I  was also thinking about the Paci fic  Island (brown) experience in New Zealand - what we do to ourselves as a community and as people living in New Zealand." The t ime has al lowed Neil  and some of the dancers to study a number of documents and issues including the Treaty of Waitangi ,  immigrat ion stat ist ics, documents on peace in the Paci fic , the occupation of Samoa by the Germans, dawn raids in the 1960s and 70s, and youth gangs. During his research, Neil  came across an art ic le in the Dominion Post ent i t led 'Paci fic  Migrants Drain On Th e Economy',  which focused on a paper by economist Dr Greg Clydesdale. " I have narrowed my work down to a response to this paper,"  he says with passion. However, he says, "I  want to look at a more concil iatory work that offers some hope, rather than one that separates us even further.  Like any other race l iving in this country we have our issues. There are some posi tives to be taken away from this –  have a laugh at ourselves and a cry about some of the experiences, but ultimately learn from them and move on." With this work Nei l  says he wants to go back to tel l ing stories through dance without film, huge sets or many props.  "I wanted to be as open as possible and not censor ideas; Listen to the work and explore a voic e as far as i t  wil l  take me wi thout judging it." "I am an Elv is Presley fan and using his music in the section of work where I am talking about race relations in the dawn raids period, with songs l ike ' If I Could Dream' and 'Suspicious Minds' makes for a pretty interesting position." In complete contrast he is also using 'Goldberg Variations' by J.S. Bach. He says, laughing, that the piece is very physical with a lot of aerial work in one section involving flying, rol l ing and tumbling through the air. "It will be a real humdinger." In relat ion to working wi th the dancers he says "there are great dynamics in the room with this powerful mix of three male and three female dancers. They complement one another, are very good and I enjoy working with them - including their sideways looks at times." "Collectively there is sadness, joy, toughness and vulnerabil i ty which comes out in their work. They are contr ibuting a great deal to this work." Neil made it clear however that the dancer's research process informs their dancing but ultimately the movement material comes directly from him.  He says that the process of piecing all  the fragments together has begun. "The 3am wake ups have already started and I  am resigned to that happening ti l l I f inish the piece, however I  am really excited about this work and it is sti l l  a privi lege to be able to do this." + DANZ QUARTERLY • ISSUE NO. 14 PAGE 17  

http://www.danz.org.nz/Magazines/DQ/Jan09/contents.php

A Pacific Island story

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