BLACK GRACE DECONSTRUTED

Black Grace is a New Zealand based dance company that addresses issues of cultural mingling and assimilation in Aotearoa.
Gathering Clouds addresses the oppression of Pacific Island people in New Zealand. The dance focuses on conflicts arising from the “Dawn Raids” in the 1970’s. The dancers portray two conflicting societal groups – Pacific Islanders and the oppressive, New Zealand establishment of the time.
The dancers use lots of linear, angular movements in the upper body to show conflict and tension between the subjects. They flow around one another, bumping and jostling for position.
The setting is very dark and minimalistic so audience focus is drawn to the dancers. Visual messages are portrayed uninterrupted, by the dancers, through choreography and expression. This allows the audience to create and perceive their own meaning of the performance while still being instilled with a sense of turmoil.

Building Characters

The straight lines and angular movements of robot dancers suits the awkward message of Gathering Clouds perfectly.
We chose to use very similar base construction for all three robots so that the audience could identify them as all being of a common group.

One robot (VictimBot) is smaller and represents New Zealands' minority Pacific Island community. He gets pushed about and engages his oppressors. He is often shunted onto the ground and has to rise again each time.
The two larger robots are very similar in appearance with slightly different aggressive movements. Their size and gestures let you know they are in charge.
All three robots are designed to move around one another and interact to change levels, emulating the struggle within our society and our history. Also, they all have affixed light sensors so that they start dancing in sync, when the spotlight is pointed at them.

Related Links;
Here is a link to a video of dancing robots by SONY; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vwZ5FQEUFg

Here is a link to some background info and a website about Black Grace; http://www.blackgrace.co.nz/about/

Below is a link to a Fight Science capoeira video that we found interesting; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oADky00ahFk