Dystopia may very well be the nightmare of current options, but that doesn’t stop some of us from being obsessed with the concept of utopia. In fact, people have long fantasized about various forms of heaven, some in the afterlife and others on earth. From meditation to killing, we concoct spiritual practices, political ideologies, and speculative fiction in pursuit of utopian dreams.
Now, in the depths of southern winter, the bright light of utopia will be imagined again, this time as a dance drama. When Australian/Javanese choreographer Melanie Lane presents her new work, ArcadiaIn June, on stage at Melbourne’s RISING Festival, five dancers embodied ancient longings and, more importantly, hinted at deeper issues. How do we construct our utopias, and what does that mean for us?
“Arcadia Lane explained that it draws on stories told over and over again in many different cultures, as well as a lot of science fiction. “I’m very interested in that space, especially the realm of fiction. It’s a way that we can distance ourselves from reality in order to reflect, and it felt like an interesting space to create a dance piece.
Although the word Arkadia refers to a region in Greece, it has long been synonymous with a pastoral paradise, thus blending the physical with the abstract. Likewise, Lane’s Arcadia Mapping ideals onto matter.
“There are a lot of body myths in these spaces,” she revealed. “A lot of my recent work has been about mythology as a way of looking at the body. This work is essentially a way of thinking about death and what happens to our bodies. Obviously a lot of myths and stories come from a desire for the unknown curious.
Since utopias and dystopias are filled with mythical characters, many of them anthropomorphic, the body itself has also changed. As Lane said, “In looking at this question, there are a lot of different mythological beings, whether they’re gods or aliens; they have these supernatural bodies. That’s what we’re exploring in this work. What yes Supernatural entity?
The use of 3D animation further emphasizes the transcendent physical theme. Tokyo-based game animator Kim Laughton created “truly beautiful, hyper-realistic environments where the performers are inhabited.”
Choreographically, this helps blur often stubborn lines. “So, that’s really part of it, taking the dancer into this realm of fantasy or fiction…but we’re also delving into this idea of, in death, what do you bring to the table?” Here we are Re-examining the game world, death is not the end, just a reset.
full of grand ideas, Arcadia Billed as a dance drama. In fact, as the work was developed, Lane and her co-creators realized it was “a bit operatic.” Grand existential themes, epics, and more. “So, we were really just leaning into that,” she recalls. “For example, composer Chris Clark has been doing a lot of work in film recently, so we’re going for real virtuosity and drama, which is often avoided in contemporary dance.”
If this sounds very technical and extremist, Lane is quick to remind us that this work is moderate, not hyperbole. Likewise, her creative approach is far less radical and punitive than many of our so-called utopian visions. Arcadia Born out of improvisation and dialogue between Lane and five dancers.
“The contribution this team brings to the job is truly remarkable,” she added. “We do a lot of deep research into the topics we’re working on, and each dancer digs deep into their own understanding of what these things mean to them.”
When it premieres at Substation in June, Arcadia Maybe it triggered similar reflections. What does pastoral poetry look like to us? who enters our Utopia, who doesn’t? Or, as Lane puts it: What will we bring?
Author: Paul Ransom Dance information.