Return of spider woman to Touch Compass stage

9 August 2010
One of the highlights of the 2008 Tempo New Zealand Festival of Dance is returning to the stage in Auckland from 18 to 21 August as part of a Triple Bill presented by integrated dance company Touch Compass.

Grotteschi, created by Suzanne Cowan and performed with Adrian Smith, is sharing the bill with Six by Jeremy Nelson and Slip by Carol Brown. The trilogy of works will feature in Auckland’s Concert Chamber, THE EDGE. Described by the New Zealand Herald as “an enthralling duet” when it was performed at Tempo 08, Grotteschi tells the story of a spider woman and her “feeding habits”, both using and devouring her acolyte.

The dance came out of Suzanne’s research for her masters degree in creative and performing arts at Auckland University.

“It plays with stereotypes of disability and ideas of freakishness,” Suzanne explains. “I was interested in how disabled people have been presented, particularly on stage. I really wanted to reference the freak show, which is an important part of disability history.”

The piece uses a dance style known as contact improvisation, based on a rolling point of contact between two bodies, using the momentum of gravity to create the choreography.

“It is quite humorous. I think one of its strengths is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously.”

Suzanne says the dance is essentially the same piece performed in 2008, with a few variations.

“When you’re making something it is really hard to step back from it. We’ve come back with fresher eyes. It is in a different space, the lighting is being redesigned, and we are two years older, two years wiser.”

Suzanne, who lost the use of both legs in a road accident in Canada, is also performing in Six, inspired by the geometrical and mathematical qualities of the numeral. She says the costumes, designed and partially constructed in New York by Luis Lara Malvacais, “have to be seen to be believed”.