I originally created this with my students in 2017. When I was travelling, a while ago, I noticed that the people overseas, particularly in America and Europe are much larger than life as characters. They’ll argue on the street and not care that people see them. They’ll have their conversation on the phone and use big hand gestures even though the other person can’t see them. And within that there is this heightened stereotypical idea of over-the-top women, and outrageously masculine men. The movement in 'Trouble In Paradise' plays on that.
The movement in this work is very much inspired by Bob Fosse. A lot of my stimulus as an artist has come from Fosse. Personally, I haven't seen much commercial and jazz dance that tells a story rather than being mainly about the aesthetics. I know that there is a lot out there, but for me Fosse was pioneering in that sense.
Even though his dance was very technically challenging with exquisite lines to watch, he was still able to create characters and stories and so that has always been an inspiration to me. His sense of musicality is something that stands out for me as well. I’m really big on music – quite often I’ll listen to a piece of music and that will give me an idea – which is actually quite a commercial way of working.
A lot of dancers will start with a stimulus or an idea and create the music later, which I love, but often my ideas actually come from a sound or lyric. I avoid always dancing to the lyric, sometimes they fit and sometimes they don’t. But if something has a certain sound that transports me to a different place, then that is something I like.
Even though his dance was very technically challenging with exquisite lines to watch, he was still able to create characters and stories and so that has always been an inspiration to me. His sense of musicality is something that stands out for me as well. I’m really big on music – quite often I’ll listen to a piece of music and that will give me an idea – which is actually quite a commercial way of working.
A lot of dancers will start with a stimulus or an idea and create the music later, which I love, but often my ideas actually come from a sound or lyric. I avoid always dancing to the lyric, sometimes they fit and sometimes they don’t. But if something has a certain sound that transports me to a different place, then that is something I like.
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