We wanted to see, but were made blind. 

So electrified by the infinite possibilities, we rendered ourselves useless, unable to motion a single step towards greatness. 

Our flesh fatigued and our heads weary but wired, we gave in to the exhaustion of our own expectations.

All images by Blair McTaggart.

Everything Anyone Ever Wanted | Black Sheep Productions 

21 - 25 June 2016 @ Q Theatre

Ladies Rest

dirty dirty grimey

I went to Grimes last night

she had flowers all over her sound stuff (technical term)

and was general awesome

had amazing dancers on either side of her, who were beautiful creatures in psychedelic tights

this is the aftermath

here is a lesson

All photography with thanks to Blair McTaggart.
Sofia McIntyre and Sarah Elsworth are cool.
Oh, and so is Caleb Wright.

nooo you no drink your coffee I jump on yoooouuu

oOOOoooOOoooOoooOoo ghost RARR

wheee I jumpa round do things you two leany, ok?

oh-er .. not sure eh.

yeah just gonna look slightly crazy do shit on the bars eh nice yellow purple you cool

sarah fix her toppy in the bg

ohhh you wanna do that face now? ok

whatchu tuu bin caught doin', huh?

yeah I flash jumpy thing you two just look nice ok

nooo leave me loneeee ooone oooone 

THREE

ouch no grabby my hair I doing dance thing yes you be staunch lady

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH LISTENNNNN

don't fucking DRINK YOUR COFFEEEE LISTEN TO ME WORLD

Oh she says so much with that face of hers

please news lady we take our picture with you just do yo thang ok cool fanguu byeee 

I jumpy on you Sof-eye-ahh 

yessmm we have more exciting lives than you 

except equally as shit

and no money

cool

beauties holding each other up in the street

and holding each other back

no UP get up girl YOU ARE ALIVE

no one sees me if I blend in

I like my legs

lean sideways

ok

two red twinnies

though I am orange

we are on a rubbish bin

but you can't see that

NZ is rugby country

hello, niced to meat you yes I am normal and boring

no but seriously

sarah has a very buoyant pelvis

I told her this

she laughed

no really, you do

Stop it.

Just stop it, ok.

We are making a show and it looks something like this except in a theatre, not in a sreet.

Look everyone, I keep telling you, you have to wait a few months, ok?

Dance is not a magicky something

it is very, very difficult.

The Performance Arcade 2012

This week I have been working with Serene Lorimer and Elise Chan on their installation Circular Persuasions as part of The Performance Arcade 2012. This is the third time the event has been run by The Playground NZ and features artists of different mediums creating work in shipping containers on the Wellington Waterfront. It is also part of the NZ Fringe Festival.

Basically for Circular Persuasions we constructed (with the help of builder Liam !) a dividing wall within the container and put a clear Perspex front on it. The writer types stream of consciousness, taking in what they see on the waterfront and in the audience, and their words are projected into the dancer's side of the container. The dancer then moves or creates tableaus in response to the words.

Here is my very accurate impression of a crooked pole:

The Arcade runs from 10am-11pm each day so we do 2 hours shifts of either writing or dancing. It's quite exhausting improvising for that long without stopping but I really like it.

The audience can indirectly affect the dancer's actions if they want to. If they make the connection between the projected words and the writer, and/or the words and themselves. Which takes some people a surprisingly long time.

People also think we can't hear them inside the container. We can most definitely hear you.

We've been rained out, but it adds a nice kind of reflective sheen to the waterfront pavement and pretty droplets of rain on the Perspex. Also umbrellas look beautiful en masse, especially silhouetted. 

If you're in Wellington, come down tomorrow (Sunday 4th) 10am-11pm. The installations are all great, there's some very talented artists and most of the containers are interactive. 

Photographs all by Elise Chan except the daylight one which is by Sam Trubridge.

room 526

1.

rydges with ridges
obstacles on the road (not only off)
changes & escapes
we cannot see the brilliant white streaks
running perpendicular to our lives
too far back
and behind the future
(or above it)
only whilst with wings do we wonder
before that, we ask only
dumb questions



2.

I'm high but not higher
highest still half-sphere away
city dreams & circuits
surest of simplicities
(or complexes, complexions & completions --
whichever way you look at it)
knowing whatever makes no sense: that is
the only way to gain
half trust with 3/4 doubt
so that I am more than a whole but still
lacking



3.

Ruthless restlessness, rife realty, reasoning really rates relative, riveting
Youth, you're yearning you youngster, yes
Definite dilemma, doll-faced & delirious, daring
Gauche & gargantuan, golly gosh, give genial guidance
Every entity emits elusive enigma,
So solace & silence, some say 'solitude'.



4.

We do not always or never lie
                     we only sometimes lie.*



5.

YES I will wear the glitter
and YES I will wear the tights
YES I will fuck things up
YES I will conjure madness
and YES I will negate
YES I will instigate trouble
preach and practise good will
YES I will say no to your wantings
and NO I won't tell you my address the first or fourth time you ask for it
I only speak "YES"
Yes.



6.

bring up the bare secrecy
unveil the birth
embody the most naked
savour the rawest flesh
welcome the ritual
taste the misdemeanour

7.

I would cause large-scale

TROUBLE

"except"

I am much too good.

 

*Thought sparked by a line in Jonathon Safran Foer's book, Eating Animals.

 Great, there'll be a job for me next year then.

niagara falls (USA side)

Understandably my expectations of the falls was that they'd be HUGE. After a bit of research I discovered they are 53m high. A mighty 2m shorter than Bridal Veil falls in Hamilton. Here is a picture of Bridal Veil Falls in Hamilton, New Zealand. 

Admittedly, Niagara falls has a flow of 600,000 litres per second. I'm sure this is much more than Bridal Veil falls (can't find the amount online, probably an amount which doesn't pull the tourists).

Niagara Falls is much more impressive from the Canadian side because you can look at them front-on, but I took those photos in a different format and can't seem to upload them. Here are some photos instead from the US side, for now:

Two countries one photo.

You could pay ridiculous amounts of money to wear a thin yellow poncho probably of a similar quality to that which you would buy at a two dollar shop and stand underneath large amounts of water and become quite saturated and then get mad at yourself for forgetting to bring a spare pare of clothes and trudge grumpily back to your car and get chaffing between your thighs along the way. Dad said, "do you want to do that?" I said "no thank you."

The international bridge between the States and Canada (did they used to swim before it was built?)

Boat's gettin' owned.

Churr Dad. I really did enjoy the trip, honest. Sorry if I didn't look happy. I'm gonna blame the jet lag.