Classy urban dance theatre takes to the streets of Auckland

Urban Devas, by Phil Dadson and Carol Brown
Tues April 13th, 12.30pm. Freyberg Place

Then

Thurs April 15th, 2pm Pier 3, Quay St
Sat April 17th, 12.30pm, Freyberg Place

Urban Devas is collaboration between the sound artist Phil Dadson and choreographer Carol Brown as part of “Living Room” one of Auckland City Council’s public art events.

They have performed a couple of times so far this week and will be performing this Thursday and Saturday in downtown Auckland.

It is a smart piece of urban theatre combining dance and sound which is colourful and playful as well as providing a heightened experience of the city, moving through the streets as part of an event without being involved.

The group consists of a dance troupe of 10 women dressed in red and yellow high visibility jackets each carrying a metal trumpet like an old gramophone horn. They initially appeared on the steps leading down to Freyberg Square with their instruments like liveried trumpeters of a Renaissance town announcing a pageant.

They performed some classy dance routines, crouching, strolling, lying down and posing. They walked up over the nearby fountain and hung around the sculpture of General Freyberg before mingling with the crowd.

Most of the time they used the trumpets as a means of broadcasting sounds, songs and speech. However, they also used them as a sort of hearing aid in order to receive sounds and they also used them as viewing devices, so at times they were observing the audience as well as being observed by them.

They only occasionally interacted with the lunchtime crowds sitting around the square being more like apparitions, whispering close by to people but never intruding.

Then at a signal from their leader they set of down Vulcan Lane where they fluttered around people eating their lunch like a little band of sparrows

On the travels from Freyberg Square they were followed by or watched by a crowd of up to a hundred who tagged along much like the crowd following the Pied Piper of Hamlyn.

At the Corner of Queen St and Customs St groups stood on each corner singing out mating calls across the intersection.

Further down the road in Queen Elizabeth Square the seemed to settle for a while in the little kauri plantation before their final raucous flourish on the waterfront.

Phil Dadson, who was responsible for the soundscape, was one of the founders of From Scratch which used non traditional means of making sounds and also drew inspiration the urban and mechanistic environment.

In this event the sounds of the participants and the silences drew attention to the soundscape of the city. The screech of tires, the horns, the murmuring of crowds and the group added to this with their own bird sounds and sounds of the city including the wail of Fire Engine.

In their walk to the waterfront one was never sure whether other activities along the way were part of the deal. The chamber orchestra performing on the other side of the street, the workmen dressed in their red and yellow jackets all seemed to become part of the performance.

The idea for the work apparently derived from a graphic novel by the surrealist artist Max Ernst Une Semaine de Bonte ou Les Sept Elements Capitaux, (A week of Kindness or the Seven Deadly Elements).

The full programme of events for the week  is at   www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/events