Watching the Royal New Zealand Ballet performing at Regent Theater with his mother is Jeremy Beck’s first memory of going to the theater.
Next month, he will be on stage about to debut his own dance piece.
“It’s a very crazy feeling. It’s one of those pinnacle moments.”
And it seems quite appropriate for a work that has been underway for five years and had its creation in a choreographic program in Vienna, Austria, where Beck (Ngai Tahu-Pakeha) was forced to develop a small solo work.
“The first thing I realized when researching the work is that I didn’t want to be dancing alone. So now this work was snowy in about 22 artists and there are 27 or 28 people in the project now. So, it really got out of control.”
In your heart, work is inspired by the concept of “Saturn’s return”-in astrology, when Saturn, the planet representing structure, responsibility and limitation, returns to position in the sky that was at the birth of a person, usually about 27 to 30 years.
“This first death is the death of your youth or the departure of your youth, but you want to describe it. Or if you want to be more optimistic, you can say it is the arrival of adulthood.”
Explained to him by a fellow dancer, the concept came home, because at the end of his 20 years Beck found himself having a “existential crisis”, wondering where he arrived, finding after eight years in the dance world, he was not sure that direction he was following.
“I think there are many social pressures, especially in New Zealand [about] Possess property or all these things when you reach a certain age. There is a little expectation or something. “
And he thought he had the opportunity to look at his childhood and youth and take learning and then decide what to do with these learnings to be quite cathartic.
“I felt that I wanted to recognize it more as the rite of passage through which everyone goes through. And I don’t necessarily have an avid believer in astrology, probably more skeptical by nature, but I find the real concept quite poetic.”
After a little research on the subject, he found that the general consensus was that people are strong on the other side.
“And being very naive, I thought what I was going through is my return of Saturn. But I was very wrong and it was just the beginning. So, my start at work, I was very similar to, ‘ok, this is a retrospective about what the return of Saturn was.'”
However, looking back, he now knows that all the development of this work was his “return of Saturn” as the concept deepened and changed.
“In a way, this project was the beginning of my Saturn returns and I also feel his finish.”
Part of this journey was the impact of Covid-19 on his career. He got a nine -month contract in the UK and was going to Europe to pursue his career, but the borders closed and he couldn’t go. Instead, he stayed in New Zealand and other doors opened for him, as there were more opportunities for local choreographers.
Not wanting to make the work very introspective is one of the reasons why he chose to incorporate more people into work.
“So I thought about bringing a team of dancers to look for the work and fill the space.”
The more he thought of the concepts, about growing up and becoming an adult, he was anchored in Dunedin, where he grew up and had his first dance classes at age 6 and began classic training at age 12.
“It seemed very important that I developed work there and brought the dancers to understand the environment. And then, through that, I had this wild thought that I would just invite all my childhood friends to work as well.”
Initially, the idea was that their friends, many of whom had gone through their own returns from Saturn, would act as pedestrians, as the work is defined under a tall light on a street at night, complementing the six dancers trained in the cast.
“In theory, you think of things and then when you enter the room and actually see everyone’s vibration, I was like, well, these people my friends, they need to be dancing with us. So we ended up doing a great section where they are dancing.”
The final addition to the case was his 7 -year -old Harrison.
“He looked a lot like pictures of me since I was younger. So I was as if he could be a representation of my youth. But he kind of holds his own character at work now and that adds a very good innocence to work.”
In contrast to Harrison, he also has Doyen Kilda Northcott dance joining them in the play. She asked to be included after seeing practical performance.
Beck admits that when he talked to his friends about participating in that he was talking about “Low Stakes”, only four weekends to develop it in a salon in Portobello and then on a short display.
“They were really addicted to this, leaving a very nice trip and then enjoyed dancing. And they got better. And they could feel the improvement and really loved it. They thought it was so much fun.”
But then it became a piece to be presented at the Dunedin Arts Festival.
“I think that’s when they got a little scared. Especially when I told them that we’re in the conductor, on the main stage, opening the festival. I think it’s when, you can see that their movement has changed a little. They got a little more serious. And I still don’t think they understand what it is to stay in this kind of internship … but they are super slender.”
Beck also performs in the play, as he continued his own dance career alongside the choreography.
“The project is very personal. It comes from a very lively experience, so it’s very emotional by nature and I think that’s why it attracts me to dance with it.
“You have many of the memories and experiences you are drawing. You have these people immediately by your side or with you.
“And it does a kind of work really sincere.”
Last year, he was one of the main artists of the New Zealand dance company and also doing some parallel projects for independent dance works.
“But at the moment it has been quite comprehensive, it’s just choreography.”
When he talked to the Otago Daily TimesHis modern play of God with footnote from New Zealand was debuting that night. Beck liked to work on both pieces at the same time.
“It’s very different, it’s an observation of my time spent on the internet … It’s very bizarre and chaotic. Perhaps Dunedin a minimalist compared to this one that was definitely defined as a maximalist.”
He has appreciated the challenges of choreography, to learn to make the most of people and be involved in conceptual conversations around sound and scenario and practical how to make it happen.
“I think I really liked my time as a dancer. But I’m really attracted to the challenges of doing the job. It was just a really rich experience.”
But he is not ready yet to give up the dance.
“I want to keep a foot at the door of the presentation. Because I love being on stage too.”
But dancing in one of his own works “is definitely not something I recommend,” says Beck.
“In a way, your attention is divided. I have to leave and have to watch the video. And it’s really hard to get the feeling of a live performance through a recorded version. So you are widely driving the work away from intuition and feeling.”
Having a full -time rehearsal director and the dramaturg really helped with these challenges.
The production of this work in Dunedin also meant that Beck began working with other Dunedin creatives, such as lighting designer Martyn Roberts, and had aboard artist Sonic Hominid (Benny Jennings) he worked on in previous productions.
“So we developed a very, very good way to work together.”
Now headquartered in Dunedin among Jobs, he started an emerging company of Dunedin’s dance press conference, Beck.
“I love to be in Dunedin, but in terms of getting work at the last minute or just being around to do extra things, it’s definitely as Wellington and Auckland are a little more vibrant to support where I am in my career and where I specialize.”
While he was going abroad, now he sees his immediate future in New Zealand.
“It excites me to stay here and try to make more projects happen and try projects. But at the same time, New Zealand is quite island, so it is important that you find opportunities to go out and do some work and a little travel.”
To see
Dunedin Arts Festival, “Dreaming Comment”, Regent Theater, March 26, 19h.
