15 Aug 2023

Ruffle - Work in Progress!

In a dimly-lit room, a woman kneels on the black floor, holding her arms bent upwards from her side. She is perpendicular to the rear wall, underneath a hanging mirror ball, close to her head. The lighting is directed at the ball, reflecting onto her, and making round hollow dots on the ground and on the wall behind her. The back wall is lit from a different angle, creating two shadows of the dancer, looming large on the wall.In a dimly-lit room, a woman kneels on the black floor, holding her arms bent upwards from her side. She is perpendicular to the rear wall, underneath a hanging mirror ball, close to her head. The lighting is directed at the ball, reflecting onto her, and making round hollow dots on the ground and on the wall behind her. The back wall is lit from a different angle, creating two shadows of the dancer, looming large on the wall.

Ruffle is a work Alisha McLennan Marler is creating with Julia Harvie - one of three disability-led dance works that form Tuarā Wairua.

It's currently in the experimentation and refining phase, looking forward to being presented in 2024 as part of the Tuarā Wairua triple bill!

In a dimly-lit room, a woman kneels on the black floor, holding her arms bent upwards from her side. She is perpendicular to the rear wall, underneath a hanging mirror ball, close to her head. The lighting is directed at the ball, reflecting onto her, and making round hollow dots on the ground and on the wall behind her. The back wall is lit from a different angle, creating two shadows of the dancer, looming large on the wall.In a dimly-lit room, a woman kneels on the black floor, holding her arms bent upwards from her side. She is perpendicular to the rear wall, underneath a hanging mirror ball, close to her head. The lighting is directed at the ball, reflecting onto her, and making round hollow dots on the ground and on the wall behind her. The back wall is lit from a different angle, creating two shadows of the dancer, looming large on the wall.
In a dimly-lit room, a woman kneels on the black floor, holding her arms bent upwards from her side. She is perpendicular to the rear wall, underneath a hanging mirror ball, close to her head. The lighting is directed at the ball, reflecting onto her, and making round hollow dots on the ground and on the wall behind her. The back wall is lit from a different angle, creating two shadows of the dancer, looming large on the wall.In a dimly-lit room, a woman kneels on the black floor, holding her arms bent upwards from her side. She is perpendicular to the rear wall, underneath a hanging mirror ball, close to her head. The lighting is directed at the ball, reflecting onto her, and making round hollow dots on the ground and on the wall behind her. The back wall is lit from a different angle, creating two shadows of the dancer, looming large on the wall.
In a dimly-lit room, a woman kneels on the black floor, holding her arms bent upwaards from her waist, and looking at a hanging mirror ball, close to her head. The lighting is directed at the ball, reflecting onto her, and making round hollow dots on the ground and on the wall behind her. The back wall is lit from a different angle, creating two shadows of the dancer, looming large on the wall.In a dimly-lit room, a woman kneels on the black floor, holding her arms bent upwaards from her waist, and looking at a hanging mirror ball, close to her head. The lighting is directed at the ball, reflecting onto her, and making round hollow dots on the ground and on the wall behind her. The back wall is lit from a different angle, creating two shadows of the dancer, looming large on the wall.
Julia Harvie and Alisha McLennan Marler outside their rehearsal space in Christchurch.Julia Harvie and Alisha McLennan Marler outside their rehearsal space in Christchurch.Julia Harvie and Alisha McLennan Marler outside their rehearsal space in Christchurch.

Alisha McLennan Marler first performed with Touch Compass at the Trust launch in 1999, and has danced with the company in numerous shows since then. She is a dancer and tutor for our Creative Class and secondary schools programme, as well as Touch Compass's Access Inclusion and Outreach Coordinator.

Alisha is a talented individual with a multitude of career highlights which includes receiving a North Harbour AIMES award to study aerial dance in the UK in 2011, and an Attitude Artistic Achievement Award in 2013. Alisha has been a Certified DanceAbility teacher since 2018 and employs this method of teaching in her dance instruction.

Julia Harvie co-founded Movement Art Practice (MAP) in 2014 and remains the driving force behind the organisation. Julia is a dance practitioner first and foremost but has a keen desire to support and facilitate the growth of dance beyond the the theatre experience. Julia was born and raised in Christchurch and graduated from UNITEC (BPSA) in 2003.

She has carved out a career with a national reputation as an independent dancer, choreographer and teacher. She has created and worked on a diverse range of projects from choreographing an avant-garde opera (Oresteia by Xenakis at the Christchurch Arts Festival, 2017) to building a nest for six hours during FESTA (Nesticity, Festival of Transitional Architecture, 2016). She is driven to make work that can both challenge and profoundly connect with her audiences.

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