Barry says that this production is primarily a celebration of the 50th anniversary of The Australian Dance Theatre and the man who had such a strong influence on ADT and Barry herself: Eleo Pomare, known to many as the ”angry black artist”, a modern dance choreographer who allowed his biting wit to define his social-protest pieces.
Pomare was a dancer, choreographer and an activist who rose to prominence in the 1960’s, taking an original and sometimes forceful attitude which stunned audiences of the time. The resulting troupe of dancers were not always accepted easily and derogatory terms were common, hence “dancers with dirty feet” which Barry took as a title for her production.
Jennifer Barry danced for Pomare in New York and will be revisiting some of the pieces he made famous in this production. A special factor of this celebration for Barry will be that her daughter, Alexandra, will be dancing Barry’s role in one of the pieces. In the 60’s this was considered a new dance form and Barry describes Pomare as a genius choreographer who was always challenging and a generous mentor of young artists.
Barry feels this piece will be of historic significance. She has worked on it for months and hopes it will be a demonstration of the fundamental influence that Pomare had on the early days of ADT.
His gift was to distil the emotions of the dance piece and to allow the dancers to display anger, love, hate and sexual desire with his unique revolutionary movements and techniques. Barry hopes that by retracing the beginnings of ADT and Pomare’s involvement she can showcase a collective illustration of the great choreographer’s work and his lasting influence on Australia’s most esteemed Artistic companies.
Only playing for three nights this should prove to be a landmark piece to mark both a great choreographer and our own ADT.
Jennifer Barry and Pomare Productions Present Dancers With Dirty Feet October 8 – 10th, 7:30pm Odeon Theatre, Norwood. Book now via: www.bass.net.au/events/dancers-with-dirty-feet.aspx General admission: $33.55, Concession: $20.25, Groups 10+: $25.25Per tkt
Interview by Fran Edwards
More News
