The Production Team
On this page: About this chapter | Curriculum links
About this chapter
The duration of this chapter is approximately 12 minutes 39 seconds.
The sections in The Production Team show the Footnote dancers preparing for and rehearsing the dances of their 2005 repertoire. (The choreographers were given at least a week in which to develop their choreography with the dancers.)
Included in this chapter are interviews with a director, two dancers, a costume designer, a lighting designer, and a composer.
Director Deirdre Tarrant talks about looking for certain skills and attributes, which are needed by the dancers in her company.
Dancers Halina Wolyncewicz and Lance Riley talk a little about their experience as professional dancers.
- Halina mentions a 'classical background', which alludes to the fact that most contemporary dancers have some background training in classical ballet technique.
- Lance makes reference to the male dancer in a 'support role'. This comment refers to the nineteenth century practice in ballet of males being used to frame, lift, or carry the female ballerina, who was given the more interesting choreography – a practice that persisted well into the twentieth century. In contemporary dance, choreography tends not to be gender specific unless required by the thematic matter.
Dancer Halina Wolyncewicz and costume designer Sheila Horton describe some of the considerations when designing and moving in costumes for contemporary dance.
Lighting designer Maia Whittet and composer Nic McGowan talk about their approaches to supporting dance works.
Viewing suggestion
Your students could view this introductory chapter in its entirety to support their exploration of behind-the-scenes aspects of dance performances. They could also view it by sections to explore one focus in depth. For instance, a focus on the relationship between music and dance may be initiated or supported by the interview with Nic McGowan on this DVD.
Curriculum links
The suggested activities could contribute to teaching and learning in the following unit and achievement standards (which link to the NZQA website):
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
- AS 90594 Dance 3.1 Produce a dance for performance
- US 14957 Demonstrate knowledge of stage technology in the context of performing arts production (PDF 16KB)
