Firebird
Image by Robert Wagner
Concept notes
Firebird is a 20-30 minute dance film. It takes a mythic creature of Russian folklore called the Firebird as its point of departure.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
9 October 2021
There’s a history of dance theatre in Australia and many of us are connected to it in some way.
The early visits of the Ballet Russes Monte Carlo left an indelible mark on theatre audiences. Borovansky and his artists also influenced the development of concert dance here. Many Fine Lines dancers can trace a lineage to these two giants, the trailblazers of modern dance in Victoria or inspiring independent teachers and creators who invested their energy and artistry into the development of dance in this state.
This history serves as a powerful reminder of strong people and great works.
In 2019 I created The Right for Fine Lines Dance to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Our Right was a comment upon the awful state of politics in Australia and in other democratic countries at the time. So much was disingenuous, disparaging and grubby, with its posturing, power-play and shifting for preferences. The Right also aimed to show older dancers as strong, ruthless and aspiring, something we don’t see very often.
The Right was awarded an Australian Dance Award for Most Outstanding Achievement in Community Dance in 2020.
After The Right, where the power was all external, we started looking at a different kind of power, one that is, perhaps more quietly guarded because it comes from a personal place and is more easily extinguished. We perceived this as internal fire. I see it in the Fine Lines dancers as they continue to pursue dance as a medium that is deeply expressive. Because it is expressive, it is visible and because it is visible, it requires courage and conviction. This need to dance is a fire that burns, no matter how we age or what our circumstances are. Firebird was a way of capturing that spark, making it visible.
Firebird was originally going to be a live work, dark and intimate. However, after filming our concept video, I saw its potential as a film. Rather than making a live work and documenting it, I made the camera the audience, enabling intimacy and capturing the uniqueness of this group and the people within it.
Concept
Firebird took several motifs from the Russian folktale: the apple, the bird, the fire, the feathers. We explored the fire as an untamed force. We resisted the narrative arc, replacing it with a kinetic and emotive one, supported by the music.
Film aesthetic
Fine Lines dancers are unique and because of this, inherently interesting. I wanted the film to capture them, not edit them to the point of being an abstract body for an art film. I want Firebird to be a dance film, which conveyed a real sense of dance - in time and space. I wanted to avoid the dance-as-action-film genre. And while at times the film is tightly edited to convey energy and purpose, there are scenes that have been shot and presented in one take.
The work is expressionist in form, as much of my work is. My dance comes from both curiosity and an emotional centre. I believe dance communicates well when connecting feeling and experience. I hope that Firebird will communicate with and beyond our dance community to people who might not dance, or watch it because they ‘don’t get it.’
I hope Firebird will connect them at a visceral level and as they watch they think to themselves ‘I know how that feels!’ and just perhaps
They will look within,
At their own fire,
Stir the flame,
And see what happens.
In COVID times this can be very empowering.
Katrina Rank, Director
Tell me about the creative team
Firebird is directed, choreographed and produced by Katrina Rank in collaboration with Fine Lines dancers.
Direction: Katrina Rank
Choreography: Katrina Rank in collaboration with Fine Lines Dancers
Lighting design & operation: Jamie Henson
Camera and editing: Takeshi Kondo
Producers: Katrina Rank and Shannon Parsons
Performers
Anne Gartner, Belinda Cussen, Cecilia Ross, Holly Marshall, Jenny Barnett, Joanna Carroll,
Judy Leech, Karen Berzins, Kate Reed, Kathryn Niesche, Katrina Rank, Kym King, Nicole Ryan,, Madeleine Aikenhead, Philippa Costigan, Rosemary Simons, Shannon Parsons, Catherine Underhill, Rochelle Louise Carmichael
Fire Bird design consultant: Samantha Phillips
Fans/feathers: Katrina Rank
Filmed at and supported by: Burrinja Cultural Centre
Financial and Auspicing Services: Auspicious Arts Projects Inc
Proudly supported by: City of Yarra Arts, Australian Multicultural Community Services, Bunnings Thomastown and our generous Australian Cultural Fund campaign supporters
Thanks to Robert Wagner Photography, The Fine Lines Dance community, Jenny Barnett, Hilde Knottenbelt, West Pointe Ballet Academy, Gillian Butcher, Dancehouse and Green Monday Studios. The Rank Family for your ongoing support and encouragement.
(c) Katrina Rank 2021
