DANCE FEVER

it's dirty dancing - the warm and good hearted coming-of-age fantasy - gone to the stage, not in the shape of the musical that is a direct re-creation of the film - but a different look at an icon. the movie is, in some ways, a celluloid "Mills & Boon" that's also akin to a "Star Wars" for girls... perfect.

this work is continuing in the methods and construction of the jwg celine dion piece. http://www.letstalkaboutlovevideo.blogspot.com

it is continuing with investigating the commercial representation of love. and wanting to bring that into the theatre - into the theoretical and performance realm with absolutely no concerns of being cringeworthy. avoiding being good - but without trying to be bad - and definitely not being cool. love is the root of all - all you need is love.

it continues to review current methods of contemporary dance production. avoiding perfection/consideration/ambiguity/the need for traditional tools - ie specific requirements of space, dancers, time...

it is continuing to find new ways to construct the viewing of a dance piece. extending its life beyond the stage time. providing further insight - encouraging a transparent process and multi-dimensional comprehension for the audience.

a myspace for a dance piece -
http://www.myspace.com/dirtydancingfever

it is diving into commercial and mass culture. valuing the instant recognition of commercial entities (the film - everyone has a relationship with this film...) and tools (myspace and youtube) and not dismissing them as cheap or not worthy of inclusion. it is valuing the literal and and everyday experience of the world and participating in it, through the production of dance - thus bringing to the dance the immediate/embarrassment/personal-made-public-on-a-whim thrill and experience and access. i am willing to lay a specific stereotype on the line to be celebrated, hated, laughed at and maybe looked at with a certain nostalgia.

my work and the commercial world are inseparable. it's about something so undeniably mainstream and it's processed through one of the most popular activities known to western culture today (film + upload). it is art knowingly and vivaciously smack bang in the middle of the commercial world. why? the commercial makes up every part of our lives. Who we are/what we do/what we buy/how we watch and consume the world, each other and ourselves. this is reason enough to give it some attention. plus I am completely seduced by it. i love it.

the important thing is to throw it all into the pot and see how it adds to the theatre experience. in a way jumping over existing hurdles and boring pre-occupations to get to new territory. does it make it more accessible? to who and how come? can this be more accessible to those already participating in contemporary dance? does it make more sense and hit a different nerve with audiences - raw or spongey nerves? by using communication tools and subject matter that are so much a part of our history, what does this do to ones ability to enjoy/experience theatre before, during and after... ?

and most of all have a bloody brilliant time - and find another excuse to drink Paris Hilton RICH prosecco...
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Jessyka Watson-Galbraith was born in Perth, Western Australia. She trained at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts, completing her BA (Hons) in 2004.

Since graduating she has been she has been working between Europe and Australia. First landing in Vienna with the DanceWEB Europe scholarship in 2005. She then moved on to work on projects in Vienna, Budapest, Berlin and London. In Australia she has performed at the Adelaide Fringe Festival, the Next Wave Festival in Melbourne, the Artrage Festival in Perth and performed in/created works for STRUT, the Perth based Contemporary Dance performance platform. She has been commissioned to make work four works for the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts and also created a solo Bitumen with sound artist Dave Miller. She has been part of the on-going project TWO with Paul Gazzola in Berlin. This will be performed at the Sophiensaele May/June 2007. For the past 18 months she has been based in London, where she created her Celine Dion extravaganza LET'S TALK ABOUT LOVE which involved 13 dancers and was performed at The Place. Her work is currently pre-occupied with exploring web identities of dance pieces, generating collections of videos and stage shows based on pop, dance and love.