"We are creating this work together, and the set and sound score create an environment within which the performance comes to exist. I provide tasks and provocations for the dancers, and help to shape the material they produce."
Whispers from Pandora's Box is a very different concept. By Australian choreographer Lina Limosani, known for her highly theatrical approach and physicality , it examines the darker corners of the human mind and the anxieties of our times through a rapid-fire series of interactions drawn from pop culture, comedy and black humour, slapstick, theatre of the absurd, clowning, zombie and horror movies and TV shows.
Set to carnivalesque music by AlgoRythmiK, Whispers from Pandora's Box demands great stamina and precision from the dancers. They must also create bizarre characters who throw themselves into many macabre scenarios.
Limosani, Australia's 2016 Dame Peggy van Pragh Choreographic Award recipient, says dance can profoundly express the darker side of humanity.
"I invite the audience to witness horror, crime and drama live within a dance context, and also challenge them to open up to the possibility of finding intrigue in the evils behind the works."
What: The Absurdity of Humanity - a double bill, New Zealand Dance Company
Where and when: Q Theatre, August 24-27 (performances at 7.30pm with a 2pm Saturday matinee)