Communities meet by the sea

Lyne Pringle, of Wellington, and (from left rear) Brendan Kydd, Sophia Kalogeropoulou, Hahna Briggs and Rhys Latton, all of Dunedin, at the Otago University School of Physical Education last week. Photo by Peter McIntosh.

"I got really inspired and thought, how does the practice [of dance] interact with a community? I thought, I'd like to have a go at that fellowship, but I need to change the lens of my practice," Pringle, the 2011 Caroline Plummer Fellow in Community Dance, says.

"It made a real shift in my thinking about how you connect with communities, because I think in some ways contemporary dance has lost its audience, so how does it reconnect? How does it have relevance in different communities?"

She and fellow dancer Kilda Northcott devised their first community dance piece, Lily, in 2009 under their Bipeds umbrella. It is about Lily Stevens, who taught generations of Dunedin dancers, and includes current dance students of all ages.

For her fellowship project, Pringle wanted to work with the wider St Kilda and St Clair communities and find ways to bring dance into the community and express the ocean environment.

The idea was inspired by a poem Plummer wrote about finding solace and strength for her battle with cancer by walking along the beaches at St Kilda and St Clair.

Since the beginning of her fellowship in February, Pringle has worked with the children and staff at Forbury School on dance and oceanic themes.

All the pupils, staff and support staff at Forbury School became involved at some level. She taught dance to all the pupils and the whole school focused on oceans as their topic last term.

"I went out to the aquarium with one class and as I was watching the kids experiencing the aquarium, I was thinking, this wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for the fellowship and Caroline's words in the poem.

"I enjoyed the challenge and it's been amazing to be out at Forbury with it navigating its way through all the disappointments and challenges there, and dance offering the possibility for a really celebratory outlet."

At the end of the term they had a big showing and dance. A smaller group of pupils who practised after school are to be part of her major concert, Ocean Wave.

A music and dance event celebrating the St Kilda and St Clair communities and involving many different community groups, it takes place at the King's and Queen's Performing Arts Centre tomorrow evening.

To create the event, she has worked with the surf life-saving community - surfing's a dance, she says - and individuals such as environmentalist and photographer Nic Reeves, local dancers and the St Kilda Brass.

Under conductor Davey Boyes, the brass band is performing several pieces with a sea theme, including Fantasy on British Sea Songs, Three Jolly Sailormen and a medley from Titanic.

Other local dance groups are involved, including Rasa Dance company, Pretty Gay Productions, Aha Dance Collective and Akeake Theatre, with Kilda Northcott doing a guest spot.

Producing an event such as this is like giving birth, she says.

"As the years go by, I have more trust in my capacity to deliver things, though I still get anxious." In founding Bipeds, Pringle and Northcott had a clear manifesto - to remain visible as mature dance artists, Pringle (54) says.

"As you get older, it's easy to disappear, and we are still creating a future for ourselves. We are the first generation of people trying to forge a career in contemporary dance and all the different facets of it. A few of us are still dancing.

"As I've got older, I realise I am an athlete, really, and that passion to be physically engaged isn't diminishing with age. If anything, it's becoming more precious as I get older. It's really fascinating to be in an ageing body and to be still working quite dynamically."